CLIP-ings

Internet Governance

Inter(Net)ional Influencers: As the fight over net neutrality wages on, the Federal Communications Commission’s final decision will have reverberating effects around the world as this decision will likely influence how developing nations approach their internet policies moving forward; yet, India’s Telecommunications Agency has taken a different approach by denouncing “discriminatory treatment” in internet access within their borders.

Border Brawn: As part of the Department of Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s augmented “Visa Lifecycle Vetting” program, and despite concerns from privacy advocates, the agency is calling on major software companies to develop algorithms to assess threats posed by U.S. visa holders and to surveil the social media of persons deemed high risk.

Privacy

Will ENOUGH be Enough? This week, the bipartisan Ending Nonconsensual Online User Graphic Harassment (ENOUGH) Act of 2017 was introduced with the hope of providing the Justice Department with the necessary tools to prosecute revenge porn perpetrators and creating federal criminal liability for revenge porn, which now affects 1 in 25 Americans.

DNcrAy: Senator Chuck Schumer is asking the Federal Trade Commission to review the lack of regulation of consumer DNA testing companies, which can claim ownership of DNA, allow third parties to access it, and make DNA vulnerable to hackers, and which the Food and Drug Administration only regulates in a limited capacity.

Information Security and Cyberthreats

Unveiling Uber: This week, the leads of the congressional committees on technology,  finance, telecommunications, and data security sent Uber executives a series of questions regarding their recently unveiled data breach cover-up, specifically asking why consumers were informed so long after the attack.

Web Watch: A new study has identified almost 500 of the world’s top 50,000 websites, including Home Depot and CBS News, which engage in “session replay,” a technique that records users’ keystrokes, mouse movements, and scrolling behavior and may compromise sensitive user information.

Intellectual Property

Patent Predicament: The Supreme Court appears divided over the constitutionality of a 2011 law that allows the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) to hear patent challenges, with supporters claiming that the PTAB hearings make it easier to go after patent trolls and critics arguing that the PTAB is improperly replacing the federal courts.

Free Expression and Censorship

Working Hard or Hardly Working? This week YouTube has been on its toes as it worked to fix a hack of its autocompleted search results, based on frequently searched terms, which previously allowed for suggestions of auto-completed terms relating to obscene acts with children; meanwhile, YouTube also froze brand advertisements on obscene videos of children after the company received requests from big-name brands to remove their ads from such content.

Practice Note

Balancing Act: In an effort to avoid patent licensing disputes, the European Commission has issued licensing guidelines aiming to strike a balance between the interests of patent owners and users, with the final draft removing both a requirement for owners to categorically provide licenses and a requirement for users to pay different rates to use patents.

On The Lighter Side

Mechanical Mentor: A mechanical female falcon now patrols the airspace around the Alberta, Canada airport to scare and herd birds away from the airport and teach them to fly in less dangerous areas.

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Information Law News From CLIP-ings International Correspondents Around the Globe

This academic year, former CLIP-ings Editorial Fellows studying abroad are reporting from time-to-time on current local news and developments in the field of information law!

From Victoria Loeb – Paris, France:

Numerous Trackers Found in Android Apps: Security researchers at French nonprofit Exodus Privacy built a custom auditing platform to find tracking software in more than 300 apps for Android’s smartphone operating systems, with capabilities to target users based on third-party data, identify offline movement through machine learning, track behavior across devices, and correlate users; researchers at Yale Privacy Lab are working to replicate the Exodus findings and believe many of the trackers also exist on iOS, as many companies distribute for both platforms.

 

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Joel R. Reidenberg
Stanley D. and Nikki Waxberg Chair and Professor of Law
Founding Academic Director, Fordham CLIP

N. Cameron Russell
Executive Director, Fordham CLIP

Yemi Danmola
Harrison Kay
Rilana Wenske
Editorial Fellows, Fordham CLIP

Internet Governance

AG Action: This week Missouri’s Attorney General (AG) issued subpoenas demanding information from Google in its investigation into Google’s possible violation of Missouri’s consumer protection and antitrust laws, although it is unclear as to whether this is a publicity stunt or if other state AGs will follow suit.

Efficient Emergencies: After a decade of resistance from wireless phone carriers, the FCC is calling for the carriers to improve geographic specificity of pinpoint emergency alerts from the county level to the cell tower level, with the eventual goal of tying the alerts to individual cell phone users within a triangulated location, utilizing technology similar to that of Uber.

Rules on Review: In response to criticism that federal agencies withheld cybersecurity flaws uncovered during previous vulnerability reviews, White House officials have released new rules that detail how the agencies should consider whether to disclose or keep secret any detected vulnerabilities.

Privacy

Pill.0: The Food and Drug Administration has approved use of the first digital pill fitted with an ingestible sensor that transmits data to an app via a patch worn by the user, allowing patients to share dosage information with their doctors but raising concerns that access to such intimate data can have repercussions for the doctor-patient relationship.

Dirt Box Detailing: Last year the state of Texas paid $373,000 to outfit cellphone surveillance technology called Digital Receiver Technology or “dirt boxes” to Texas National Guard planes as a part of an anti-drug trafficking operation; this software is more powerful than Stingray technology as it can mimic cell towers, connect to every smartphone in the geographic area beneath it, and collect private data from those smartphones, such as location data and the content of cell phone calls.

Information Security and Cyberthreats

Hacking the Hostiles: A group of Muslim hackers has infiltrated ISIS’s propaganda network and published a list of almost two thousand email subscribers, striking another blow to ISIS’s online presence as part of a broader movement of activist groups targeting and dismantling ISIS websites and servers and spreading disinformation among its online base.

North Korea’s Cobra: The Department of Homeland Security’s Computer Emergency Readiness Team  has issued a warning about the North Korean government’s cyber attacks, collectively called “Hidden Cobra” and IP addresses strongly believed to be linked to the attacks, which were used to attack the U.S. telecommunications, aerospace, and finance industries.

Intellectual Property

Patent for Payments: MasterCard has filed a patent for a blockchain-like system that will use a variant of the blockchain ledger to guarantee money transfers in an effort to speed up transaction times and instantly store and manage international transactions.

