In 2013, California State Senator Ellen Corbett introduced S.B. 501, a bill requiring social networking websites to comply with requests to remove sensitive or identifying information from their websites within 96 hours. This bill is one among many bills introduced in recent years that attempt to secure greater individual privacy rights on the Internet. Yet, …

Technology companies including Facebook, Microsoft, Google, and Yahoo have recently given the first look at secret data requests made by the government in regards to national security issues.  These new details were published this past week and revealed both the scope and volume of requests that were made. The data requests by the government were …

It is easy to be idealistic about the cultural effects of the internet—opening communication between different cultures, comparatively free and open information—until one gets to the comments section of any given interactive content-based website.  One of the negative things the internet is good at is stirring self-righteous indignation in even the best of us.  Recently, …

The details of government surveillance programs brought to light in the wake of Edward Snowden’s NSA leaks have already spawned multiple lawsuits.  Klayman v. NSA was filed literally the day after the first revelations came out in The Guardian.  US District Judge Richard Leon called the government’s spying technology “almost Orwellian” in his widely cited …

It’s almost impossible to talk about the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (the “CFAA”) without first mentioning Aaron Swartz. Aaron Swartz was a computer programmer and Internet activist who ran afoul of the Justice Department just a few years ago. Police arrested Swartz in 2011, after he allegedly accessed the computer network at the Massachusetts …

The current broadband Internet marketplace is, unfortunately, limited to a few competitors. Typically, the average household has access to options for high speed Internet from their cable company, telephone service provider, and possibly a fiber optic high-speed Internet provider (depending on their location). Many areas, especially rural areas, do not have access to these high-speed …

Under a ruling recently passed by the Florida Fifth District Court of Appeal, judges must live up to a higher standard than most in respect to their interactions.  A simple Facebook ‘friend’ request, while innocuous among members of the non-legal public, can merit a judge’s forced recusal from a case if sent from a judge …

For Target Corporation, December 2013 was an utter disaster. Just before Christmas, the company revealed that hackers had stolen personal information for as many as 110 million of its customers. From November 27th until December 15th, hackers accessed customers’ credit and debit card numbers, names, phone numbers, mailing addresses, and email addresses. The breach was …

Automatic license plate readers are rapidly being adopted across the country for use by law enforcement agencies and private businesses. While license plate readers can quickly identify wanted vehicles and enhance public safety, many are questioning the lack of regulations behind the use of this technology. License plate scanners work with the use of cameras …

On New Year’s Eve, six year old Sofia Liu, her four year old brother, and her mother were crossing a San Francisco street when they were struck by a car running a red light. Sofia was killed instantly, while her brother and mother were seriously injured. While this tragic story has also raised questions about …