Openness is the first fundamental principle of fair information practices with “notice” serving to practically implement openness in most commercial transactions. However, current notices have been widely criticized as being too complex, legalistic, lengthy, and opaque. This Article argues that to achieve the openness required by the first fair information practice principle, data protection and privacy should move from a “notice” …
The Internet of Things (“IoT”) is here, and we seem to be going all in. We are trying to put a microchip in nearly every object that is not nailed down and even a few that are. Soon, your cars, toasters, toys, and even your underwear will be wired up to make your lives better. The general thought seems …
In recent years, many technology companies have enabled encryption by default in their products, thereby burdening law enforcement efforts to intercept communications content or access data stored on smartphones by traditional means. Even before such encryption technologies were widely used, however, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”) claimed its surveillance capabilities were “Going Dark” due …
The Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) is an enforcement powerhouse that has historically relied on the 1986 Electronic Communications Privacy Act (“ECPA”) to collect electronic communications directly from Internet Service Providers (“ISPs”) with a subpoena. The ECPA shields recent or unopened electronic communications from government eyes, but treats all others as abandoned and thus subject to warrantless government search and seizure. In …
Over the past several years, legal services provided through online platforms have become a popular, low cost alternative to traditional legal services. LegalZoom offers a range of legal services, through its website, at a more affordable price than traditional legal services. Affordable legal services help to remedy the current disparity in the United States between low-income individuals with legal needs and …
As books are becoming electronic, people are now conducting more research online instead of venturing into bookstores and libraries. The number of bookstores in the nation is declining as people replace the relationship they once had with these stores with online sources. Particularly, in services such as Google Books, people use search engines to browse books in the same manner they …
Social media is a powerful and useful tool for facilitating communication between federal agencies and their constituents. However, the recent ruling by the Government Accountability Office (“GAO”) that a social media campaign undertaken by the Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) violated both the Federal Antideficiency Act (“FADA”) and the prohibition on grass-roots lobbying has raised questions regarding how agencies can continue to utilize …
Imagine—your taxi arrives at the airport terminal, you quickly check your bags, and then join hundreds of other passengers in line for security screening. The line seems to be moving even more slowly than usual, and you glare ahead when you notice the hold up—Transportation Security Administration (“TSA”) officials removing snakes and tortoises from a passenger’s pants. This bizarre scenario made …
In the wake of press reports of abusive patent behavior, the North Carolina legislature followed other states and passed a state law designed to curb abusive patent practices. The Abusive Patents Assertions Act (the Act), passed in 2014, creates a state law tort action for a bad faith assertion of patent infringement. A business that believes it has been …
On May 13, 2014, the Court of Justice of the European Union (“CJEU”) announced its judgment in Google Spain SL, Google Inc. v. Agencia Espanola de Proteccion de Datos, Mario Consteja González. The decision required Google to delist certain internet search results when a search query was made using an individual’s name. Commentators worldwide have referred to this delisting as the …