Free Expression and Censorship

Fake-Checkers: Despite announcing coordinated efforts to slow the spread of misinformation, Facebook’s fact-checkers are claiming that the campaigns are not proceeding as planned, citing the lack of data provided on the impact of their work, the fact that fake information is continuing to go viral, and the disadvantages of using third-party fact-checkers.

Faking Freedom: Freedom House released a detailed report on the state of internet freedom across the globe, highlighting that at least 30 countries engage in digital manipulation to distort the digital perception in their favor, that this digital interference has affected elections in 18 nations, and that the unfortunate consequence of 14 countries attempting to mitigate this problem has been reduced internet freedom within their borders.

Practice Note

Digital Dilemma: Settling an estate of a deceased loved one has become increasingly difficult because many live a portion of their lives online, but trust and estate attorneys recommend taking extra precautions to address your digital life in your will or that of a client, such as granting your executor and power of attorney access to your digital life, creating online password and email managers allowing for access by an emergency contact upon your death, recording all online banking and financing information, choosing legacy contacts for social media accounts, and deciding who inherits ownership rights of digital assets like photos and music.

On The Lighter Side

Faith in Phones: Churchgoers at New York City’s St. Patrick’s Cathedral are using their phones to shop, check email, and take photos and videos during services, even after Pope Francis called for phones to be left at home in a recent address from the Vatican.

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Information Law News From CLIP-ings International Correspondents Around the Globe

This academic year, former CLIP-ings Editorial Fellows studying abroad are reporting from time-to-time on current local news and developments in the field of information law!

From Victoria Loeb – Paris, France:

Paris Joins European Sister Cities, Regulates Airbnb: Effective January 2018, Airbnb will automatically require hosts to comply with a 120-day cap per year on short-term rentals in Paris, the app’s biggest single market, amidst global criticism and claims that rental platforms are raising property prices and causing housing shortages in popular cities; the limit will only apply to Paris’ four major tourist districts, but the mayor’s housing advisor thinks it should apply to all of Paris.

Policing Traffic from the Sky: Police in southwest France are using drones to patrol drivers, as the flying machines’ cameras deliver a live-stream to police on the ground so that they can cover wide areas and track specific vehicles; the government wants to expand the operation, which stops between 15 and 20 cars an hour but cannot yet detect drivers breaking the speed limit.

Meghna Prasad – Rome, Italy:

There’s an App for That: From December 4-6, 2017, Milan will host Europe’s first mobile and digital app convention, bringing together top speakers from popular apps such as BlaBlaCar, Deliveroo, and Moovit, who will discuss mobile cybersecurity, big data, robots, and other topics related to the way that the app economy has altered consumption of information and products online.

Online Monitoring Leads to Deportation: A woman living in Milan with her parents and three younger brothers has been deported after her internet activity, including messages sent through an instant messaging software called Telegram, revealed that she was ready to “carry out a suicide attack in Italy” on behalf of Daesh.

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Joel R. Reidenberg
Stanley D. and Nikki Waxberg Chair and Professor of Law
Founding Academic Director, Fordham CLIP

N. Cameron Russell
Executive Director, Fordham CLIP

Yemi Danmola
Harrison Kay
Rilana Wenske
Editorial Fellows, Fordham CLIP

Internet Governance

Initial Celebrity Offerings: This week the Securities and Exchange Commission warned celebrities and media personalities to stop promoting initial coin offerings on social media because the failure to “disclose the nature, scope, and amount of compensation received in exchange for the promotion” of these possible securities is unlawful and a violates of anti-touting laws and possibly anti-fraud rules.

Trafficking Triumph: After a group of major internet companies reached a compromise with the government to support increased crackdowns on websites involved in sex trafficking in exchange for protection from a potential floodgate of litigation, the U.S. Senate Commerce Committee voted to amend a section of the Communications Decency Act to include the Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act.

Privacy

Photo Fears: Facebook has announced a pilot program aimed at potential victims of revenge porn in which users voluntarily upload nude photos of themselves to create a digital footprint; the company claims that doing so will prevent future uploads of any copies of the photo, but raises concerns that the images might not be permanently deleted even if Facebook claims that they will not be stored.

Rogue Ratios: Silicon Valley’s technology companies have a peculiar habit of providing low level employees with high level access, providing opportunities such as the recent temporary deactivation of President Trump’s Twitter account by a rogue and disgruntled employee; with employee to customer ratios like 1:84,658 for Twitter and 1:89,358 for Facebook, the value of each individual user is diminished and the potential for abuse is increased.

Information Security and Cyberthreats

Mysterious Methods: In a security hearing before the U.S. Senate Commerce Committee, former Yahoo! CEO Marissa Mayer admitted that the company still lacks specifics about tactics used in a Russian state-sponsored cyberattack that compromised three billion Yahoo! user accounts beginning in 2013.

Data Dangers: Not all enterprises read the terms of service agreements when they begin using various cloud services providers, making them unaware of whether their service provider has the consented-upon right to scan through their company’s stored data and documents.

Intellectual Property

Hijacking the Home: A Delaware judge has issued a preliminary injunction against Ring Protect, forcing it to temporarily cease sales of technology used in its home security platform because it purchased this technology that was originally developed for ADT.

Copyright Cash: A music tech startup called Kobalt, known for its platform that allows artists to track plays of their music and collect royalties, has launched a $600 million fund to buy music copyrights and collect royalties on those rights that allow the company to raise additional funds for its business.

Free Expression and Censorship

Controlled Content: YouTube Kids has redesigned the functionality of its website to provide parents with more controls to protect their kids from inappropriate content, such as allowing the children’s accounts to be connected to the parent’s administrator account, turning off the searching feature, and setting passcodes to prevent parental control settings from being changed.

No-Chill China: Despite blocking access to Facebook for its citizens, the Chinese government and its state media agencies are spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on content posted on Facebook to disseminate pro-China news and propaganda focused on the country’s stability and prosperity and aimed at audiences outside its borders.

