There are numerous phone applications and online services that provide consumers with real-time or same-day paychecks. While this concept is great in theory and has real, articulable benefits, there are many concerns surrounding the lack of regulation behind them.… Read More Instant Paycheck, Just Add Water: Are Early Wage Access Services Just Payday Loans Reinvented?

Sen. Cynthia Creem, D-Newton has proposed a bill in the Massachusetts Legislature that will limit the ability of state and local law enforcement to use facial recognition technology and other biometric systems. Law enforcement leaders are concerned this will inhibit police’s ability to use the technology to effectively do their jobs.… Read More Standing Up to Big Brother: Proposed Massachusetts Bill Will Limit Facial Recognition by State and Local Law Enforcement

Two former University of Maryland basketball players who started the viral the “Running Man” challenge in 2016 have filed the fourth lawsuit against video game developer Epic Games for its unauthorized use of dance moves in Fortnite. The claims against the company include copyright infringement and violation of the right of publicity. Epic Games has already asked a California judge to dismiss the first case filed in 2018, asserting that its use of the dance moves was protected by the First Amendment. While the company has a strong defense against the copyright infringement claims, it faces more of a challenge in arguing that it did not violate plaintiffs’ right of publicity. … Read More Dance Battle: Creators of Fortnite Facing Yet Another Lawsuit for Misappropriating Popular Dance Moves

By Taylor Ferrara Imagine, for a moment, a daytime drama or any medical television show or movie.  What you do imagine?  Usually, you’ll imagine the blinding white doctor coats, nurses’ in green scrubs, stethoscopes hanging from doctors’ necks, people hooked up to IVs or a person crammed into either an MRI or X-ray machine being told… Read More Beep…Beep…Beep…Is That Coming From Your Wrist?

By Julia Griffith The law and technology are always going head-to-head. Technology seems to be advancing at a rate that the law simply cannot keep up with. It has been estimated that the law is at least five years behind developing a technology. This estimation probably does, and should, leave most people feeling uneasy. Though new… Read More A Losing Game: The Law Is Struggling To Keep Up With Technology

As the judiciary’s application of the Fourth Amendment continues to evolve in the internet era, courts have encountered cases wherein police officers seize a suspect’s cell phone, then wait an extended period before applying for a search warrant. In this particular case, the 4th Circuit overturned the conviction of a child pornographer and sex trafficker on the grounds that 31 days was too long for police officers to wait before applying for a search warrant absent unique circumstances.… Read More How long is too long?: Mobile Phone Warrants and The Fourth Amendment

A look at the Senate Commerce Committee’s call for a hearing with Google executives to answer for recent consumer privacy violations. Members of the Committee are demanding a hearing after it was recently revealed that an in-home Google product contained a microphone, which was undisclosed to consumers. … Read More Time To Admit That Privacy Violations By Technology Companies Are Not Just Innocent Mistakes.

As drones have come in to popular usage, the federal government is forced to put at least some regulations in place for purposes of searches by police and the safety of citizens. While the Supreme Court has already ruled that most aerial searches are constitutional and do not require warrants, does that change with drones? Drones have the capability to get much lower to the ground than a plane or helicopter leaving citizens vulnerable to searches in constitutionally protected areas of their home. As technology advances, it is imperative that the courts draw a line when it comes to the capabilities of a drone to invade a citizen’s privacy. … Read More Tech Toys: How the Law has Started to Regulate Drone Usage

This blog discusses how YouTube has become a hub for pedophiles. Not only has YouTube been neglecting this issue, but advertisers are making money off of these videos. … Read More #YouTubeWakeUp: How Child Predators Are Sexually Exploiting Children On YouTube, and It Is Being Monetized

Fifth-generation cellular wireless (“5G”) has become the talk of the technology world. Many corporations are pushing to win at 5G’s “Patent War.” Although there are benefits to this technology, there are many consequences to 5G patent protections.… Read More Building Up a Global Wall Against the Use of 5G: The Arms Race over Securing Patent Rights for Fifth-Generation Cellular Wireless Technology

As technological and social media growth continues, maintaining the privacy of children in the classroom becomes a problem. … Read More Can a Teacher Photograph Your Child and Post it on Social Media?

This blog addresses the newly introduced facial recognition bill and how it measures up to the Biometric Information Privacy Act (“BIPA”). BIPA currently offers the strongest biometric data privacy protections in the nation, and the newly enacted facial recognition bill is a step into the right direction in terms of federal biometric privacy protection. … Read More The Race to Save Face: Senate introduces Facial Recognition Privacy Bill

Unfortunately, there has been a wave of school shootings in the United States in the past twenty to thirty years. There has been a significant debate after each school shooting regarding the causes of such heinous acts. One debate centers around the effect that violent video games may have on individuals. Some studies suggest that violent video games cause aggressive behavior, leading to violence by players of those games. Other studies suggest the complete opposite, that video games do not cause individuals to commit school shootings.… Read More Are Violent Video Games to Blame for the Wave of Gun Violence in Schools?

By Meghan Huggan Ad fraud is one of the world’s most lucrative forms of criminality today. According to Juniper Research, “advertisers will lose an estimated $19 billion to fraudulent activities next year, equivalent to $51 million per day. This figure, representing advertising on online and mobile devices, will continue to rise, reaching $44 billion by… Read More FBI Investigation Finds 8 People Responsible for Stealing Tens of Millions of Dollars in Ad-Fraud Scheme

As the Internet of Things continues to proliferate, who should be held liable and under what legal theories for any subsequent data breaches or attacks that result in privacy/data concerns and/or bodily injury and physical damage?… Read More Closing the Information Value Loop

Ever since the proliferation of online commerce, companies have tried to avoid major litigation and class action lawsuit that might debilitate the company. The solution has been always been to include in there [I agree to the terms and conditions] an arbitration clause to any disputes arising out of the contract. However, the way it is done is sometimes misleading and deceiving. … Read More I AGREE I HAVE NOT READ THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND THE ARBITRATION CLAUSE.

“Catfishing” has become a major source of concern for internet users, and law enforcement agencies have started to use the tactic to investigate a crime. Is this legal? Can social media companies push back against the police? Only time will tell.… Read More Catfished by the Cops?: Social Media and Police Investigations

As we move into the next generation to wireless technology, should the federal government be able to limit the powers of state and local governments to control the necessary infrastructure… Read More Federalism and 5G: Who Should Control?

This blog is discussing how the government shutdown has affected the tech industry. And, how without FCC approval technology production is halted and companies are suffering.… Read More The Effect of the Government Shutdown: @realDonaldTrump, how much longer do tech companies have to suffer?

Recently, a District Court in California ruled that, even with a warrant, police cannot force a suspect to unlock their phone with whatever biometrics are required to gain access to the phone. While law enforcement possesses the technology capable of breaking into the phone, companies such as Apple have installed software updates on their phones to keep “break in” technology from getting access to the phone.… Read More Enter Passcode to Unlock: Why Courts Say Police Can’t Force You to Provide Biometrics to Unlock Your Phone Even if They Have a Warrant