By: Taylor Sullivan On February 23, 2022, the European Union publicized its proposal of the Data Act, a piece of legislation drafted to increase transparency and consumer control over data.  The Act obligates third party manufacturers collecting data, to share the data.  Moreover, the Act works to provide new rules which allow customers to transfer… Read More The Data Act: One Step Towards Protecting Consumers from Data Giants

By:  Sarish Siddiqui Due to the rising costs of low carbon fuel, the Kazakhstani people actively vocalized their frustrations through protests, and consequently, their government leaders shut off Internet connection.  Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, the President of Kazakhstan declared a two-week state of emergency after nationwide protests erupted over rising fuel prices.  The government banned access to… Read More The Cascade Effect of Kazakhstani’s Internet Shutdown Relating to the Russian-Ukrainian War

By: Eric Mulvey On February 25th, Satishkumar Kurjibhai Kumbhani, the founder of BitConnect, was indicted by a federal grand jury in California for his alleged role in a $2 billion cryptocurrency Ponzi scheme.  Kumbhani is alleged to have created a Ponzi scheme by soliciting bitcoins from investors who were wrongly told that their funds would… Read More BitConnect Founder Indicted in $2.4 Billion Ponzi Scheme

By: Tianyue Liao Have you heard of the novel Snow Crash?  Well, this novel is unlikely to be overlooked because it describes a virtual world in the 21st-century dystopia.  Written in 1992, Neal Stephenson coined the term “Metaverse.”  Interestingly, Stephenson wrote in this novel: “Like any place in Reality, the Street is subject to development.  Developers… Read More The Metaverse is Just Getting Started: Are we Stepping into an Unknown Legal Minefield?

By: David Lally Task Force KleptoCapture is a new interagency law enforcement task force, created by the United States Justice Department.  The task force was formed in an effort to enforce the sweeping sanctions, export restrictions, and economic countermeasures that the United States has imposed in response to Russia’s unprovoked military invasion of Ukraine.  The… Read More The Hunt for Russian Assets: DOJ Assigns Deputy Attorney General and Veteran Corruption Prosecutor to Go After Billionaire Oligarchs

By: Megan Fistori Social media has changed the way people engage personally and professionally.  Platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and most recently, TikTok have embedded themselves into the success of people’s professional lives.  For lawyers, the use of social media is helpful as a marketing tool, however, lawyers must understand how to engage in… Read More The Social Media Lawyer – Helpful or Harmful?

By: Brooke Gary Artificial Intelligence (“AI”) has become increasingly prevalent in the art world, as computers are now able to write poems, paint portraits, and produce music.  Originally, computer-generated works of art relied heavily on the creative input of the programmer and acted simply as a tool similar to that of an artist’s paintbrush or… Read More The Need for Human Creativity: The U.S. Copyright Office Says Artificial Intelligence Can’t Copyright its Art

By: Alex D’Aloisio A basic and oft-recited conventional wisdom is to never put something in writing— nowadays, typing—that you do not want a record of.  Written or typed statements are typically viewed as the holy grail of authenticity, and even in the legal field, certain agreements are required to be physically written out.  However, with… Read More Self-Deleting Messages, Self-Inflicting Sanctions: The Legal Consequences of Ephemeral Messaging

By: Kathryn Barber Professional adult entertainers have recently sued Meta Inc., the parent company of Facebook, and the owner of OnlyFans in a class-action suit alleging these companies illegally blacklisted them from advertising on Instagram and Facebook to favor OnlyFans performers.  The complaint alleges these companies blacklisted the performers in an effort to destroy their businesses… Read More A Monopoly on Adult Entertainment: Suit Claims OnlyFans Blacklisted Adult Entertainers Who Do Not Work Exclusively for the Platform

By: Emily Balzano In a recent complaint filed in New York state court, Cartier maintains that Tiffany & Co. (“Tiffany”), is guilty of trade secret misappropriation and breach of contract.  The complaint alleges that the defendant, former Cartier employee Megan Marino, was “lured” from her role at Cartier to share confidential company information with Tiffany.… Read More The Girls are Fighting! Cartier and Tiffany Battle Over Trade Secrets

