As the gaming industry continues to expand, so do the legal issues intertwined within. One of the biggest and most concerning issues at this year’s conference was the issue of “cloners”, games that rip off original developers.… Read More How “Clone” Games Are Threatening The Gaming Industry

This blog looks at the legal precautions of Amazon’s new facial recognition software. Government agencies, such as American Civil Liberties Union and Immigration and Customs Enforcement are worried about the artificial software leading to too much governmental control. … Read More Should Amazon Be Out of the Surveillance Game?

Over 30 states today require Lawyers to have technology competence, however, it is unclear what exactly that means. … Read More How Much Tech Knowledge Should Lawyers Have?

A new technology featured in the 2018 Midterm Elections was the phenomenon of blockchain voting. Blockchain, a cryptographic list of records, connects “blocks” containing data in a sequence that cannot be altered or modified.… Read More Blockchain Voting Introduces New Pros and Cons into Voting Spheres

Description: On November 18, 2018, Amazon officially selected the location for, “HQ2,” its second corporate headquarters. HQ2 will be split between New York and Virginia. Soon to create a corporate headquarters in three different states, Amazon’s choice raises a novel legal question.… Read More Amazon HQ2 –– Principal Place(s) of Business?

After the Trump FCC agreed to repeal net neutrality rules, California passed net neutrality rules prohibiting internet service providers (ISPs) from creating fast lanes or intentionally slowing down websites. In response, the Department of Justice announced that it would sue California to prevent the enforcement of the CA net neutrality law, arguing that the decision violates the dormant commerce clause (which prohibits state discrimination and undue burdens on interstate commerce). This blog post will discuss the history of the dormant commerce power and the implications of the DOJ’s lawsuit, if successful.… Read More Nothing Neutral Here: The Legal Battle Between the Trump DOJ and California Over Net Neutrality

Amazon’s wildly popular Amazon Prime subscription service guarantees two-day shipping on all orders. Many argue that is instrumental to its success and record-breaking revenue generation. But what happens when consumers have complaints? … Read More Amazon, Arbitration, and Customer Vindication

Amazon was recently forced to scrap its experimental hiring tool after discovering bias against female candidates. This data analytics program was designed to sift through thousands of applications, creating a rating for potential candidates, but was found to favor male applicants. This blog illustrates certain limitations of machine-learning, while specifically exploring the example of Amazon’s experimental findings.… Read More Built-in-Biases: Automated Hiring Processes are not yet Gender-Neutral

By Alexandra Conn Even if you aren’t a person who keeps up with the tech world, you may have nevertheless heard rumblings surrounding a certain thing called “Blockchain.” The blockchain is the name of the technology that is being used to decentralize various industries. Most notably, Blockchain is used as a public transaction ledger for… Read More I’m Still Jenny from the Block

This blog addresses a class action lawsuit against Facebook and Cambridge Analytica for allegedly misusing the personal data of more than 71 million people. At the end, I will also pose the question of what type of legislation is necessary to make a difference in the future. … Read More Big Tech’s Data Collection and Your Privacy Rights.

Bird, an electric scooter sharing company, has infiltrated cities all across the United States with its affordable short-term scooter rentals. The company is known for its controversial guerilla implementation method and receiving backlash for that tactic from local officials. Should cities work with Bird to bring its scooters to their residents or does Bird need to learn to follow the rules?… Read More Bird Scooters and Guerilla Implementation: Is it Easier to Ask for Forgiveness than Permission?

Moviepass and their parent company Helios and Matherson are hemorrhaging money as stock prices have plummeted. A Helios board member has resigned and made allegations of board director misconduct. What are the possible consequences the Helios board could face? … Read More A Real Dumpster Fire

The effect of Artificial intelligence on modern warfare. With the steady rise in development of AI there are many military applications. With the pentagons announcement of the creation of the Joint Artificial Intelligence Center (JAIC) they are planning on spending 1.7 billion dollars on artificial intelligence over the next 5 years. This piece discusses the potential legal restraints there are on the development of these AI based weapon systems using international law. … Read More Can International Law Halt The AI Arms Race?

In light of Verizon’s recent Internet service throttling incident, lawmakers have begun to explore how the early-June rollback of net neutrality may have impacted these events. When Verizon slowed California firefighters’ Internet service in the midst of efforts to contain the giant Mendocino Complex fire, it raised issues of whether net neutrality could have prevented this slowdown and whether the FTC is in a position to take action to disincentivize similar conduct from companies like Verizon. This blog discusses these issues and introduces the ways in which lawmakers have begun to address them moving forward.… Read More Verizon’s Internet Throttling: Customer Service Mix-Up or Part of the Net Neutrality Debate?

Recruiting techniques of employers have become more sophisticated with technology. Social media is an ideal platform to target the demographic a company is looking for in an ideal candidate. The level of automation in targeting that candidate prevents potentially qualified persons from ever seeing the ad. How ethical (and legal) is this practice?… Read More Is Facebook Preventing Grandma from Getting a Job?

Defense Distributed is a Texas-based, non-profit organization that develops digital blueprints of firearms. On August 1, 2018, Defense Distributed scheduled the release of firearm schematics to the general public. These schematics allowed any buyer to download and print real firearms using any three dimensional “3D” printer. The U.S. government ordered the blueprints to be taken down in 2013 after they were distributed for free. Founder of the organization, Cody Wilson, filed suit in 2015 citing the First Amendment. … Read More When Gun Control Becomes a First Amendment Issue

Alex Jones, the founder of “Infowars” who claimed the Sandy Hook mass shooting was a hoax, has faced a series of defamation lawsuits from the parents of children killed in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. Now that a federal judge in Jones’ home state of Texas has ruled that at least two of the lawsuits adequately state a claim for defamation, some commentators have asked whether social media companies could also be held liable because they were aware Jones was spreading defamation on their platforms. While a social media companies’ knowing failure to remove defamation could satisfy the prima facia case for defamation under traditional tort law, Section 230 of the federal “Communications Decency Act” gives social media platforms total immunity from litigation arising out of defamation created by website users.… Read More InfoWars, Defamation, and Social Media Companies

The 9th Circuit recently held that fear of identity theft in the wake of a data breach satisfies the requirements of Article III standing of the Constitution despite the Supreme Courts holding in Clapper v. Amnesty. The District Court relied on Clapper’s holding that the fear of future harm be certainly impending, which they determined to be the case since the customers at issue faced a substantial risk of identity theft, as determined at the time of filing of the complaint, regardless of whether the plaintiff’s actually experienced harm at the time of trial. The 9th Circuit joins the District of Columbia, Sixth and Seventh circuits in allowing data breach class actions versus the Eight and Fourth Circuits, which have taken a narrower approach.… Read More Is the fear of identity theft enough to establish Article III standing in the wake of a data breach?

Technological advances are seen most of the time as breakthroughs for society, advancing some aspect of our human lives. This has not always been a proven the case. There are pieces of technology that without an appropriate control or regulation can generate devastating consequences. Bump stocks are a relatively new piece of technology that when attached to a legal semi-automatic weapon increases the fire velocity of the gun turning the gun into a quasi-fully automatic weapon. Under current Federal law and, the National Firearms Act and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives regulations these devices are not regulated and therefore accessible without restriction to the public. … Read More BUMP STOCKS WHY ARE THEY LEGAL?