Privacy Law Commons^™

Revising Reasonableness In The Cloud, Ian Walsh

Washington Law Review

Save everything—just in case––and search for it later. This is a modern mantra fueled by the ubiquity of smartphones, laptops, tablets, and free or low-cost data storage that leads users to store massive amounts of data in the cloud. But when users trust third-party cloud storage providers with private communications, they also surrender Fourth Amendment constitutional certainty. Existing statutory safeguards for these communications are lower than Fourth Amendment warrant and probable cause standards; this permits the government to seize large quantities of users’ private communications stored in the cloud with only minimal justification. Due to the revealing nature of such …

Data Autonomy, Cesare Fracassi, William Magnuson

Vanderbilt Law Review

In recent years, “data privacy” has vaulted to the forefront of public attention. Scholars, policymakers, and the media have, nearly in unison, decried the lack of data privacy in the modern world. In response, they have put forth various proposals to remedy the situation, from the imposition of fiduciary obligations on technology platforms to the creation of rights to be forgotten for individuals. All these proposals, however, share one essential assumption: we must raise greater protective barriers around data. As a scholar of corporate finance and a scholar of corporate law, respectively, we find this assumption problematic. Data, after all, …

Surveillance Capitalism, William Hamilton

Journal of Technology Law & Policy

In 2019, Harvard Business School Professor Shoshana Zuboff published The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power.

What I hope to accomplish in this short presentation is to unpack some of the salient themes of this interesting, important book. I believe her book will lend context and urgency to this conference. Her book is a combination of excellent research, journalism, and scholarship. It is also a call, a plea, a supplication. Thus, the sub-title, The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power, presages an unrelenting critical …

Defending Face-Recognition Technology (And Defending Against It), Henry H. Perritt Jr.

Journal of Technology Law & Policy

This Article looks beneath the surface of attacks on face-recognition technology and explains how it can be an exceptionally useful tool for law enforcement, complementing traditional forensic evidence such as fingerprints and DNA. It punctures myths about the technology and explains how existing rules of criminal procedure, developed for other kinds of forensic evidence, are readily adaptable to face-recognition. It opposes across-the-board restrictions on use of face-recognition technologies and advocates a more sophisticated set of guarantees of defendant access to the information necessary to probe reliability of computerized face-matches. Defendants must have reasonable access to the details of the technology …

A Faustian Bargain That Undermines Research Participants’ Privacy Rights And Return Of Results, Barbara J. Evans, Susan M. Wolf

Florida Law Review

A 2018 committee report published by the highly respected National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine (the Report) recommends stripping research participants of crucial data privacy rights and discarding decades of carefully deliberated consensus guidelines for the ethical return of results and data from research. This Article traces these disturbing recommendations to three root causes: (1) a statement of task that blocked careful and impartial analysis of a disputed legal matter central to the Report; (2) a piecemeal legal analysis that omitted relevant strands of law; and (3) the inappropriate conflation of two distinct concepts—the return of individual research results …

Chinese Technology Platforms Operating In The United States: Assessing The Threat (Originally Published As A Joint Report Of The National Security, Technology, And Law Working Group At The Hoover Institution At Stanford University And The Tech, Law & Security Program At American University Washington College Of Law), Gary Corn, Jennifer Daskal, Jack Goldsmith, Chris Inglis, Paul Rosenzweig, Samm Sacks, Bruce Schneier, Alex Stamos, Vincent Stewart

Joint PIJIP/TLS Research Paper Series

No abstract provided.

Sales, Acquisitions, And Mergers Of Direct-To-Consumer Genetic Testing Companies: The Risks And A Solution, Alyssa K Mcleod

Texas A&M Law Review

Direct-to-consumer genetic tests have become increasingly popular in the United States within the last few years. However, these tests pose many risks to the consumer, most notably privacy risks. A subset of these privacy risks involves the issue of company mergers, acquisitions, and sales. Many companies in the direct-to-consumer genetic testing market have privacy policies that contain a variation of a “business transfer” clause. These clauses specify that in the event the company goes through a business transition such as a sale, merger, or acquisition, the consumer’s personal information—including the consumer’s DNA—will be among the assets transferred. This Article explores …

Fact Or Phallus? Considering The Constitutionality Of Texas's Cyber-Flashing Law Under The True Threat Doctrine, Brenna Cheyne Miller

Texas A&M Law Review

As societal reliance on digital and online communication continues to grow, courts are grappling with how best to provide legal recourse for novel, technology-related issues while still protecting American citizens’ First Amendment right to free speech. The State of Texas recently enacted Penal Code section 21.19, which criminalizes the transmission of unsolicited sexually explicit images to another person—or as it is commonly known, “cyber-flashing.” Cyber-flashing occurs through digital and online platforms, including text messages, apps, and social media. Section 21.19 is one of the first statutes of its kind in the United States. In the age of “dick pics,” this …

Dysregulating The Media: Digital Redlining, Privacy Erosion, And The Unintentional Deregulation Of American Media, Jon Garon

Maine Law Review

Netflix, Amazon, YouTube, and Apple have been joined by Disney+, Twitch, Facebook, and others to supplant the broadcast industry. As the FCC, FTC, and other regulators struggle, a new digital divide has emerged. The current regulatory regime for television is built upon the government’s right to manage over-the-air broadcasting. As content producers shift away from broadcast and cable, much of the government’s regulatory control will end, resulting in new consequences for public policy and new challenges involving privacy, advertising, and antitrust law. Despite the technological change, there are compelling government interests in a healthy media environment. This article explores the …

Can I Have Some Privacy?: A Look Into The Unfortunate Truth Of Pregnancy Tests Throughout Sports And The Negative Impact On Female Athletes, Hannah Rogers

Jeffrey S. Moorad Sports Law Journal (1994 - )

No abstract provided.