Practice Note

Mo’ Money Mo’ Influence: Efforts to prevent Russia’s covert influence via social media may benefit from utilizing the lessons learned in developing anti-money laundering laws, as both activities thrive in the shadows and utilize legitimate enterprise facades, specifically by enforcing transparency and accountability as to the source of the information, as was the case with anti-money laundering laws.

On The Lighter Side

35,000 Tweet: As many Twitter users react to the company’s decision to double the potential length of a tweet to 280 characters, one user was able to sidestep Twitter’s automatic link shortening tools and post a 35,000-character tweet that has since been deleted.

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Information Law News From CLIP-ings International Correspondents Around the Globe

This academic year, former CLIP-ings Editorial Fellows studying abroad are reporting from time-to-time on current local news and developments in the field of information law!

From Victoria Loeb – Paris, France:

Tech is Integral to Social Business Success in France: Social entrepreneurship is a growing movement in France, supported politically by President Macron and financially by private individuals and global NGOs, that capitalizes on the tech community to allow immigrants to participate as economic contributors; projects include apps that use peer participation and artificial intelligence to make the administrative visa process more efficient, communication platforms for interested volunteers, and training programs to develop social ventures.

France Welcomes the ‘Robo-Taxi’: French startup Navya Technologies will soon begin testing its “robo-taxi” in Paris, a vehicle constructed as a wholly autonomous system rather than modeling the functions of an existing car; Navya will begin sales in the third quarter of 2018 and intends to develop a complete line-up of autonomous vehicles, but potential buyers ranging from Uber to Apple already have their own autonomous car-development plans.

Meghna Prasad – Rome, Italy:

Extra! Extra! (Don’t) Read All About It! Under a new proposed bill in Italy, police officers listening to wiretapped conversations relevant to trials will only be permitted to pass “relevant” parts of the conversations to prosecutors, leaving transcripts not deemed “relevant” sealed; the bill represents a government effort to prohibit the media from publishing supposedly irrelevant news bits to sensationalize trials and attract readers with flashy, albeit misleading, headlines which could ultimately harm trials and destroy reputations.

 

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Joel R. Reidenberg
Stanley D. and Nikki Waxberg Chair and Professor of Law
Founding Academic Director, Fordham CLIP

N. Cameron Russell
Executive Director, Fordham CLIP

Yemi Danmola
Harrison Kay
Rilana Wenske
Editorial Fellows, Fordham CLIP

Internet Governance

PrIoriTy: A study revealed that 90% of consumers lack confidence in the security of internet of things (IoT) devices, which is likely a valid concern as only 11% of IoT manufacturers’ budgets are spent on securing these devices; meanwhile to better protect consumers, Congress recently introduced the Cyber Shield Act of 2017, which would give the Secretary of Commerce the power to create a program to grade and certify the security measures of IoT devices.

Bye Bye Bitcoin: The State Bank of Vietnam has banned the issuance, supply, and use of cryptocurrency by imposing fines of up to $9,000 to anyone who transacts in virtual currency in a move similar to China’s cryptocurrency ban earlier this year.

Privacy

PrivaSEA: A new bill proposed by the U.S. House of Representatives called the Border Security for America Act would among other programs establish a biometric exit data system at U.S. airports, seaports, and land ports, leading a privacy research center to express concern that the enhanced surveillance will have implications for the privacy of American citizens.

Troubled Tweets: From June to September 2016, Twitter ran a campaign with commercial data firms using content posted on Twitter to permanently delete user data in an effort to halt Russian interference in the U.S. elections, amid criticism and even pleas not to do so from information and cybersecurity experts.

Information Security and Cyberthreats

Compromising the Queen: An unencrypted USB-stick found in London’s famous Kensal Green cemetery contained many “confidential” and “restricted” documents detailing security arrangements for London’s Heathrow Airport, including the route of the Queen when she travels through the airport.

Secure Census? While the 2020 U.S. Census will be the first to make use of 43 electronic systems to collect data, none of these systems have received the required security certification, the code used to tabulate the data is still in development, and the U.S. Census Bureau is being urged to carefully test the systems for security defects as soon as possible.

Mayday Malay: The Malaysian government is investigating an Equifax-caliber data breach believed to have affected almost everyone living in the country; hackers obtained data from over 46 million mobile phone subscribers and attempted to sell the information to criminals seeking to create fraudulent identities.

Intellectual Property

Candy Copy: Luxury candy company Sugarfina has sued a local candy store for allegedly copying the design and packaging of its signature “Candy Bento Boxes,” claiming that the local shop stands to gain from imitating the distinctive elements of the company’s IP portfolio.

Photo Feud: CBS has sued a photojournalist for publishing still images from a former CBS television show on social media allegedly to retaliate, after the photojournalist sued CBS for publishing two of his photographs without his permission earlier this year.

Free Expression and Censorship

Misinformed Myanmar? Human rights organizations are condemning Facebook’s reliance on its community standards to police the spread of misinformation about the Rohingya people within Myanmar, a country that primarily utilizes Facebook as a “de facto internet,” as these postings have heavily contributed to the ongoing ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya.  

Practice Note

Licenses with Latitude: The multitude of information posted online frequently begs the question of who owns the content that is posted; each user is the content’s copyright owner, yet the sites enjoy wide discretion in using the posts because of the licensing agreements that each user affirms in the “terms and conditions” of the site.

On The Lighter Side

Sharp Seniors: In honor of the worldwide The Hour of Code initiative, student volunteers in Singapore taught seniors, aged 50 and above, how to code in hopes of inspiring a hobby in these intellectual elders.

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Information Law News From CLIP-ings International Correspondents Around the Globe

This academic year, former CLIP-ings Editorial Fellows studying abroad are reporting from time-to-time on current local news and developments in the field of information law!

From Victoria Loeb – Paris, France:

Digital Economy Minister Defends Tax Plan: According to Mounir Mahjoubi, France’s digital economy minister, Macron’s new tax plan for US tech companies exemplifies the President’s commitment to Europe’s technology ecosystem by tackling unfair fiscal privileges and ensuring fair competition; Mahjoubi also believes the digital agenda is the way to reduce France’s high unemployment.

