Computer Law Commons^™

When Your Boss Is An Algorithm: Preserving Canadian Employment Standards In The Digital Economy, Fife Ogunde

Canadian Journal of Law and Technology

The platform or ‘‘gig” economy is a rapidly growing economy in Canada. Between 2005 and 2016, the share of gig workers among all workers in Canada rose from 5.5% to 8.2%. These include independent contractors, select freelancers and platform workers. In 2018, 28% of Canadians aged 18 and older reported making money through online platforms. Research by Payments Canada in 2021 showed gig workers as representing more than one in 10 Canadian adults with more than one in three Canadian businesses employing gig workers. As the share of platform workers in the economy has grown, so has the discussion regarding …

Slouching Toward Regulation: Assessing Bill 88 As A Solution For Workplace Surveillance Harms, Danielle E. Thompson, Adam Molnar

Canadian Journal of Law and Technology

Employee monitoring applications (‘‘EMAs”) are proliferating in Canada and provide employers with sophisticated surveillance tools for the monitoring of workers (e.g., on-device video surveillance, browser activity, and email monitoring). In response to concerns about these increasingly invasive surveillance practices, the Government of Ontario passed Bill 88, the Working for Workers Act, 2022, which requires all employers with 25 or more workers to have a written policy stating whether and how they electronically monitor their employees. Bill 88 marks a more explict attempt to regulate workplace surveillance in a modern digital context in Canada; however; however, an analysis of the Bill’s …

The Challenge Designing Intermediary Liability Laws, Emily Laidlaw

Canadian Journal of Law and Technology

The ideal framework for intermediary liability has vexed policymakers since the internet’s commercialization. The quest has taken on a frenzied pace in recent years with intense scrutiny of who they are, what they do and what they should be responsible for. Over the years a theme has emerged from my discussions about intermediaries, and its subset platforms, and it prompts me to explore it as the focus of this article. My question is simple: why is it so difficult for law and policymakers to agree on a regulatory framework?

This article tackles two parts of the regulatory challenge that are …

The Future Of Data Protection Enforcement In Canada: Lessons From The Gdpr, Guilda Rostama, Teresa Scassa

Canadian Journal of Law and Technology

Imagine a not-too-distant scenario in which a private sector organization in Canada is investigated by the Privacy Commissioner of Canada jointly with the Commissioners of Quebec, British Columbia (‘‘BC”), and Alberta in relation to complaints that it shared massive quantities of personal data with third parties contrary to its stated practices in its privacy policies. Imagine also that each of the commissioners is empowered under newly amended data protection legislation to issue substantial Administrative Monetary Penalties (‘‘AMPs”). If each of the commissioners finds that its respective laws were breached, should the organization be subject to four different AMPs, or just …

Genetic Technologies: Patent Protections & The Case For Technology Transfer, Smitha Gundavajhala

Washington Journal of Law, Technology & Arts

Genetic technologies range in scope from agricultural to medical applications. Most recently, during the COVID-19 pandemic, companies like Moderna developed and patented genetic technologies for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes, like the mRNA vaccine. However, patent protection provides these companies with a monopoly that ultimately limits domestic production of generic versions, thus limiting access to life-saving diagnostics and therapeutics. When a company located in one country files a patent for recognition in another country, it effectively places a hold on production of any technologies covered by that patent’s reach, whether that patent is enforced or not. However, the TRIPS Agreement, the …

What You Don’T Know Will Hurt You: Fighting The Privacy Paradox By Designing For Privacy And Enforcing Protective Technology, Perla Khattar

Washington Journal of Law, Technology & Arts

The persistence of the privacy paradox is proof that current industry regulation is insufficient to protect consumer’s privacy. Although consumer choice is essential, we argue that it should not be the main pillar of modern data privacy legislation. This article argues that legislation should aim to protect consumer’s personal data in the first place, while also giving internet users the choice to opt-in to the processing of their information. Ideally, privacy by design principles would be mandated by law, making privacy an essential component of the architecture of every tech-product and service.

Consensus’S Consolidation Conundrum, James J. Bernstein

Washington Journal of Law, Technology & Arts

In Part I, this piece will highlight the history, basis, and justifications for blockchain systems over the present version of the internet. This section helps to frame where consensus mechanisms may undermine Web3’s core premise. Part II will describe the fundamentals of consensus mechanisms. Thereafter, in Part III this piece will demonstrate the pitfalls of each system - and why proof of stake is not necessarily better at fighting off some of the risks associated with consensus mechanisms. Finally, in Part IV this article offers an architectural solution: introducing a series of new protocols which would increase the cost of …

“Tiktok Told Me I Have Adhd”: Regulatory Outlook For The Telehealth Revolution, Kaitlin Campanini

Washington Journal of Law, Technology & Arts

Telehealth’s expansion during the COVID-19 pandemic has drastically changed the approach to healthcare in the United States. This is particularly true in the behavioral health sector where several behavioral telehealth companies have emerged to treat Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (“ADHD”). These companies utilize a direct-to-consumer (“DTC”) model with a virtual platform that connects subscribing patients to medical providers who can treat them for ADHD. Although this telemedicine model emphasizes convenience and efficiency, the reality is that those benefits come at the cost of patient care. The federal regulations promulgated in the Ryan Haight Online Pharmacy Consumer Protection Act of 2008 to curtail …

Civil Liability Arising From Hacking E-Mail Information, Issa Ghassan Al-Rabdi Dr.

مجلة جامعة الإمارات للبحوث القانونية UAEU LAW JOURNAL

It is completely easy to pass and send any electronic data everywhere to the persons you want in the world in a very quick and short time, regardless the size and the data type.

This is due to the invention of electronic programs that help to save time and efforts. (the E – mail).

