Internet Law Commons^™

Bringing Shadow Libraries Out Of Legal Shadows: An Opportunity For The Delhi High Court, Rahul Bajaj, Anchal Bhateja

Indian Journal of Law and Technology

At the heart of the copyright bargain is the need to strike a balance between fostering creativity, by incentivizing producers of intellectual property and promoting the interests of the public at large. These two are often in tension with each other. Some cases bring this tension into sharp focus. The ongoing litigation in the Delhi high Court, on the legality of shadow libraries - Libgen and Sci Hub - is one such case. The case has seminal importance for ensuring that the right to education is duly respected and fulfilled.

In this paper, we argue that this litigation offers the …

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 2), Jay T. Conrad

Seattle Journal of Technology, Environmental, & Innovation Law

This Article is the second of a two-part series about an increasingly prevalent threat to human rights: State-sanctioned Internet shutdowns. Part 1 detailed Internet shutdown tactics and potential human rights violations that could result from a shutdown. Now, Part 2 addresses the deficiencies of advocating for Internet access to be a recognized human right as a means of combatting shutdowns. Despite the popularity of this proposed solution, the harms of Internet shutdowns are better addressed through traditional legal avenues, such as bringing claims against the sanctioning state.

Part 1 can be found in The Seattle Journal of Technology, Environmental & …

Assessing The Potential Involutionary Effects Of New Copyright Laws: A Techno-Legal Analysis Based On The Impact Of Web 3.0 On Copyright Protection, Alvin Hung

Seattle Journal of Technology, Environmental, & Innovation Law

As Internet technology evolves, legal professionals and academics must stay current and adapt to these inevitable technological changes. This article investigates the extensive influence of the latest version of the World Wide Web (the Web)—Web 3.0—on copyright laws based on a techno-legal analysis that considers the opportunities and challenges of this new technology. The principal version of copyright laws, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), was enacted in 1998 during the Web 1.0 era, signifying an impending need for appropriate updates in the new Web 3.0 era. This article traces the historical development of U.S. copyright laws by positing it …

The Immutable Blockchain Confronts The Unstoppable Gdpr, Bisma Shoaib

Seattle Journal of Technology, Environmental, & Innovation Law

The notion that privacy is dispensable and should be sacrificed in exchange for internet access is misguided. In fact, privacy laws are flourishing, highlighting the significance of safeguarding personal information in the digital age. It is crucial to recognize that privacy is not merely a luxury, but a fundamental right that should be upheld, even in the context of online activities. In the ever-evolving landscape of technology, the collision between privacy and innovation becomes increasingly apparent. This paper delves into the intriguing convergence of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and blockchain technology, unraveling pivotal issues that arise from this …

Moody V. Netchoice, Llc: Amici Brief Of National Security Experts On Behalf Of Neither Party, Barbara Mcquade

Appellate Briefs

Amici represent a broad cross-section of the national security community and have significant operational and policy expertise in combatting terrorism. They include former career and politically appointed officials, across Republican and Democratic administrations, from the National Security Council staff, Office of the Director of National Intelligence, Central Intelligence Agency, Department of Homeland Security, Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Department of Defense, and Department of State, as well as former members of Congress with national security credentials and other national security experts. A complete list of amici is included in the Appendix.< \p>

As experienced national security experts, prosecutors, …

Trademarks In An Algorithmic World, Christine Haight Farley

Washington Law Review

According to the sole normative foundation for trademark protection—“search costs” theory—trademarks transmit useful information to consumers, enabling an efficient marketplace. The marketplace, however, is in the midst of a fundamental change. Increasingly, retail is virtual, marketing is data-driven, and purchasing decisions are automated by AI. Predictive analytics are changing how consumers shop. Search costs theory no longer accurately describes the function of trademarks in this marketplace. Consumers now have numerous digital alternatives to trademarks that more efficiently provide them with increasingly accurate product information. Just as store shelves are disappearing from consumers’ retail experience, so are trademarks disappearing from their …

After Ftx: Can The Original Bitcoin Use Case Be Saved?, Mark Burge

Faculty Scholarship

Bitcoin and the other cryptocurrencies spawned by the innovation of blockchain programming have exploded in prominence, both in gains of massive market value and in dramatic market losses, the latter most notably seen in connection with the failure of the FTX cryptocurrency exchange in November 2022. After years of investment and speculation, however, something crucial has faded: the original use case for Bitcoin as a system of payment. Can cryptocurrency-as-a-payment-system be saved, or are day traders and speculators the actual cryptocurrency future? This article suggests that cryptocurrency has been hobbled by a lack of foundational commercial and consumer-protection law that …

A Public Technology Option, Hannah Bloch-Wehba

Faculty Scholarship

Private technology increasingly underpins public governance. But the state’s growing reliance on private firms to provide a variety of complex technological products and services for public purposes brings significant costs for transparency: new forms of governance are becoming less visible and less amenable to democratic control. Transparency obligations initially designed for public agencies are a poor fit for private vendors that adhere to a very different set of expectations.

Aligning the use of technology in public governance with democratic values calls for rethinking, and in some cases abandoning, the legal structures and doctrinal commitments that insulate private vendors from meaningful …

Either The Law Will Govern Ai, Or Ai Will Govern The Law, Margaret Hu

Popular Media

No abstract provided.