EU Patent Court Agreement on Hold: A German IP attorney halted ratification of the Unified Patent Court agreement, which will establish a new unified patent and courts system, in opposition to the UK’s move to be a member of the EU system while not belonging to the CJEU’s jurisdiction post-Brexit; France, Germany and the UK must ratify the agreement, but Germany’s court action means it will not come into force this year.

Meghna Prasad – Rome, Italy:

India and Italy Agree on More Than Just Great Food: On Monday, India and Italy signed six pacts to fortify their political and economic relations with each other as the 70th anniversary of the two countries’ diplomatic relations approaches in March 2018; the issues contained in these new agreements range from increasing cooperation in railway safety, energy, and mutual investment to fighting terror groups and specifically affirming the applicability of international law to cyberspace.

Fingerprinting for Safety: After the recent G7 interior ministers meeting in Rome, the United States and Italy decided to share their fingerprint databases in order to confirm the identity of migrants, asylum seekers, and refugees, in an effort to filter out potential extremists.  

Fueling the Fire: For the first time, the Sicilian city of Catania allowed the use of technology to tap satellite phone calls in order to aid in a recent investigation of nine people involved in a Libyan fuel smuggling ring; the crime involved stealing 30 million euros worth of fuel from the Libyan National Oil Corporation and transporting the fuel to Italy and Europe to sell it in gas stations.

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Joel R. Reidenberg
Stanley D. and Nikki Waxberg Chair and Professor of Law
Founding Academic Director, Fordham CLIP

N. Cameron Russell
Executive Director, Fordham CLIP

Yemi Danmola
Harrison Kay
Rilana Wenske
Editorial Fellows, Fordham CLIP

Internet Governance

ADmendment: Senators are writing an amendment to the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2012, named the Honest Ad Act, that would require online platforms to make reasonable efforts to prevent foreigners from purchasing political ads to influence American elections and impose the same disclosure requirements of political ads on TV and radio to paid digital and internet ads.

Stopping the Search: A new bill called the USA Rights Act introduced in the Senate would modify U.S. government surveillance techniques by closing the “backdoor search loophole” that currently allows warrantless searches of domestic communications collected by the National Security Agency and by improving judicial oversight, among other reforms.

Sharing is Caring: Officials from the United States and the United Kingdom are reportedly developing a data sharing agreement, which would allow law enforcement from either country to access data stored or controlled by companies domiciled in either country.

Privacy

Common Concerns: A recent study conducted by the National Cyber Security Alliance found that teens, as well as parents, hold the same concerns regarding digital privacy, online safety, identity theft, and fake news.

Delivery Doubts: Amazon has launched a new service called Amazon Key that combines a smart door lock, a security camera, and a mobile app to allow couriers to drop off deliveries inside the house, raising concerns as to the trustworthiness of the service and Amazon’s new access to video feeds of customers’ homes.

Information Security and Cyberthreats

Insurance Encouragement: Merck’s insurers are estimated to pay $275 million for the pharmaceutical giant’s global production losses resulting from the June 27th “NotPetya” worldwide cyberattack, serving as a reminder that companies should strongly consider acquiring cyber insurance.

Failure Bureau? The Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation has said that the agency failed to gain access to some 7,000 encrypted mobile devices, acknowledging the importance of encryption but lamenting that it hinders the agency’s investigative efforts.

Intellectual Property

Auto Against Amazon: Amazon has been sued for trademark infringement by Mercedes-Benz’s parent Daimler AG for allegedly selling counterfeit wheel center caps bearing the Mercedes-Benz logo, with Daimler claiming that Amazon has refused to take reasonable steps to monitor intellectual property infringement.

Doctrinal Distress: A recent Federal Circuit decision highlights the difficulties of winning an infringement claim based on the doctrine of equivalents, an alternative method of bringing a patent infringement claim, as there are many limitations to the application of the doctrine, including the use of the public dedication rule, prosecution history estoppel, the all-limitations rule and specific exclusion rule, and the ensnarement rule..

Free Expression and Censorship

Commission Concessions: The Federal Trade Commission has stated that it will not take enforcement action against companies like Amazon, Google, and Apple that allow children under 13 to give voice commands to their smart assistants and smart speakers, so long as these companies address how they plan to collect, use, and delete the audio data in their privacy policies.

Practice Note

Fair Use With Seuss: Past cases alleging copyright infringement of the works of Dr. Seuss provide guidance on how the fair use doctrine applies to parodies: rights holders should consider licensing a variety of uses of their original content, new content creators can avoid infringement by providing commentary or criticism of the original work, and copyright practitioners should development arguments around the purpose and character of the challenged use as well as the effect of the use on the potential market.

On The Lighter Side

PHONEy: The nonprofit Common Sense Media provides a trio of thought-provoking PSAs calling out our obsession with phones, especially at the dinner table.

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Information Law News From CLIP-ings International Correspondents Around the Globe

This academic year, former CLIP-ings Editorial Fellows studying abroad are reporting from time-to-time on current local news and developments in the field of information law!

From Victoria Loeb – Paris, France:

EU Clash Over Tech Tax: President Macron’s plan to increase taxes on large technology firms in Europe was opposed at an EU summit last week by Ireland, Luxembourg and other small countries that believe the tax would hinder investment; Macron is adamant that higher taxes would not cause US tech giants to exit the EU market, but France needs the unanimity of all twenty-eight EU Member States for the tax to happen.

Quick Response: Two French hackers watched an interview where entrepreneur Roger Ver offered Bitcoin cash coins worth $1000 to whichever viewer was first to scan an on-screen QR code; the France 2 channel blurred out the code, but the hackers caught several small portions and were able to decode the private key in about twelve to sixteen hours—they describe the process in detail in this blog post.

Meghna Prasad – Rome, Italy:

Fighting the Dietrologia Diet: In advance of the upcoming Italian elections next year, the Italian government is including lessons on detecting fake news and conspiracy theories in Italian school curriculums, especially as a general sentiment of distrust in authorities—known as dietrologia—has increasingly pervaded the Italian landscape.

