The Center for Internet and Society at Stanford Law School is a leader in the study of the law and policy around the Internet and other emerging technologies.
CIS in the news.
Van Schewick is a professor of law at Stanford Law School. Her submission to TRAI focused on pointing out how network usage fees violate the principles of net neutrality. Read more about Network Fees Could Splinter The Internet: Stanford Law Professor Barbara Van Schewick Responds To TRAI’s Consultation On OTT Regulation
Barbara van Schewick, a leading expert on net neutrality, a professor at Stanford Law School, and the director of Stanford Law School’s Center for Internet Society has joined with other luminaries of the free and open internet to second this opinion. In her latest article, Professor van Schewick also points out that the European Court of Justice has been clear on the interpretation of the Open Internet Regulation. In four different rulings between 2020 and 2021, the ECJ considered that treating traffic differently economically constituted a Net Neutrality violation. Read more about Yes, Network Fees Violate Net Neutrality
Stanford net neutrality expert Barbara van Schewick dropped a statement in my inbox pointing to a broader blog post on the proposal, noting that this was, once again, telecoms attempting to get paid twice for the same service: Read more about Telecoms Detail Their Dumb Plan To Force Tech Giants To Pay Them Billions For No Reason
While many users remain blissfully unaware, a battle is raging for the future of the internet. On the one hand are the large phone and cable companies who want to promote their services and to charge more for video and other data. On the other are people, like guest Barbara van Schewick, a lawyer, who champions a more democratic approach known as net neutrality. Net neutrality guarantees unfettered access for all and makes sure that we get to choose what we do online, van Schewick tells host Russ Altman on this episode of Stanford Engineering’s The Future of Everything podcast. Read more about Barbara van Schewick: Net neutrality and the future of the internet
European telecom regulator BEREC has updated its net neutrality guidelines to include a strict ban on zero-rating practices that exempt specific apps or categories of apps from data caps imposed by Internet service providers. Read more about Europe cracks down on data cap exemptions in update to net neutrality rules
On Thursday, major internet service providers (AT&T, Verizon, Comcast, et al.) dropped a lawsuit challenging a California law requiring broadband networks to treat traffic and content from all websites and services equally. The ISPs’ legal challenge had already lost three times in California Federal courts. Network neutrality proponents are calling the abandonment of the suit a huge win for digital rights and the open web. Read more about Big ISPs finally gave up on blocking California’s landmark network neutrality law
The broadband industry has abandoned its lawsuit against California's net neutrality law after a series of court rulings went against Internet service providers. Read more about Stung by 3 court losses, ISPs stop fighting California net neutrality law
“Today’s ruling by the Ninth Circuit is a big win for Californians and a free and open internet,” Stanford Center for Internet and Society Director Barbara van Schewick said in a statement. “It means California can continue to enforce its net neutrality law and protect Californians against unfair practices by the companies they pay to get online.” Read more about Appeals court upholds California’s right to enforce its net neutrality law while the FCC remains at a standstill
“When the providers are telling you one thing, and the government is telling you another, then something’s broken and it needs to be fixed,” said Albert Gidari, who served as consulting director of privacy at the Stanford Center for Internet and Society and recently retired. He has also represented Google as a lawyer in the past. Read more about Thousands of Geofence Warrants Appear to Be Missing from a California DOJ Transparency Database
It's understandable if your pessimistic about the state of our privacy these days. Between the slow but steady creep of facial recognition, surveillance-based advertising, and social media, we've never been more exposed. It feels as if everyday brings a new threat, whether it be companies putting spycams on sunglasses or using dubious AI to link your facial expressions to your employment prospects. Read more about Massachusetts has a chance to clean up our national privacy disaster
To understand more about what the executive order means for Big Tech and how the FTC is likely to act on it, I spoke this week with Woodrow Hartzog, a professor of law and computer science at Northeastern University School of Law and the Khoury College of Computer Sciences, who has deeply researched the FTC’s authority, particularly as it relates to privacy. Read more about This Week President Biden’s Executive Order on Big Tech
Thomas B. Considine, CEO of the National Council of Insurance Legislators, said there aren’t yet special legal or regulatory requirements related to personal insurance for autonomous vehicles. The Uniform Law Commission — a national organization of legislators and their staffs, judges, lawyers and professors that drafts model laws when states are seeking uniformity — considered creating one. But it ultimately decided insurance issues were complex and outside its scope, said Bryant Walker Smith, who worked on the idea. Read more about Insurers ask: Who pays when self-driving vehicles crash?
Given that it will take years, or perhaps decades, before AVs are in the majority on roads, a self-driving vehicle mandate may be a long and gradual process before becoming the law of the land. Bryant Walker Smith is a law professor at the University of South Carolina who advises governments and companies on transport technologies. He notes that technological advances allowing for less expensive conversion kits to retrofit older vehicles to self-driving cars may smooth the transition away from human pilots, “making restrictions on human driving more palatable”. Read more about Robot-only roads face costs and limited benefits
While a driver is legally responsible for such misbehavior, the fine print in Tesla advertising provides a weak defense against deceptive marketing allegations, according Bryant Walker Smith, a leading expert on automated vehicle law at the University of South Carolina. He cites the Lanham Act, the set of federal laws that govern trademarks. Read more about DMV probing whether Tesla violates state regulations with self-driving claims
The industry used similar arguments in its attempts to prevent states like California from passing net neutrality rules. But so far, the courts haven’t looked kindly on the industry’s arguments. Read more about Broadband Industry Sues New York State For Promising $15 Broadband
And the "sheer size of the state" is another important factor, said Bryant Walker Smith, associate professor in the School of Law and the School of Engineering at the University of South Carolina. Smith wonders how much of Tesla's current operations-- including associated employees -- will be moving. The answer is still unknown. Read more about Elon Musk makes a big promise to Texas, but critics worry he may fall short