Internet Law Commons^™

Democratic Deliberation In The Wild: The Mcgill Online Design Studio And The Regulation Room Project, Cynthia Farina, Hoi Kong, Cheryl Blake, Mary Newhart

Fordham Urban Law Journal

Although there is no single unified conception of deliberative democracy, the generally accepted core thesis is that democratic legitimacy comes from authentic deliberation on the part of those affected by a collective decision. This deliberation must occur under conditions of equality, broadmindedness, reasonableness, and inclusion. In exercises such as National Issue forums, citizen juries, and consensus conferences, deliberative practitioners have shown that careful attention to process design can enable ordinary citizens to engage in meaningful deliberation about difficult public policy issues. Typically, however, these are closed exercises—that is, they involve a limited number of participants, often selected to achieve a …

Smart Law For Smart Cities, Annie Decker

Fordham Urban Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Government-Provided Internet Access: Terms Of Service As Speech Rules, Enrique Armijo

Fordham Urban Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Securing The Smart Grid: Protecting National Security And Privacy Through Mandatory, Enforcable Interoperability Standards, Christopher Bosch

Fordham Urban Law Journal

No abstract provided.

The Commercial Sexual Exploiutation Of Minors, The First Amendment, And Freedom: Why Backpage.Com Should Be Prevented From Selling America's Children For Sex, Anna Makatche

Fordham Urban Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Bringing Continuity To Cryptocurrency: Commercial Law As A Guide To The Asset Categorization Of Bitcoin, Evan Hewitt

Seattle University Law Review

This Note will undertake to analyze bitcoin under the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) and the Internal Revenue Code (IRC)—two important sources of commercial law—to see whether any existing asset categories adequately protect bitcoin’s commercial viability. This Note will demonstrate that although commercial law dictates that bitcoin should—nay must—be regulated as a currency in order to sustain its existence, the very definition of currency seems to preclude that from happening. Therefore, this Note will recommend that we experiment with a new type of asset that receives currency-like treatment, specifically designed for cryptocurrencies, under which bitcoin can be categorized in order to …

Legal Nature Of Emails: A Comparative Perspective, Edina Harbinja

Duke Law & Technology Review

There is currently a conflict between laws and the market in their treatment of email. Laws mandate that emails are not protected as property unless copyrightable or protected by another legal mechanism. But the market suggests that emails are user-owned property without further qualification. Moreover, the nature of email is treated slightly differently between the U.S. and U.K. legal regimes. While the current legal regimes applicable to email in the U.K. and U.S. are reasonable, legal harmonization within these systems, and with the service provider market, should be achieved.

Free And Open Source Software In Municipal Procurement:The Challenges And Benefits Of Cooperation, Justin C. Colannino

Fordham Urban Law Journal

The use of free and open source software by municipal governments is the exception rather than the rule. This is due to a variety of factors, including a failure of many municipal procurement policies to take into account the benefits of free software, free software vendors second-to-market status, and a lack of established free and open source software vendors in niche markets. With feasible policy shifts to improve city operations, including building upon open standards and engaging with free software communities, municipalities may be able to better leverage free and open source software to realize fully the advantages that stem …

Understanding And Regulating Twenty-First Century Payment Systems: The Ripple Case Study, Marcel T. Rosner, Andrew Kang

Michigan Law Review

Ripple is an open-source Internet software that enables users to conduct payments across national boundaries in multiple currencies as seamlessly as sending an email. This decentralized Internet payment protocol could provide a cure to an inefficient cross-border payments system. Although Ripple’s technology can reduce significant risks and costs that exist in the internationalpayments system, regulators should adopt a new regulatory framework that responds to how this technology works. This Note performs two functions to help regulators realize this goal. It first helps regulators and other market participants understand how Ripple operates by explaining what Ripple is and comparing it to …

A Balancing Act: The Virtue Of A "Light Touch" Regulatory Framework In The 2015 Open Internet Order, Nia Chung Srodoski

Minnesota Journal of Law, Science & Technology

No abstract provided.

Making Civilian Drones Safe: Performance Standards, Self-Certification, And Post-Sale Data Collection, Henry Perritt, Albert Plawinski

All Faculty Scholarship

With millions of small drones in private hands, the FAA continues its struggle to develop an effective regulatory regime to comply with Congress’s mandate to integrate them into the national airspace system. Thousands of individuals and small businesses have obtained authorization from the FAA—"section 333 exemptions"—allowing them to fly their drones commercially. Farmers, TV stations, surveyors, construction-site supervisors, real estate agents, people selling their properties, and managers seeking cheaper and safer ways to inspect their facilities, want to hire the exemption holders, but many are holding back until the FAA clarifies the groundrules.The FAA understands that its traditional approach for …

Spying, Ronald Griffin

Faculty Books and Book Contributions

Ronald C. Griffin’s paper Spying, which is the third paper in the book Selected Issues in Modern Jurisprudence, edited by David A. Frenkel, begins with the finding in the Church Committee Report in the USA. It spotlights Edward Snowden’s disclosure about the NSA, reviews pertinent laws about spying and parades some suggestions and recommendation to curb government excesses.