Buying Art With Bitcoin: Sant’Agostino, an Italian auction house, will begin to accept Bitcoin as a form of payment, starting with an auction this week on furnishings and design objects; as awareness of the cryptocurrency in Italy is gaining momentum, the auction house hopes to attract younger international buyers through accepting Bitcoin.

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Joel R. Reidenberg
Stanley D. and Nikki Waxberg Chair and Professor of Law
Founding Academic Director, Fordham CLIP

N. Cameron Russell
Executive Director, Fordham CLIP

Yemi Danmola
Harrison Kay
Rilana Wenske
Editorial Fellows, Fordham CLIP

Internet Governance

Overseas Obstacles:  The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear oral arguments in “Microsoft Ireland,” a high-profile data privacy case between Microsoft and the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) concerning the ease with which U.S. law enforcement can access information stored overseas.

Debated Directive: Amendment 13 of the European Union’s Copyright Directive proposal, which would require the monitoring and filtering of user-created content on online platforms such as YouTube, WordPress, and Dropbox, is under attack by 57 civil society organizations because they believe it infringes on the fundamental rights of the European citizens.

Privacy

Australia on Alert: The Australian government has launched the pilot phase of a national reporting and support system to combat revenge porn that allows victims to notify law enforcement and technology companies hosting the content, and that tracks the content across the internet.

Remit Recommendations? The United States Deputy Attorney General and the officials of other nations are increasingly recommending the use of responsible encryption, which provides law enforcement with secret keys to read encrypted data from various private entities, yet experts warn that these keys can be stolen and used by hackers.

Candid Cameras: A new video billboard display in London’s Piccadilly Circus will use hidden cameras to detect the age, gender, emotional expressions of nearby pedestrians, and even the make and model of passing cars; the display will respond by serving targeting advertisements, although the display owner’s claims that it will not collect or store any personal data.

Information Security and Cyberthreats

Hack Back: A new bill called the Active Cyber Defense Certainty Act would legalize, for the first time, limited retaliatory strikes against domestic cyberattacks, authorizing “cyber defenders” to identify the attacker and destroy any stolen data, but raising concerns of potentially destructive internet vigilantism.

Unsafe Universities: Universities face a unique set of cybersecurity considerations including regarding the array of sensitive data that these institutions process, each network’s various users such as parents of students and university staff, the challenges of imposing effective cybersecurity compliance across these populations, and the increased frequency of hacks against universities.

Intellectual Property

Loopholing Librarians: The Internet Archive seeks to reproduce and distribute books copyrighted between 1923 and 1941 for the public via protection from the Copyright Act’s Section 108(h), which allows libraries and archives to reproduce and distribute published works that are not actively sold and are in their last twenty years of copyright protection, without fear of allegations of infringement.

Angry Apple: Apple will appeal a $439.7 million judgment against it for allegedly infringing on four recently-invalidated patented technologies used in FaceTime and other iOS apps, continuing a five-year patent battle between Apple and the company holding those patents.

Free Expression and Censorship

Disrupt At Your Own Risk: In an effort to promote the free speech of others on their campus, the University of Wisconsin has adopted a new policy allowing it to discipline and even expel students who interfere with the free expression of others via violent or disorderly misconduct, or frequently disrupt speakers during engagements on campus.

Practice Note

Medical Monitor: The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has issued final guidance addressing the design and development of connected medical devices that can exchange highly sensitive data with other medical equipment, urging manufacturers to identify anticipated users, potential misuse scenarios, and to conduct product testing to mitigate the unique security risks of their devices.

On The Lighter Side

Mapping Out Planets: A fun new feature on Google Maps allows users to explore the surface of sixteen celestial bodies, including local planets and moons.

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Information Law News From CLIP-ings International Correspondents Around the Globe

This academic year, former CLIP-ings Editorial Fellows studying abroad are reporting from time-to-time on current local news and developments in the field of information law!

From Victoria Loeb – Paris, France:

Online Voting by 2020? French President Emmanuel Macron recently announced that he intends to implement electronic voting for the next consular elections in 2020, as the 2017 elections included a “notable absence” of French voters overseas; however, approval of an online voting system will likely be contingent on a debate about its privacy and security standards.

Twitter is Just the Starting Point in France: As in the United States, French women have been using social media to expose male sexual harassment; this may lead to new legislation as the French government discusses proposals to fine men for aggressive and lecherous behavior towards women in public, planning to consult legal experts and present Parliament with measures before next year.

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Joel R. Reidenberg
Stanley D. and Nikki Waxberg Chair and Professor of Law
Founding Academic Director, Fordham CLIP

N. Cameron Russell
Executive Director, Fordham CLIP

Yemi Danmola
Harrison Kay
Rilana Wenske
Editorial Fellows, Fordham CLIP

Internet Governance

TTYWill: An Australian court has ruled that an unsent text message can qualify as an official will, after a draft message found on one man’s phone authorized the transfer of his assets to his brother and nephew despite his wife’s otherwise legitimate claim to his estate.

Helium Help: This week the FCC granted an experimental license to Alphabet’s Project Loon to operate in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands via helium balloons providing the territories with emergency LTE cellular reception.

Privacy

Connected Kids? A new social media app called Kudos will target users aged eight to thirteen as an alternative to platforms like Instagram and Snapchat, aiming to teach these users about the importance of navigating social media responsibly and offering twenty-four hour human moderation; meanwhile Mattel’s plan to release a smart speaker designed to interact with younger users has been thwarted by pushback from child advocacy groups and members of Congress.

Data Deceit: Last week’s arrest of a cyberstalker was made possible through surveillance of Virtual Private Network (VPN) logs of his online activities, a discovery that highlights the dangers of using ISP-alternatives like VPNs that falsely claim to not log your data and to be completely secure.

Information Security and Cyberthreats

Vote of Confidence: An anti-hacking coalition comprised of hackers, academics, and U.S. governors will endeavor to secure U.S. elections by identifying vulnerabilities in voting machine equipment and election-related computer systems to assuage ongoing concerns that elections can be compromised.

Relentless Russians: Recent reports suggest that Russian government-backed hackers, one of whom was a former National Security Agency (NSA) Contractor, stole cyber secrets from the NSA in 2015 using antivirus software from Kaspersky Labs.

