Internet Law Commons^™

The Digital Shareholder, Andrew A. Schwartz

Publications

Crowdfunding, a new Internet-based securities market, was recently authorized by federal and state law in order to create a vibrant, diverse, and inclusive system of entrepreneurial finance. But will people really send their money to strangers on the Internet in exchange for unregistered securities in speculative startups? Many are doubtful, but this Article looks to first principles and finds reason for optimism.

Well-established theory teaches that all forms of startup finance must confront and overcome three fundamental challenges: uncertainty, information asymmetry, and agency costs. This Article systematically examines this “trio of problems” and potential solutions in the context of crowdfunding. …

Increasing The Transaction Costs Of Harassment, Woodrow Hartzog, Evan Selinger

Faculty Scholarship

Wouldn’t it be nice if the rules, agreements, and guidelines designed to prevent online harassment were sufficient to curb improper behavior? As if. Wrongdoers are not always so easily deterred. Sometimes these approaches are about as effective as attacking tanks with toothpicks.

As Danielle Citron contends in her critically important work, Hate Crimes in Cyberspace, the design of the Internet facilitates vitriol and abuse, even when it is legally, contractually, and normatively prohibited. Communicating almost effortlessly at distance—sometimes anonymously and typically with minimized body language—can heighten emotional detachment and blunt moral sensitivity. Tragically, when a mediated environment makes it …

Addressing Cyber Harassment: An Overview Of Hate Crimes In Cyberspace, Danielle K. Citron

Faculty Scholarship

This short piece will take a step back and give an overhead view of the problem of cyber harassment and the destructive impact it can have on victims’ lives. Then, it will address about what the law can do to combat online harassment and how a legal agenda can be reconciled with the First Amendment. Finally, it will turn to recent changes in social media companies’ treatment of online abuse and what that might mean for our system of free expression.

Cyber Sovereignty: The Way Ahead, Eric Talbot Jensen

Faculty Scholarship

The last few years are full of reports of cyber incidents, some of which have caused significant damage. Each of these cyber events raise important questions about the role and responsibility of States with respect to cyber incidents. The answer to these questions revolves in large part around the international law doctrine of sovereignty. The extent to which nations exercise sovereignty over cyberspace and cyber infrastructure will provide key answers to how much control States must exercise and how much responsibility States must accept for harmful cyber activities when they fail to adequately do so. This article argues that States …

Cookie Monster: Balancing Internet Privacy With Commerce, Technology And Terrorism, Nichoel Forrett

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

Surfing For Protection: Why Websites Should Be Categorically Excluded From Trade Dress Protection, Matt Mikels

CommLaw Conspectus: Journal of Communications Law and Technology Policy (1993-2015)

No abstract provided.

Recent Journalism Awards Won By "Old," "New," And "Hybrid" Media, Robert H. Lande, Thomas J. Horton, Virginia Callahan

All Faculty Scholarship

This compares the quality of the "old" media to that of the "new" media by determining how often each type of media source wins major journalism awards. It divides media sources into three categories: old, new and hybrid. New media is limited to publications that were started purely as online news publications. Old media is classified in the traditional sense to include such newspapers as the New York Times. Hybrid media combines elements of both new and old media. Our research compares the number of Pulitzer Prizes and other major journalism awards won by these three types of media sources …

Sharing Stupid $H*T With Friends And Followers: The First Amendment Rights Of College Athletes To Use Social Media, Meg Penrose

Faculty Scholarship

This paper takes a closer look at the First Amendment rights of college athletes to access social media while simultaneously participating in intercollegiate athletics. The question posed is quite simple: can a coach or athletic department at a public university legally restrict a student-athlete's use of social media? If so, does the First Amendment provide any restraints on the type or length of restrictions that can be imposed? Thus far, neither question has been presented to a court for resolution. However, the answers are vital, as college coaches and athletic directors seek to regulate their athletes in a constitutional manner.

Promoting Innovation While Preventing Discrimination: Policy Goals For The Scored Society, Frank Pasquale, Danielle K. Citron

Faculty Scholarship

There are several normative theories of jurisprudence supporting our critique of the scored society, which complement the social theory and political economy presented in our 2014 article on that topic in the Washington Law Review. This response to Professor Tal Zarsky clarifies our antidiscrimination argument while showing that is only one of many bases for the critique of scoring practices. The concerns raised by Big Data may exceed the capacity of extant legal doctrines. Addressing the potential injustice may require the hard work of legal reform.

Is Internet Radio “Livin' On A Prayer”? With New Legislation, It “Will Make It, I Swear”, Kelsey Schulz

The Journal of Business, Entrepreneurship & the Law

This Comment discusses whether the IRFA would be the appropriate solution to the inequities in current copyright law as it pertains to digital music. Part I of this Comment will provide a more in-depth discussion of the history of copyright law and music distribution. It will examine the implications of the 1971 Sound Recording Act, the 1976 Copyright Act, and the Digital Performance Right in Sound Recordings Act of 1995. Part II will provide a critique of the current state of the law, including a look at the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 and its effects on the respective …

Sharing Is Airing: Employee Concerted Activity On Social Media After Hispanics United, Ryan Kennedy