Experience, Not Logic: Adapting Spoliation Doctrine To The Brave New World Of Digital Documents, Roni A. Elias

Student Works

The adversarial system requires full discovery as an essential element of a fair and accurate litigation process. Not surprisingly, spoliation—the destruction of evidence with a culpable state of mind—is an anathema to the most fundamental principles governing litigation procedure and in turn may warrant harsh sanctions.

The doctrines governing how courts respond to spoliation are well established. But these venerable rules were mostly devised for a discovery process that involved the production of paper documents. The information revolution that accompanied the dramatic expansion of computers to produce and store every kind of document forever transformed the discovery process. As computer …

Undetected Conflict-Of-Laws Problems In Cross-Border Online Copyright Infringement Cases, Marketa Trimble

Boyd Briefs / Road Scholars

Professor Marketa Trimble presented her paper, “Undetected Conflict-of-Laws Problems in Cross-Border Online Copyright Infringement Cases" at the 16th Annual Intellectual Property Scholars Conference held at Stanford Law School in Palo Alto, CA, on August 12, 2016. The presentation was one of five in a session devoted to Empirical Copyright.

Abstracts and information about other sessions at the conference are available on the Intellectual Property Scholars Conference website.

Platform Neutrality: Enhancing Freedom Of Expression In Spheres Of Private Power, Frank A. Pasquale

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

The Privacy Policymaking Of State Attorneys General, Danielle Keats Citron

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Smart Washers May Clean Your Clothes, But Hacks Can Clean Out Your Privacy, And Underdeveloped Regulations Could Leave You Hanging On A Line, 32 J. Marshall J. Info. Tech. & Privacy L. 259 (2016), Nikole Davenport

UIC John Marshall Journal of Information Technology & Privacy Law

A house is equipped with a smart clothes washer, an intelligent HVAC system and a video enabled home security system, all running through the home network - it reduces the noise by doing laundry when no one is at home, saves energy costs by automatically changing the temperature depending who is in a room, lets the owner remotely see the kids walk in the door after school, and keeps the house safe - the owner is maximizing the use of the Internet of Things (“IoT”) devices (i.e. a network of everyday objects connected to the Internet and to each other). …

Digital Love: Where Does The Marital Communications Privilege Fit In The World Of Social Media Communications, 32 J. Marshall J. Info. Tech. & Privacy L. 105 (2016), Nicole Scott

UIC John Marshall Journal of Information Technology & Privacy Law

This comment explores the impact of recent developments in communication on the applicability of the marital communications privilege. Particularly, this article explores the role social media communication plays, focusing on whether a change is necessary for the privilege to adhere to the recent changes in marriage and communication. Part II of this article discusses the history of the marital privilege, the evolution of marriage, and the history of social media. Part III proposes the need to extend the marital privilege to include private communications on social media. I will advocate for this by comparing the Privilege to other communication privileges, …

Health Information And Data Security Safeguards, 32 J. Marshall J. Info. Tech. & Privacy L. 133 (2016), Jane Kim, David Zakson

UIC John Marshall Journal of Information Technology & Privacy Law

The healthcare industry possesses information coveted by cyber criminals. Unfortunately, healthcare providers are also among the most vulnerable and unprepared to deal with cyber attacks. The Introduction sets the background of this paper with cyber security statistics of the healthcare sector. Part A of this paper will discuss how new Russian law impacts global data security. Part B takes a broad look at data security safeguards. Part C focuses on U.S. attempts at safeguarding data through NIST and its Presidential Policy Directive. In Part D, the paper explores in greater detail causes that precipitate security breaches and specific security defenses …

Following In The European Union’S Footsteps: Why The United States Should Adopt Its Own “Right To Be Forgotten” Law For Crime Victims, 32 J. Marshall J. Info. Tech. & Privacy L. 185 (2016), Erin Cooper

UIC John Marshall Journal of Information Technology & Privacy Law

This comment aims to look at this intersection between Google search results, their lack of removal options in the United States, and the potential harm this can cause crime victims. The comment will begin by assessing Google’s method for delivering search results, and its general removal process for most non-European nations. Then, this comment will continue by looking at the European Union and its “right to be forgotten” ruling that allows people in certain circumstances to remove their personal information from the Internet, and what the United States can learn from its implementation. Moreover, we will then contrast the European …