As a result of this electronic development in the all related fields that serve humankind, a new encounter technology and illegal use of technology has occurred and used illegally by hackers to destroy and penetrate exclusive information for specific people.

For this illegal hacking attempt requires …

The Five Internet Rights, Nicholas J. Nugent

Washington Law Review

Since the dawn of the commercial internet, content moderation has operated under an implicit social contract that website operators could accept or reject users and content as they saw fit, but users in turn could self-publish their views on their own websites if no one else would have them. However, as online service providers and activists have become ever more innovative and aggressive in their efforts to deplatform controversial speakers, content moderation has progressively moved down into the core infrastructure of the internet, targeting critical resources, such as networks, domain names, and IP addresses, on which all websites depend. These …

Developing Ethics And Equity Principles, Terms And Engagement Tools, Ellen W. Clayton, Rachele Hendricks-Sturrup, Shilo Anders, Et Al.

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

Background:

Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) technology design and development continues to be rapid, despite major limitations in its current form as a practice and discipline to address all sociohumanitarian issues and complexities. From these limitations emerges an imperative to strengthen AI and ML literacy in underserved communities and build a more diverse AI and ML design and development workforce engaged in health research.

Objective:

AI and ML has the potential to account for and assess a variety of factors that contribute to health and disease and to improve prevention, diagnosis, and therapy. Here, we describe recent activities …

Security-Enhanced Serial Communications, John White, Alexander Beall, Joseph Maurio, Dane Fichter, Dr. Matthew Davis, Dr. Zachary Birnbaum

Military Cyber Affairs

Industrial Control Systems (ICS) are widely used by critical infrastructure and are ubiquitous in numerous industries including telecommunications, petrochemical, and manufacturing. ICS are at a high risk of cyber attack given their internet accessibility, inherent lack of security, deployment timelines, and criticality. A unique challenge in ICS security is the prevalence of serial communication buses and other non-TCP/IP communications protocols. The communication protocols used within serial buses often lack authentication and integrity protections, leaving them vulnerable to spoofing and replay attacks. The bandwidth constraints and prevalence of legacy hardware in these systems prevent the use of modern message authentication and …

Conviction On Interpretation, Advocate Adaptability, And The Future Of Emojis And Emoticons As Evidence, Samantha Lyons

Seattle Journal of Technology, Environmental, & Innovation Law

The dawning of the digital age introduced new and unique interpretive quandaries for judges and litigators alike. These quandaries include (but are not limited to) misinterpretation of pictorial slang as used in instant messaging, new or collateral meanings invented by phrases paired with specific emoticons or emojis, and the existence of emojis alone as communicative accessories.

This Note analyzes how lawyers and judges have essential free reign to treat emojis as they see fit: a prosecutor can argue, even in good faith, that the inclusion of an emoji depicting an open flame means the sender knew the heroin he sold …

From Hashtag To Hash Value: Using The Hash Value Model To Report Child Sex Abuse Material, Jessica Mcgarvie

Seattle Journal of Technology, Environmental, & Innovation Law

In the summer of 2021, Apple announced it would release a Child Safety Feature (CSF) aimed at reducing Child Sex Abuse Materials (CSAM) on its platform. The CSF would scan all images a user uploaded to their iCloud for CSAM, and Apple would report an account with 30 or more flagged images to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Despite Apple’s good intentions, they received intense backlash, with many critics arguing the proposed CSF eroded a user’s privacy. This article explores the technology behind Apple’s CSF and compares it to similar features used by other prominent tech companies. …

A New Right Is The Wrong Tactic: Bring Legal Actions Against States For Internet Shutdowns Instead Of Working Towards A Human Right To The Internet (Part 1), Jay Conrad

Seattle Journal of Technology, Environmental, & Innovation Law

A New Right is the Wrong Tactic: Bring Legal Actions Against States for Internet Shutdowns Instead of Working Towards a Human Right to the Internet (Part 1) is the first of a two-part series dealing with an increasingly prevalent threat to human rights: State-sanctioned Internet shutdowns. Part 1 details the current tactics and impacts of Internet shutdowns and which human rights are most likely to be violated by or during a shutdown. Part 2 will address the deficiencies of advocating for Internet access to be a recognized human right as a means of combatting shutdowns. Despite the popularity of this …

The Exacerbating Role Of Technological And Connectivity Challenges On Older Detroiters’ Health In A Pandemic, Nicholas Schroeck, Carrie Leach

Seattle Journal of Technology, Environmental, & Innovation Law

The COVID-19 pandemic hit communities of color hard. The City of Detroit was particularly vulnerable to COVID-19 due to racial, socioeconomic, and environmental health factors. To analyze the exacerbating role of technology and connectivity challenges on older Detroiters' health in a pandemic, we first examined Detroit’s demographics. This analysis involved looking at the continued evolution of the City's population toward older adults, as well as the impact of COVID-19 and the healthcare services on Detroit’s elder population. Next, we examined Detroit’s internet access challenges, including the presence of digital exclusion among older adults in Detroit, the impact of COVID-19 on …

How High Fashion Brands And Nfts Are Changing The Future Of The Art Market And Trademark Prosecution, Grace Hodges

DePaul Journal of Art, Technology & Intellectual Property Law

No abstract provided.

Pooling Patents For Pandemic Progress: Mrna Vaccines And The Broader Context Of Modernatx Inc V. Pfizer Inc., Francis Brefo

DePaul Journal of Art, Technology & Intellectual Property Law

No abstract provided.

Aclu V. Clearview Ai, Inc.,, Isra Ahmed

DePaul Journal of Art, Technology & Intellectual Property Law

No abstract provided.

Texas’ War On Social Media: Censorship Or False Flag, Leni Morales

DePaul Journal of Art, Technology & Intellectual Property Law

No abstract provided.