Intellectual Property

Angry Ali: A promotional video shown before the 2017 Super Bowl featuring images, audio, and life highlights of the late boxer Muhammad Ali has prompted the company holding his intellectual property rights to sue Fox Broadcasting Co. for $30 million for allegedly using Ali’s identity without its authorization.

Patent Patrol: A bill was proposed in the Senate to close the loophole that affords Native American tribes the defense of sovereign immunity in inter partes reviews of a patent, after Allergan successfully circumvented patent review of its drug Restasis by selling the patent to the St. Regis Mohawk tribe and having the patent licensed back to them.

Free Expression and Censorship

Tutorials’ Turmoil: As a response to the Las Vegas shooting, YouTube updated its community guidelines regardings its prohibition of harmful and dangerous content to ban the posting of tutorials that teach viewers how to modify guns to fire like automatic weapons.

No-Charge Knowledge: A partnership between the Wikimedia Foundation and a regional telecommunications provider will expand the Wikipedia Zero initiative to Afghanistan, providing anyone in the country with free access to Wikipedia through their mobile devices.

Practice Note

Obstructive Opinions: ESPN’s suspension of Jemele Hill has raised concerns that the network may have violated a Connecticut law that affords employees greater protections than the First Amendment when commenting on matters of public concern; companies should consider implementing social media policies in employee handbooks to protect themselves when taking disciplinary action against employees.

On The Lighter Side

Solar Salvation? Elon Musk and the Governor of Puerto Rico, Ricardo Rossello, are reportedly discussing Musk’s desire to restore power to the territory using solar technology, which has proven successful in powering other small islands in the past.

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Information Law News From CLIP-ings International Correspondents Around the Globe

This academic year, former CLIP-ings Editorial Fellows studying abroad are reporting from time-to-time on current local news and developments in the field of information law!

From Victoria Loeb – Paris, France:

Digital Diplomacy: President Macron met with Apple CEO Tim Cook in Paris, presenting a “constructive dialogue” in the face of increased pressure on tech leaders as Macron continues to defend France’s proposal to tax tech giants on turnover per country rather than profits from subsidiaries and favors the recent European Commission decision to take Ireland to court to reclaim 13 billion Euros in taxes from Apple.

From Meghna Prasad – Rome, Italy:

A 5-Star Hack: An Italian political party called the 5-Star Movement, which first entered the Italian Parliament in 2013 and which promotes internet-based direct democracy, recently had its website hacked by a group that has gained access to a secret list of members and donors; the hack has threatened the public’s confidence in the security and strength of the 5-Star Movement whose hallmark is its internet basis.

Really Made in Italy! After Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi and Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba signed a memorandum of understanding about a year ago whereby Alibaba’s Intellectual Property Protection platform would consider takedown requests and use AI to scan product listings falsely labeled “Made in Italy,” the head of Italy’s ICQRF—the government body in charge of protecting Italian agricultural food products—has praised the effects of the collaboration as having a “huge” effect in preventing inauthentic products from being sold.

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Joel R. Reidenberg
Stanley D. and Nikki Waxberg Chair and Professor of Law
Founding Academic Director, Fordham CLIP

N. Cameron Russell
Executive Director, Fordham CLIP

Yemi Danmola
Harrison Kay
Rilana Wenske
Editorial Fellows, Fordham CLIP

Internet Governance

No Drone Zone:  The Federal Aviation Administration announced that, beginning this week, unmanned aircrafts or drones will be prohibited from entering the airspace of the following ten Interior Department sites: The Statue of Liberty, Boston National Historical Park (U.S.S. Constitution), Independence National Historical Park, Folsom Dam, Glen Canyon Dam, Grand Coulee Dam, Hoover Dam, Jefferson National Expansion Memorial, Mount Rushmore National Memorial, and Shasta Dam.

Spy or Modify? A bipartisan group of U.S. Representatives has introduced legislation that aims to place restrictions on the National Security Agency’s warrantless internet surveillance program, which would increase privacy protections for citizens but upset proponents of government monitoring of suspicious communications.

Privacy

Monitoring Moscow: Russia has officially begun utilizing its facial recognition software on as many as 4,000 of its 160,000 CCTV cameras around the city of Moscow; the cameras hold five days of footage and the software is currently being used for law enforcement inquiries and to hold civil servants like police officers and garbage collectors accountable.

Tinder’s Troves: A European user of popular dating app Tinder who requested access to her personal data was surprised to receive an 800-page report detailing sensitive information, in a startling display of how information that users willingly disclose is used not only to study user behavior and preferences but also to sell to third parties.

Information Security and Cyberthreats

Quantum Call: The Chinese Academy of Sciences has successfully placed its first long-distance video call using a quantum communications network that transmits data embedded in light particles and that is reportedly so secure that any attempt to infiltrate the network will immediately expose the hackers.

Dataless Drones: After the U.S. Army placed a blanket ban on drones manufactured by Chinese technology company DJI, the company introduced a “local data mode” feature that blocks transmission of internet data on its devices in an appeal to enterprise customers like the U.S. Army that might use DJI products to perform sensitive operations.

Intellectual Property

Keeping Tabs: Levi Strauss and Co. is adding to its queue of IP lawsuits alleging trademark infringement against Vineyard Vines for use of a similar looking pocket tab on its jeans and pants.

Reverse Dating Rumble: An inventor of a “reverse dating” app must defend the enforceability of her patent against another inventor accusing her of stealing the idea for the app after it was allegedly disclosed to her in 2006.

Free Expression and Censorship

Mean Muggin’: A federal judge in Illinois rejected the free speech defense of defendants Mugshots.com and Unpublish.com in a proposed class action lawsuit against them because their online posts of individuals’ criminal records served the purpose of inducing the individuals to pay the sites for removal of the information.

Commission Caution: The European Commission has published hate speech guidelines for social media platforms like Facebook and Google, such as removing illegal content faster and investing in technologies to automatically remove prohibited speech, warning that noncompliance could lead to eventual monetary fines.

