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By Stephen Wm. Smith on January 14, 2020 at 11:46 am
On December 16, 2019 the Supreme Court denied cert in Ackies v. United States, the ‘precise location’ warrant case from the First Circuit. For reasons I outlined here and here, that appellate court decision was a train wreck of factual misconception and statutory misconstruction. Read more about Twisted Tracking Law Precedent Badly Needs Straightening Out
By Daphne Keller on January 13, 2020 at 2:38 pm
I've had a lot of positive feedback for the Intermediary Liability 101 slides I shared back in 2018, so I thought I'd post these updated ones now. They are based on a deck I presented to a European policymaking audience last month. Their focus tilts toward European examples -- but many of the issues captured here are universal. This version also has a longer section toward the end listing emerging issues and ideas (again, with a European lens). Read more about Intermediary Liability 101: An Update for 2020
By Riana Pfefferkorn on December 12, 2019 at 8:21 pm
On Tuesday, December 10, the Senate Judiciary Committee (SJC) held a hearing on the encryption debate, the first such hearing in years. Read more about Thoughts on the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Hearing on Encryption
By Stephen Wm. Smith on December 10, 2019 at 4:50 pm
My last post explained how the recent First Circuit decision in U.S. v. Ackies misconstrued the Tracking Device Statute by an unduly cramped reading of its key defined term, holding that 3117(b)’s tech-neutral definition of ‘tracking device’ excludes cell phones. Read more about Why are Precise Location Warrants a Thing?
By Stephen Wm. Smith on December 5, 2019 at 11:11 am
You, a first-year law student taking your Crim Pro exam, quickly scan the first question: “Can a cell phone be a tracking device?” Your initial reaction – must be a trick question, right? Everybody knows that snitch in your purse faithfully follows you wherever you go. But you’ve been around law school long enough to know that what’s true in fact may not be true as a matter of law. So you check the statutory definition of ‘tracking device’ helpfully reprinted down the page: Read more about Losing Track of the Tracking Device Statute
By Daphne Keller on December 2, 2019 at 1:38 pm
This blog post will briefly discuss the ruling’s relevance for future EU legislation, and in particular for the Terrorist Content Regulation. TL;DR: Glawischnig-Piesczek does not discuss when a filtering order might be considered proportionate or consistent with fundamental rights under the EU Charter. It only addresses the eCommerce Directive, holding that a monitoring injunction is not “general” — and thus is not prohibited under the Directive — when it “does not require the host provider to carry out an independent assessment” of filtered content. This interpretation of the eCommerce Directive opens the door for lawmakers to require “specific” machine-based filtering. But it seemingly leaves courts unable to require platforms to bring human judgment to bear by having employees review and correct filters’ decisions. That puts the eCommerce Directive in tension with both fundamental rights and EU lawmakers’ stated goals in the Terrorist Content Regulation. Read more about The CJEU’s new filtering case, the Terrorist Content Regulation, and the future of filtering mandates in the EU
By Riana Pfefferkorn on November 24, 2019 at 7:17 pm
On November 17, 2019, Reuters reported that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) had drafted a resolution for the international police organization, Interpol, that condemned strong encryption and called for encryption backdoors. Read more about Banning Strong Encryption Does Not Mean Catching Criminals. It Only Makes You Less Safe from Them.
By Albert Gidari on November 18, 2019 at 1:07 pm
I’ve written here, here, here about the intercep Read more about Can the US-UK CLOUD Act Agreement be Fixed?
By Chuck Cosson on November 17, 2019 at 2:44 pm
Tool Without A Handle: “Book Review: Tools and Weapons”
“Since the dawn of time, any tool can be used for good or ill. Even a broom can be used to sweep the floor or hit someone over the head. The more powerful the tool, the greater the benefit or damage it can cause. While sweeping digital transformation holds great promise, the world has turned information technology into both a powerful tool and a formidable weapon” --- from Tools and Weapons Read more about Tool Without A Handle: “Book Review: Tools and Weapons”
By Albert Gidari on November 14, 2019 at 12:14 pm
I’ve written here, here and here about the inter Read more about Transparency Reporting After the Cloud Act - It's Time for a Refresh
