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Thousands of Geofence Warrants Appear to Be Missing from a California DOJ Transparency Database

Date published:
November 3, 2021
The Markup
“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
Massachusetts has a chance to clean up our national privacy disaster

Date published:
October 7, 2021
Boston Globe
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
This Week President Biden’s Executive Order on Big Tech

Date published:
July 17, 2021
The Markup
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
Insurers ask: Who pays when self-driving vehicles crash?

Date published:
May 29, 2021
Sentinel Source
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?
Robot-only roads face costs and limited benefits

Date published:
May 28, 2021
Urgent Communications
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
Traffic cones confused a Waymo self-driving car. Then things got worse

Date published:
May 17, 2021
KCTV5
Read more about Traffic cones confused a Waymo self-driving car. Then things got worse
Bryant Walker Smith, who studies autonomous vehicles at the University of South Carolina, said he was surprised a command was never issued to halt the Waymo vehicle in place, so roadside assistance could take over.

"There wasn't great coordination among the in-vehicle system, this remote monitoring capacity of the operator on the line and the on-ground assistance," Smith said.
DMV probing whether Tesla violates state regulations with self-driving claims

Date published:
May 17, 2021
Los Angeles Times
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
Broadband Industry Sues New York State For Promising $15 Broadband

Date published:
May 3, 2021
Motherboard
Read more about Broadband Industry Sues New York State For Promising $15 Broadband
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.
Elon Musk makes a big promise to Texas, but critics worry he may fall short

Date published:
May 3, 2021
TechRepublic
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
INSIGHT-Tesla drives on Autopilot through a regulatory grey zone

Date published:
April 21, 2021
Thomson Reuters Foundation News
Read more about INSIGHT-Tesla drives on Autopilot through a regulatory grey zone
"NHTSA is drafting rules on autonomous vehicles, but it has been slow to regulate semi-autonomous vehicles," said Bryant Walker Smith, a law professor at the University of South Carolina. "There is a growing awareness that they deserve more scrutiny priority and regulatory action."

New York has a law requiring drivers to keep at least one hand on the wheel at all times but no other states have legislation that could prevent the use of semi-autonomous cars.
Insight: Tesla Drives on Autopilot Through Regulatory Limbo

Date published:
April 21, 2021
Insurance Journal
Read more about Insight: Tesla Drives on Autopilot Through Regulatory Limbo
NTSB also says NHTSA does not have any method to verify whether carmakers have adopted system safeguards. For example, there are no federal regulations requiring drivers to touch the steering wheel within a specific time frame.

“NHTSA is drafting rules on autonomous vehicles, but it has been slow to regulate semi-autonomous vehicles,” said Bryant Walker Smith, a law professor at the University of South Carolina. “There is a growing awareness that they deserve more scrutiny priority and regulatory action.”
Telecom Using Veterans As Props To Demonize California's New Net Neutrality Law

Date published:
March 26, 2021
Tech Dirt
Read more about Telecom Using Veterans As Props To Demonize California's New Net Neutrality Law
The other issue, as Stanford Professor Barbara Van Schewick points out in a blog post, is that usage caps are bullshit constructs in the first place. If usage caps are pointless constructs that don't actually do anything, exempting a service from those caps is rather meaningless. Instead, there's any number of alternatives you could explore that could subsidize veteran access to these services, including giving vets a flat discount on their monthly broadband or wireless bill:
‘Dark Patterns’ in Consumer Data Privacy Garner Policy Attention

Date published:
March 25, 2021
Bloomberg Law
Read more about ‘Dark Patterns’ in Consumer Data Privacy Garner Policy Attention
The FTC’s dark patterns workshop could help make the argument for added legal authority over business practices that are seen as abusive, according to Woodrow Hartzog, a professor of law and computer science at Northeastern University. Hartzog said he has advocated for Congress to modify Section 5 of the FTC Act to include oversight over abusive practices, “which would squarely address a range of dark patterns.”
A New York Lawmaker Wants to Ban Police Use of Armed Robots

Date published:
March 18, 2021
Wired
Read more about A New York Lawmaker Wants to Ban Police Use of Armed Robots
“The goal for any kind of technology should be harm reduction and de-escalation,” says Peter Asaro, a roboticist and professor at the School of Media Studies at the New School.

“It's almost always the police officer arguing that they're defending themselves by using lethal force,” he says. “But a robot has no right to self-defense. So why would it be justified in using lethal force?”
AT&T blames net neutrality law for HBO Max counting against data caps

Date published:
March 18, 2021
Yahoo Finance
Read more about AT&T blames net neutrality law for HBO Max counting against data caps
Stanford University professor Barbara van Schewick, who has long advocated for net neutrality, also said AT&T's elimination of HBO Max zero-rating is actually a good thing for consumers. "This is a win for an open and free internet, including for competing video services and internet users," she wrote. "People should be free to choose which videos they want to watch — whether that’s Netflix, Twitch or their local church’s Sunday service, without the company they pay to get online trying to influence their choices."
AT&T lies about Calif. net neutrality law, claiming it bans “free data”

Date published:
March 18, 2021
Ars Technica
Read more about AT&T lies about Calif. net neutrality law, claiming it bans “free data”
"California's net neutrality law doesn't ban all zero-rating; it bans anti-competitive forms of zero-rating," Stanford law professor Barbara van Schewick, who supported California in its court defense of the net neutrality law, told Ars today. "The law does ban AT&T's anti-competitive scheme where it counts almost everything people do on the Internet, including watching Twitch, Netflix, and their home security cameras, against users' data caps, but doesn't count the data from AT&T's own video services."
Opinion: California’s net neutrality law just cost AT&T wireless customers a free streaming perk. That’s a good thing

Date published:
March 18, 2021
Los Angeles Times
More important, as Professor Barbara van Schewick of Stanford Law School observed in an interview, “Zero-rating only works when you have a low data cap. That creates an incentive for ISPs to keep low data caps and keep unlimited plans expensive. For example, in the European Union, ISPs that don’t zero-rate video give subscribers eight times more data for the same price than ISPs that zero-rate video.” Read more about Opinion: California’s net neutrality law just cost AT&T wireless customers a free streaming perk. That’s a good thing
AT&T Pulls Sponsored Data Due To Calif. Net Neutrality Law

Date published:
March 18, 2021
Law 360
Read more about AT&T Pulls Sponsored Data Due To Calif. Net Neutrality Law
AT&T Cries About Having to Play Fair Under New Net Neutrality Law

Date published:
March 18, 2021
Vice
Read more about AT&T Cries About Having to Play Fair Under New Net Neutrality Law
Not only does this let AT&T give its own services an unfair advantage in the market, the approach lets deep pocketed companies pay AT&T to be exempt from usage caps. Consumer groups say this creates an unfair marketplace where bigger, wealthier companies can buy an advantage over their smaller, cash-strapped competitors—once AT&T gets its cut.
AT&T blames net neutrality law for HBO Max counting against data caps

Date published:
March 18, 2021
Engadget
Read more about AT&T blames net neutrality law for HBO Max counting against data caps
Stanford University professor Barbara van Schewick, who has long advocated for net neutrality, also said AT&T's elimination of HBO Max zero-rating is actually a good thing for consumers. "This is a win for an open and free internet, including for competing video services and internet users," she wrote. "People should be free to choose which videos they want to watch — whether that’s Netflix, Twitch or their local church’s Sunday service, without the company they pay to get online trying to influence their choices."

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