Practice Note

Deadly Drama: Recent right of publicity lawsuits by celebrities and their estates have highlighted the importance of jurisdiction when considering a right of publicity claim; most jurisdictions do not allow for a post-mortem right, with the exception of Virginia, Indiana, and Oklahoma, while California allows for post-mortem claims only for celebrities.

On The Lighter Side

Talking Tattoos: Researchers from Harvard and MIT have created biosensitive ink that they incorporated into a body tattoo prototype that detects changes in body chemistry, such as an increase in blood-glucose levels, and that responds by changing color to alert observers.

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Information Law News From CLIP-ings International Correspondents Around the Globe

This academic year, former CLIP-ings Editorial Fellows studying abroad are reporting from time-to-time on current local news and developments in the field of information law!

From Victoria Loeb – Paris, France:

EU to Implement France’s Tax on Tech? Ten EU Member States have signed a letter supporting France’s plan for a new EU law that would authorize governments to tax tech giants’ revenues rather than impose a standard corporate tax on profits; however, EU ministers are concerned that the tax plan, said to be a “quick-fix” solution, would need to be evaluated and agreed upon at a global level.

From Meghna Prasad – Rome, Italy:

With the Pope’s Blessing: Following a recent series of sex abuse scandals involving the Catholic Church, Rome is hosting a summit with the support of Pope Francis to bring together world leaders in science, education, crime fighting, and child protection to discuss how to shield children from online pornography threats.

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Joel R. Reidenberg
Stanley D. and Nikki Waxberg Chair and Professor of Law
Founding Academic Director, Fordham CLIP

N. Cameron Russell
Executive Director, Fordham CLIP

Yemi Danmola
Harrison Kay
Rilana Wenske
Editorial Fellows, Fordham CLIP

Internet Governance

Privacy Pleasantries: Amid criticism that the U.S.-E.U. Privacy Shield consists of the same limitations as the previously negotiated Safe Harbor agreement, the Privacy Shield’s first annual review seemed to go well as officials from both sides released a joint statement of their continued support of the current framework.

Movers and Shakers: The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has enlisted the help of nine makers of digital health devices, such FitBit, Johnson & Johnson, and Samsung, to assist the FDA in developing new regulations for health monitoring devices.

Privacy

Mining Mystery: Websites owned by Showtime’s parent company CBS were discovered to be using a portion of users’ processing power to mine cryptocurrency, which generated revenue despite the presence of ad-blocking software and prompted questions as to CBS’ involvement in this unusual activity.

Facebook is Following You: Facebook will soon tailor the ads shown on its platform to include ads for the brick-and-mortar stores shoppers visit in real life by utilizing the in-app location tracking feature on their smartphones.

Information Security and Cyberthreats

Drama for Deloitte: Global accountancy firm Deloitte was the target of a complex cyberattack that impacted its global email server and reportedly compromised the confidential emails of some of its largest clients, prompting the firm to conduct an investigation to evaluate its cyber vulnerabilities.

Cries of a Category One: The director of the United Kingdom’s National Cybersecurity Centre warns that the first “category one” cyberattack could be upon us in the next few years and suggests that companies and governments should focus on managing risk and entrusting and empowering their employees instead of depending on the expertise of outside entities.

Intellectual Property

Tribe Transfer: A Native American tribe is suing Apple for patent infringement on a part used in its iPad, part of a litigation strategy in which technology companies transfer patent rights to a tribe to shield the patent from scrutiny by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board.

Troll Tribunal? A Texas federal judge notorious for handling about a quarter of all U.S. patent cases has for the second time been told by a higher court that he can only hear patent lawsuits if the defendant “resides” in his district, after becoming a favorite among forum-shopping patent “trolls.”

Free Expression and Censorship

Censoring Catalan: The Spanish government’s recent issuance of court orders to both registrants of the .cat domain name and to ISPs, in an effort to block online content related to the upcoming Catalan referendum, prompted accusations that the Spanish government violated E.U. censorship laws.

Big Block: To encourage the use of the state-monitored messaging app WeChat and better enforce censorship of 68 categories of content now deemed inappropriate for their citizens, China has blocked the highly popular messaging app WhatsApp by developing specialized software to interfere with the app’s end-to-end encryption.

Practice Note

Picking Protections: Businesses that develop valuable proprietary information should consider whether to obtain patent protection or trade secret protection, taking into account that patents are typically more costly and require specialized counsel to obtain, while trade secrets are usually more difficult to enforce and do not prevent competitors from independently developing inventions.

On The Lighter Side

Fly Dubai: On Monday, Dubai conducted the maiden test flight for its flying taxi service with the Dubai Crown Prince onboard; this promising first flight means that this flying fleet could be up and running within the next five years.

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Information Law News From CLIP-ings International Correspondents Around the Globe

This academic year, former CLIP-ings Editorial Fellows studying abroad are reporting from time-to-time on current local news and developments in the field of information law!

From Victoria Loeb – Paris, France:

French Government Wants High-Speed, Parliament Concerned about Digital Divide: In response to President Macron’s push to expand high-speed mobile and fiber optic coverage by the end of 2020, Parliament published a report expressing its concerns about digital inequality in France, stating that high-speed expansion would leave a large portion of French territory without basic mobile access, while better optical fiber deployment in large cities would lead to delays in more rural areas.

France Taxes Video Platforms to Finance Digital Creation: France signed a decree to implement a 2% tax on the ad revenues of video-streaming websites with the goal of integrating these video platforms into the financing of original French content; the tax passed in Parliament in December of 2016 but faced criticism from the government.

From Meghna Prasad – Rome, Italy:

The End of the Free Internet: At the UN General Assembly recently, Britain, France, and Italy issued a joint statement to insist that Silicon Valley focuses on building technology to suppress violent extremism online; in a move that has previously been criticized for encroaching on free expression, these countries and the heads of major tech companies are increasingly agreeing on the urgency of monitoring this content.

Don’t Worry, Robots Won’t Replace All of Us: YuMi the robot recently led an orchestra accompanying renowned tenor Andrea Bocelli at a charity gala in Pisa, Italy; it is unlikely, though, that robots will ever replace orchestral conductors because of the artistry and human element required to direct an orchestra.

