In this article, we plan to discuss the Fifth Amendment implications of requirements to digitally identify oneself, for example by facial or thumbprint recognition. The spread of data-encryption services has made the retrieval of information more difficult for law enforcement officials. Over half the attempts the FBI made to unlock…
Do the courts have the ability to subpoena user identity information from Instagram? Can a person file a lawsuit against the operators of an Instagram page for defamation? An advertising executive was fired after being posted about on an Instagram account, Diet Madison Avenue. The account is known for outing sexual harassment…
Is a warrant required for law enforcement to access a suspect’s location information generated by the suspect’s cell phone? Would obtaining such data violate a person’s Fourth Amendment rights? In this blog, we will be discussing whether a warrant is required for law enforcement to access a user’s location information…
For this week’s blog post, we will be discussing a recently decided copyright law case, in which a foreign broadcaster was held liable for violating the Copyright Act when they allowed United States users to access copyrighted material through a video-on-demand website. The specific case is Spanski Enterprises, Inc. v.…
For this week’s blog post, we will be continuing with a discussion of another recently decided Supreme Court case. Specifically, we will cover United States v. Microsoft Corporation, and talk about the ramification’s the Court’s decision has on the world of internet technology. This case involves user data privacy rights…
This month on our blog we have been talking about internet law related legislation and development. This week will continue the topic with a discussion of artificial intelligence and privacy issues. Specifically, we will talk about Google’s new Duplex technology, which allows users to make appointments, book reservations, and call…
In our first June blog post, we discussed a bill passed by the State Senate which would provide net neutrality rules for ISPs in the State of California. We continue this week with the theme of internet regulating laws being proposed in our state. The California Consumer Privacy Act of…
Mentioned in passing, in our first December blog post is another potential pitfall for operators of Internet-based services such as websites or applications. This one pitfall in particular comes out of the State of California. However, given the role of the internet as a wide-spread source of information, this is…
Last week we discussed smart toys, and we mentioned “COPPA” in that article. As such, some of you may be asking what is COPPA?” In short, COPPA is a federal law specifically tailored towards children, and stands for “Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act.” This law is meant to protect children…
We have finally reached December, and with it, comes the time for shopping. Of course, some people will focus on the youngest members of their families – i.e., children. However, it needs to be emphasized that even with children, there are special concerns. The law considers juveniles and their decision-making…