A human trafficking survivor has sued Facebook, Backpage.com and others in Texas state court, accusing the social media giant and the now-defunct classified ads website of providing an unrestricted platform for predators to exploit, extort and recruit children into the sex trade. The lawsuit was filed Monday in Harris County and it claimed all these …
In 2015, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) enacted a rule that prevented internet service providers (ISPs) “from using their market power to favor some websites and services over others.” Known as net neutrality, this rule had prevented ISPs from intentionally blocking, slowing down specific content or websites, and charging their customers additional fees for access …
Last June, California Governor, Jerry Brown, signed into law the nation’s most restrictive regulation on privacy, the California Consumer Privacy Act (“CCPA”). The law takes effect on January 2020 and grants California residents: the right to know what personal information a business collected on the resident; the right to request the business to delete the …
Although social media has acted as a platform for world leaders and celebrities to make major controversial statements, it can also act as a platform for governmental regulation. Recently, the Securities and Exchange Commission has vehemently pursued litigation against the Chief Executive Officer of Tesla, Elon Musk. The S.E.C.’s action was entirely related to events …
Outside of the realm of crime scene analysis, the innovative use of technology is not often something we associate with the investigative practices of a local police department. Last week, however, the Newport Beach Police Department (NBPD) announced the release of a podcast, written, produced, and narrated by the department itself, to bring fugitive Peter …
On September 30, the federal government filed suit against California mere hours after the state passed what has been called the “toughest net neutrality law ever enacted in the United States.” The new law was enacted to restore net neutrality rules in California after Obama-era federal protections were repealed by the FCC in December 2017. …
Verizon Wireless has recently announced its plan to introduce its 5G technology into your home, and its debut will not be coming to your phone, at least not at first. The tech giant plans to introduce the 5G technology as a wireless internet option that uses radio waves to deliver wifi, with package discounts to …
Another major data breach was reported on Friday, September 28th, when Facebook disclosed that nearly fifty million user profiles had been hacked. Facebook’s investigation is in the initial stages, and thus details are sparse, but the following is known. Hackers were able to steal “access tokens,” which are essentially digital keys that allow users to …
In Kyllo v. United States, the court held that the use of “sense-enhancing” technology not in general public use to look at a criminal suspect’s house constituted a Fourth Amendment search. However, with the increase of the use of artificial intelligence in surveillance technology, this standard will likely need to be challenged in the near …
In 2017, it was fidget spinners; in 2018, it’s electric scooter rentals. If you’ve recently been in a major city, you’ve surely seen them parked along curbs, breezing through intersections, or even strewn about in unexpected locations. But the popularity of dock-free scooters offered by companies like Bird, Lime, Skip, and Spin has coincided with …