The End of Fascist Propaganda in Italy? The Italian Parliament’s Chamber of Deputies recently approved a bill which will impose a prison sentence between six months and two years for promoting fascist propaganda; the highly controversial bill is argued by some to threaten free expression in Italy, but if it passes through Italy’s Senate, the bill will become law.

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Joel R. Reidenberg
Stanley D. and Nikki Waxberg Chair and Professor of Law
Founding Academic Director, Fordham CLIP

N. Cameron Russell
Executive Director, Fordham CLIP

Yemi Danmola
Harrison Kay
Rilana Wenske
Editorial Fellows, Fordham CLIP

Internet Governance

Kaspersky Gets Canned: The Senate has voted to ban the Russian cybersecurity firm Kaspersky Lab’s software from use in the federal government, stating that the firm’s products pose a national security risk despite its CEO’s insistence that it does not conduct espionage on behalf of the Russian government.

Internet Influences: To reduce the prevalence of prejudice in court proceedings resulting from internet use, such as a jurist researching the details of a current proceeding online and sharing the information with fellow jurors, the attorney general of the U.K. is ramping up use of the little-known Contempt of Court Act of 1981 to discharge and jail violating jurists.

Privacy

Identity Inventory: The State of Illinois is developing a blockchain birth registry that will contain a “secure ‘self-sovereign’” digital identity of each Illinois citizen and would contain their name, gender, birth date, and blood type; while each identity would be controlled entirely by the individual, the registry would serve as a centralized database for easy identity verification for the government and private entities.

Blundered Bill: A proposed California bill that would have required internet service providers (ISPs) to get opt-in consent from customers before showing or selling their information to third parties failed in the state legislature; it faced intense opposition not only from major ISPs but also from internet companies like Google and Facebook.

Information Security and Cyberthreats

Grandma’s USB: The Department of Veterans Affairs is providing veterans seeking access to the vets.gov website with a new method of identity verification in lieu of a password: a physical USB-security key developed by an army veteran that is allegedly “unphishable” and can hold sensitive information such as social security numbers, driver’s licenses, school or military IDs, professional licenses and passports.

Crack the Code: The National Security Agency (NSA) has released the fifth iteration of its Codebreaker Challenge, which encourages students to compete in solving a fictitious government cybersecurity scenario by completing a series of exercises that progressively increase in technical complexity.

Intellectual Property

Taylor in Trouble: Two songwriters have accused Taylor Swift of infringing on lyrics they popularized in 2001, claiming that they were first to put the particular lyric sequence together and that it is common industry practice to give credit to the source material that artists use in future songs.

Protecting Pepe: The creator of Pepe the Frog has been fighting against the alt-right’s use of his art for their propaganda with mixed success, first with cease and desist letters and now by invoking the Digital Millennium Copyright Act against websites featuring the appropriated work.

Free Expression and Censorship

Good Faith Government? Although denounced by courts and policymakers, governmental bodies are seeking judgments against requestors of legally sensitive or embarrassing public documents to allow the government to avoid disclosure.

Saudi Stipulations: Under pressure from the Saudi Arabian government, Snap has removed the Al-Jazeera channel from the Snapchat Discover section on its app, in an effort to comply with Saudi media and criminal laws that prohibit publishing content jeopardizing national security or the public order.

Practice Note

Alice Advice: Recent decisions from the Federal Circuit and U.S. Patent and Trademark Office provide guidance for software-related patent applicants to improve their chances of passing step one of the Alice two-step patent-eligibility test; in order to pass, drafters should (1) provide detailed explanations of the benefits of their alleged invention compared to the conventional art, (2) include source code and/or pseudo code in the application’s appendix, and, if applicable, (3) provide a detailed explanation of the improvement in the hardware-related features of their invention as compared to contemporary approaches to those same features.

On The Lighter Side

Museum Matchup: A battle of wits broke out on Twitter this week as the UK-based Natural History Museum and Science Museum both leveraged their most fascinating exhibits in an effort to prove which museum was superior.

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Information Law News From CLIP-ings International Correspondents Around the Globe

This academic year, former CLIP-ings Editorial Fellows studying abroad are reporting from time-to-time on current local news and developments in the field of information law!

From Victoria Loeb – Paris, France:

European High Court Takes on Workplace Surveillance: The Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights, reviewing a 2016 decision by the Court that upheld the monitoring of an employee’s personal email use and his subsequent firing, ruled that workplace monitoring of electronic communication violates the right to privacy where there is no policy that gives notice of the specific nature and extent of the monitoring; the French-based court’s ruling on monitoring of electronic communication echoes regional privacy concerns of both public and private e-surveillance.

European Response to Heightened Cyber Threats: Following a speech on the state of the European Union last week by European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, the European Commission proposed to delegate greater authority to information security agency Enisa, which since 2004 has functioned mostly as an advisory and oversight tool; notably, the agency will be responsible for implementing the NIS Cybersecurity Directive, recently adopted by the EU and outlining principles similar to those in place in France.

Asian Media Covets French Agency’s Presence in North Korea: Through its exclusive coverage of official events in North Korea and frequent reporting since opening an office in Pyongyang last year, Agence France Presse (AFP) has solidified its presence as one of the few news sources operating live from the region, leading to contracts with agencies and channels throughout Asia; to compete with agencies already established in Asia, AFP plans to increase its video content and distribute “lives” on web media.

From Meghna Prasad – Rome, Italy:

From Drought to Fortification: After a severe drought throughout Italy forced Rome to implement rationing and a temporary halt of water delivery from its central lake last spring, the Italian government has turned to Israel for a solution, receiving advice not only on water management and conservation, but also on cybersecurity and monitoring techniques to prevent hackers from compromising the Italian water system.

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Joel R. Reidenberg
Stanley D. and Nikki Waxberg Chair and Professor of Law
Founding Academic Director, Fordham CLIP

N. Cameron Russell
Executive Director, Fordham CLIP

Yemi Danmola
Harrison Kay
Rilana Wenske
Editorial Fellows, Fordham CLIP