By: Jeffrey Almonte Information is power in the age of instant-access news coverage.  Commonly, information is collected and used to sell an individual a product, recommend a service, or participate in community activities.  Although information is often sought as something sacred and should be protected–like in the world of data privacy and protections–little exists to… Read More Psych-Ops: 21st-Century Warfare Through the Use of Misinformation and Disinformation on Social Media

By: Christopher Kinney After months of speculation and significant lobbying on both sides of the aisle, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld California’s net neutrality law.  While the decision does not signal an end to the debate over the enforceability of the state’s law, it does allow the law to stay in effect and… Read More All Data Created Equal: What Net Neutrality In California Signals Moving Forward

By: Alexa Sullivan Facebook, which has now adopted the name Meta, has been accused of breaching anti-money laundering laws by not taking sufficient steps to prevent false cryptocurrency advertisements used to scam innocent Australians.  Australian billionaire Andrew Forrest has filed a lawsuit against the social media company for using his likeness and image to con… Read More False Advertising: Analyzing the Criminal Lawsuit Initiated Against Meta by Australian Billionaire Andrew Forrest for the Circulation of Click-Bait Ads Using His Likeness

By: Brenna Ryder Tesla, Inc. (“Tesla”), is recalling nearly 54,000 vehicles because their “Full Self-Driving” software allows the vehicles to roll through stop signs without coming to a complete stop.  The recall covers: Model S sedans and X SUVs from 2016 through 2022; Model 3 sedans from 2017 through 2022; and Model Y SUVs from… Read More Tesla Recall: Ensuring Safety or Stifling Innovation?

By: Claire Remillard Almost every American is familiar with the annoyance of receiving a random voicemail notification even though their phone never a received call.  These voicemails are often long-winded robotic recordings inquiring about the phone user’s credit card debt or car loans that do not actually exist.  These spam calls are commonly known as… Read More You [Don’t] Got Mail: The FCC Finds ‘Ringless Voicemails’ In Violation of The TCPA

By: Jennifer Pepin Targeted advertisements have raised major concerns for consumers who desire their information and data remain private.  Companies like Facebook and Google have collected a lot of information over the years about individual consumers and their browsing/buying habits. Using this information, advertisers can narrowly target audiences to market to. These targets can be… Read More Increasing Children’s Data Protection: Could it Lead to the Elimination of Targeted Advertising?

By: Bridget Harrington Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, many retailers have been moving away from traditional methods of payment like cash or chip-enabled credit cards and toward contactless methods such as Apple Pay.  Some retailers have even begun accepting cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin as payment for their goods or services.  Services like Apple… Read More Staying Crypto-Current: U.S. Treasury Researches Central Bank Digital Currencies Following Several Countries’ Implementation

By: John Gillies Wormhole is a bridge for cryptocurrency transactions in the ever-evolving decentralized finance space (“DeFi”).  Cryptocurrency connoisseurs will tell you that Wormhole is a very apt name for the product, as $323 million was exploited by a hacker, seemingly disappearing down a “wormhole” on February 2, 2022.  While users have been made whole… Read More Cryptocurrency Bridge “Wormhole” Exploited For $323 Million. Thief or White Hat Hacker?

By: Joseph Cunningham In a sudden move, Microsoft has sought to acquire Activision-Blizzard-King (“ABK”), for just under $70 billion in what would be the industry’s largest all-cash deal.  Microsoft aims to bring the widely popular ABK games into its growing cloud subscription service, Xbox Game Pass.  The deal will surely grow Microsoft’s already substantial market… Read More Blizzard Bail-Out: Microsoft Swoops in to Acquire the Gaming Giant

By: Bradley Bostwick Because of its $100 million man, Joe Rogan, Spotify is now in the crossfire between artists and customers leaving the platform and Rogan’s fans, who would merely claim him to be a victim of “cancel culture.”  This controversy stems from allegations that Rogan’s podcast, The Joe Rogan Experience, has been spreading misinformation… Read More Publisher or Platform: The Joe Rogan Experience Forces Spotify to Choose One