Duke Law & Technology Review

Section 7 of the United States’ National Labor Relations Act allows groups of American workers to engage in concerted activity for the purposes of collective bargaining or for “other mutual aid or protection.” This latter protection has been extended in cases such as Lafayette Park Hotel to workers outside the union context. Starting in 2005, the National Labor Relations Board increasingly signaled to employers that concerted activity may take place on social media such as Facebook. However, the Board proper delivered its first written opinion articulating these rules in the 2012 case of Hispanics United of Buffalo, Inc. There, the …

Stay Tuned: Whether Cloud-Based Service Providers Can Have Their Copyrighted Cake And Eat It Too, Amanda Asaro

Fordham Law Review

    Copyright owners have the exclusive right to perform their works publicly and the ability to license their work to others who want to share that right. Subsections 106(4) and (5) of the Copyright Act govern this exclusive public performance right, but neither subsection elaborates on what constitutes a performance made “to the public” versus one that remains private. This lack of clarity has made it difficult for courts to apply the Copyright Act consistently, especially in the face of changing technology.

    Companies like Aereo, Inc. and AereoKiller, Inc. developed novel ways to transmit content over the internet to be viewed …

Inherit The Cloud: The Role Of Private Contracts In Distributing Or Deleting Digital Assets At Death, Natalie M. Banta

Fordham Law Review

    We live in a world permeated with technology. Through our online accounts we write emails, we store pictures, videos, and documents, we pay bills and conduct financial transactions, we buy digital books and music, and we manage loyalty programs. Digital assets have quickly replaced physical letters, pictures, books, compact discs, and documents stored in filing cabinets and shoeboxes. The emergence of digital assets raises pressing questions regarding the treatment of digital assets at an account holder’s death. Unlike digital assets’ physical counterparts, an account holder does not control the ultimate fate of digital assets. Instead, digital assets are controlled by …

Finding An Appropriate Global Legal Paradigm For The Internet: United States And International Responses, Benjamin A. Perlman

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

E-Books, Collusion, And Antitrust Policy: Protecting A Dominant Firm At The Cost Of Innovation, Nicholas Timchalk

Seattle University Law Review

Amazon’s main rival, Apple, went to great lengths and took major risks to enter the e-book market. Why did Apple simply choose not to compete on the merits of its product and brand equity (the iPad and iBookstore) as it does with its other products? Why did Apple decide not to continue to rely on its earlier success of situating its products differently in the market than other electronics and working hard to be different and cutting-edge with its e-book delivery? This Note argues that the combination of Amazon’s 90% market share, network externalities, and an innovative technology market creates …

Mega, Digital Storage Lockers, And The Dmca: Will Innovation Be Stifled By Fears Of Piracy?, Ali V. Mirsaidi

Duke Law & Technology Review

Kim Dotcom, founder of Megaupload Limited, has been in many news headlines over the past year. Megaupload—one of Dotcom’s many peer-to-peer sharing sites—was the center of controversy, as it allowed users to upload and share all sorts of files, including copyrighted material. After an organized effort by the Department of Justice and several foreign governments, Dotcom was arrested for (secondary) copyright infringement and his site was ultimately shut down. Dotcom has recently launched a new service, MEGA, which he claims will evade copyright laws entirely. Like other well-known cloud-sharing services such as Dropbox and Google Drive, MEGA allows users to …

For Sale--One Level 5 Barbarian For 94,800 Won: The International Effects Of Virtual Property And The Legality Of Its Ownership, Alisa B. Steinberg

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Self, Privacy, And Power: Is It All Over?, Richard Warner, Robert H. Sloan

All Faculty Scholarship

The realization of a multifaceted self is an ideal one strives to realize. One realizes such a self in large part through interaction with others in various social roles. Such realization requires a significant degree of informational privacy. Informational privacy is the ability to determine for yourself when others may collect and how they may use your information. The realization of multifaceted selves requires informational privacy in public. There is no contradiction here: informational privacy is a matter of control, and you can have such control in public. Current information processing practices greatly reduce privacy in public thereby threatening the …

Tinkering With Success: College Athletes, Social Media And The First Amendment, Meg Penrose

Faculty Scholarship

Good law does not always make good policy. This article seeks to provide a legal assessment, not a policy directive. The policy choices made by individual institutions and athletic departments should be guided by law, but absolutely left to institutional discretion. Many articles written on college student-athletes' social media usage attempt to urge policy directives clothed in constitutional analysis.

In this author's opinion, these articles have lost perspective-constitutional perspective. This article seeks primarily to provide a legal and constitutional assessment so that schools and their athletic departments will have ample information to then make their own policy choices.

Don't Tread On Me: The Need For An Alternate Dispute Resolution Process For The Creators And Uploaders Of User-Generated Content, Scott A. Tarbell

Pepperdine Dispute Resolution Law Journal

This article analyzes the current position that UGC site users find themselves in relation to their ability to dispute copyright infringement claims. Part II discusses the introduction and purpose of the DMCA along with the statutory provisions and case law relevant to the subject. Part III covers the underlying issues encumbering the current appeals process for the OSPs as dictated under the DMCA, and why changes are required. Part IV advocates for a new dispute process, one in favor of online alternative dispute resolution (OADR), and explains how this new paradigm would produce more equitable results for UGC site users. …