As Society Strives For Reduced Contact During The Pandemic, How Can Human Microchipping Help?, Nanci K. Carr

Villanova Law Review (1956 - )

No abstract provided.

Whose Rights Matter More—Police Privacy Or A Defendant’S Right To A Fair Trial?, Laurie L. Levenson

Loyola of Los Angeles Law Review

The function of the prosecutor under the federal Constitution is not to tack as many skins of victims as possible to the wall. His function is to vindicate the right of the people as expressed in the laws and give those accused of crime a fair trial.

– William O. Douglas

Protection Of And Access To Relevant Data: General Issues, Kung-Chung Liu, Shufeng Zheng

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

This chapter discusses the protection of relevant data and issues that might block access to such data. For the purpose of this chapter there are at least three kinds of data, data specifically generated for the purpose of AI the big data, and copyright protected data, each having its unique issues concerning protection and access. This chapter comes to the conclusions: Data specifically generated for AI should qualify as works worthy of copyright protection as compilations. If such data are public sector information, measures that may facilitate the widest re-uses of public data should be taken. If such data are …

Suspicion Encoded: Women Of Color And Biometric Technology In The United States, Lilith A. Saylor

sprinkle: an undergraduate journal of feminist and queer studies

This paper explores the commodification of privacy through biometric technology in the United States. It examines the impact of this technology on poor women of color (WOC), arguing that poor WOC face intersectional discrimination based on the convergence of sex, race, and class in their identities. I highlight the unique and powerful intrusion of biometric technology into the lives of poor WOC, and argue that the connection between data and the physical body created through biometric data has formed an environment in which the state wields unrestricted control in all spheres over the privacy of poor WOC.

Dysregulating The Media: Digital Redlining, Privacy Erosion, And The Unintentional Deregulation Of American Media, Jon M. Garon

Faculty Scholarship

Netflix, Amazon, YouTube, and Apple have been joined by Disney+, Twitch, Facebook, and others to supplant the broadcast industry. As the FCC, FTC, and other regulators struggle, a new digital divide has emerged. The current regulatory regime for television is built upon the government’s right to manage over-the-air broadcasting. As content producers shift away from broadcast and cable, much of the government’s regulatory control will end, resulting in new consequences for public policy and new challenges involving privacy, advertising, and antitrust law. Despite the technological change, there are compelling government interests in a healthy media environment. This article explores the …

#Audited: Social Media And Tax Enforcement, Michelle Lyon Drumbl

Scholarly Articles

With limited resources and a diminished budget, it is not surprising that the Internal Revenue Service would seek new tools to maximize its enforcement efficiency. Automation and technology provide new opportunities for the IRS, and in turn, present new concerns for taxpayers. In December 2018, the IRS signaled its interest in a tool to access publicly available social media profiles of individuals in order to “expedite IRS case resolution for existing compliance cases.” This has important implications for taxpayer privacy.

Moreover, the use of social media in tax enforcement may pose a particular harm to an especially vulnerable population: low-income …

Post-Pandemic Privacy Law, Tiffany C. Li

Law Faculty Scholarship

COVD-19, the global pandemic that began in 2019, altered how we live our lives in just about every way imaginable. Some of those changes were obvious-for example, those who were fortunate enough to be able to work from home began working online-while other changes were more subtle. The latter category included unprecedented levels of data collection by governments and organizations purporting to collect information that would help stop the pandemic's spread. Given the deadly nature of COVID-19, few would question any public health efforts, no matter their impact on privacy. However, the lack of attention to privacy issues during the …

Privacy In Pandemic: Law, Technology, And Public Health In The Covid-19 Crisis, Tiffany C. Li

Law Faculty Scholarship

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused millions of deaths and disastrous consequences around the world, with lasting repercussions for every field of law, including privacy and technology. The unique characteristics of this pandemic have precipitated an increase in use of new technologies, including remote communications platforms, healthcare robots, and medical Al. Public and private actors alike are using new technologies, like heat sensing, and technologically influenced programs, like contact tracing, leading to a rise in government and corporate surveillance in sectors like healthcare, employment, education, and commerce. Advocates have raised the alarm for privacy and civil liberties violations, but the emergency …

Too Big To Protect: A Dodd-Frank Framework For Protecting 21st Century American Consumer Privacy Rights, Stanley A. Marciniak Iii

Duquesne Law Review

No abstract provided.

Outsourcing The Police: How Reliance On The Private Sector For Law Enforcement Threatens Privacy Legislation Around The World, Karl Colbary

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

Data privacy is an increasingly important issue in the world today. People are increasingly aware of, and concerned about, their digital footprint. As a result, many jurisdictions around the world—the United States excluded—have enacted legislation with an eye towards giving their citizens greater control over their data. However, the movement to give individuals greater control over how their data is used by tech providers often overlooks the fact that the government is one of the biggest consumers of the data that tech providers collect. Therefore, data privacy regimes that allow the flow of personal information to the government do not …