Liking The Intrusion Analysis In In Re Facebook, Jane R. Bambauer

UF Law Faculty Publications

In re Facebook preserved a class action brought against Facebook based on its mass collection of web browsing data. Although the plaintiffs brought several common law and statutory causes of action, I will focus on the court’s analysis of intrusion upon seclusion. This is where the case makes its greatest contribution to 21st century jurisprudence. It clears up several puzzles that had troubled the tort (and indeed my own thinking) to the great benefit of tort theory and the progress of privacy law

Caging The Bored Ape: How The Ftc's Expanded Anti-Monopoly Authority Can Tame "Nfts" For Web 3.0, J. Scott Colesanti

William & Mary Business Law Review

Non-Fungible Tokens, or “NFTs,” ballooned into a 40-billion-dollar industry in under a decade. Their creators include artists, corporations, entrepreneurs, fraudsters—and even Donald Trump. While NFT owners and traders could be any of us, the parties running the marketplaces are hidden. NFT regulators have yet to be identified. Most alarmingly, the dominant NFT marketplaces are dangerously centralized. Accordingly, the publicized tales of exorbitant or manipulated NFT prices and frequent related scams abound. Meanwhile cryptocurrency—the technology enabling the life of an NFT—remains beset with, at best, theoretical models for effective regulation a full generation after its emergence.

To propose a rational start …

Leveraging Technology To Promote Access To Justice, Amy Emerson

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Link Tank

DePaul Magazine

A new JD certificate program in information technology, cybersecurity and data privacy provides DePaul University students with proficiency in both law and tech.

Full Issue: Fall 2023

DePaul Magazine

In DePaul Magazine's fall 2023, President Robert L. Manuel unveils his Designing DePaul road map to position the university for monumental impact. We also highlight an innovative program that merges law and tech, an initiative centering humanities in collaborative, community-based interactions, and the ascendance of soprano Janai Brugger (SOM '05) on the international opera stage.

Integrating Nist And Iso Cybersecurity Audit And Risk Assessment Frameworks Into Cameroonian Law, Bernard Ngalim

Journal of Cybersecurity Education, Research and Practice

This paper reviews cybersecurity laws and regulations in Cameroon, focusing on cybersecurity and information security audits and risk assessments. The importance of cybersecurity risk assessment and the implementation of security controls to cure deficiencies noted during risk assessments or audits is a critical step in developing cybersecurity resilience. Cameroon's cybersecurity legal framework provides for audits but does not explicitly enumerate controls. Consequently, integrating relevant controls from the NIST frameworks and ISO Standards can improve the cybersecurity posture in Cameroon while waiting for a comprehensive revision of the legal framework. NIST and ISO are internationally recognized as best practices in information …

Updating The Berne Convention For The Internet Age: Un-Blurring The Line Between United States And Foreign Copyrighted Works, Ethan Schow

Brigham Young University Journal of Public Law

John Naughton, notable journalist and academic, has asserted that “[common sense] should also revolt at the idea that doctrines about copyright that were shaped in a pre-Internet age should apply to a post-Internet one.” And yet, in crucial aspects of international law, this is the situation in which the world finds itself today. The Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works (the “Berne Convention” or the “Convention”) is one of the most important multinational agreements concerned with copyright law, but it has not been amended since September 28, 1979. Although the internet technically existed in an early …

Cryptocurrency Concerns, Crimes, And Legal Consequences, Madeline Connolly

Akron Law Review

This note addresses the current issues with the law and digital currencies, federal agencies’ current classifications of cryptocurrencies, problems with those classifications, and solutions to better regulate, classify, and prosecute virtual-currency crimes. The history of digital currencies, the history of criminal activity involving money, and how the creation and widespread use of cryptocurrencies has allowed criminals to find new ways to hide money that make it difficult for law enforcement to catch will be discussed. The article analyzes current and past cases involving different courts’ interpretations and prosecution of cryptocurrencies and concludes by offering solutions to the potential issues of …

Ohio's Data Protection Act And/As A Process-Based Approach To "Reasonable" Security, Brian Ray

Akron Law Review

This essay argues that the ODPA [Ohio Data Protection Act], which has become a model for similar laws and legislative proposals in several other states, in effect creates a process-based standard for cybersecurity. It does so by incorporating the risk-based approach used by the listed cybersecurity frameworks as the defacto standard for reasonable security for organizations seeking to qualify for the Act’s affirmative defense. This article summarizes the ODPA and then explains the risk-based approach of the cybersecurity frameworks it incorporates. It then argues that this risk-based approach in effect establishes a process-based definition of reasonable security and explains why …

Security In The Digital Age, Michael Gentithes

Akron Law Review

Rapidly evolving technology allows governments and businesses to elevate our collective well-being in ways we could not have imagined just decades ago. Data is now a resource that governments and businesses alike can mine to address the world’s needs with greater efficiency, accuracy, and flexibility. But evolving technology and advanced data analytics also come with risk. New digital capabilities also create new means for nefarious actors to infiltrate the complex technological systems at the heart of nearly all of our daily activities. Just as new digital tools emerge to offer unique goods and services, new tools allow wrongdoers to invade …

Table Of Contents, Seattle University Law Review

Seattle University Law Review

Table of Contents