CLIP-ings: July 7, 2017

Internet Governance

Digital David & Goliath: The EU’s recent $2.7 billion antitrust fine against Google is a big win for the information antitrust war led by Yelp; the small search engine rival of Google that led the intercontinental fight for 6 years utilized various approaches along the way from hackathons to meetings with regulatory agencies to provide evidence of Google’s monopoly on online searching. .

Tempting the Twenty: Ongoing debates about data security, the trustworthiness of the digital economy, and internet access have led members of the G20 to devise a set of guiding regulatory principles in an effort to encourage each member nation to adopt the proposed digital agenda ahead of the G20 Summit in Germany this week.

Privacy

Terrorism Justifies Privy to Private Messaging? Privacy red flags have been raised as ongoing pressure from various international regulators has resulted in some of Facebook’s human content moderators receiving additional clearance to investigate user profiles with suspected ties to terrorist groups, including their private messages.

Armed and Autonomous: The Dubai police force has unveiled first-of-their-kind driverless police cars equipped with built-in surveillance drones, license plate readers, and facial recognition technology that human officers can use to remotely monitor crowded areas and identify suspects.

Information Security and Cyberthreats

DOJ Dodging Diplomacy? Seemingly in an effort to circumvent international authorities and gain access to data centers worldwide, the DOJ has proposed legislation to Congress and petitioned the Supreme Court to allow the issuing of warrants for digital information stored outside the United States by asking for an expansion of the Stored Communications Act.

Testing the Truth: As AI technology advances, some startups are developing capabilities which within the coming years will create realistic audio and video forgeries eventually undetectable to even forensic analysis, and as these developments evolve so too will various industries that depend on evidence of the truth such as journalism, national security, and the criminal justice system.

Proving Grounds: Weaker defense systems, the rush to enter the digital economy, and the likelihood of anonymity have made developing countries in Southwest Asia and Africa prime targets for hackers looking to test and modify new malware before wielding it against well-fortified entities such as international banks or government networks in more developed countries.

Intellectual Property

Snapchat’s Shopping Spree: The release of Snapchat’s new Snap Map seems to be the beginning of the company’s venture into augmented reality, as its recent purchases of hundreds of location-dependent technology patents will eventually allow users to tether photos and messages to particular locations on the map that will send to other users when they are nearby.

Free Expression and Censorship

Secure or Censored? A new study has found that websites that switch from HTTP to secure HTTPs connections prevent government censors from blocking specific web pages, forcing censoring governments to decide whether to allow all content on a particular site or block the site entirely.

Content Control: A new wave of government regulations aimed at the Chinese media industry will subject online audiovisual content to an audit to ensure it comports with “core socialist values,” drawing backlash from critics who say the rules will hamper creativity and force popular blogs and social media platforms to limit their content or shut down.

Practice Note

Conversations on “Connected Cars”: The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) held a workshop on the “connected car” to address the NHTSA’s proposed rule, consumer safety benefits, the multitude of privacy and information security concerns surrounding this technology, and the need for the private sector to take a vested interest in the regulation of this interdisciplinary intersection of the auto and tech industries.

On the Lighter Side

A Phone for That: While the iPhone celebrated its 10th anniversary this past week, one reporter and smartphone holdout remarked that using the iPhone has dispensed with our need for previously commonplace physical objects like handwritten calendars, noisy alarm clocks, and even our once-beloved iPods.


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
Editorial Fellows, Fordham CLIP

CLIP-ings: June 30, 2017

Internet Governance

Tech Titans Tackle Terrorism: Tech giants Microsoft, Facebook, Twitter and Google via YouTube will further their joint counter-terrorism efforts by forming the Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism, centering its focus on working with other players in the fight against terrorism, commissioning research and sharing technological solutions to curtail the content’s prevalence.

Give Kids the World Wide Web: Facebook is backing a new bill proposed by the California legislature that would give internet access to youth in juvenile detention facilities and foster care homes and allow them to develop computer literacy and communication skills

Privacy

Search Warrant Stress: The fight between Facebook and the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension as the BCA sought access to the Facebook accounts and metadata of Philando Castile’s girlfriend, Diamond Reynolds, in the days following the deadly shooting shed light on the difficult position of social media companies when faced with search warrants for user data and the differences in compliance between tech and telecommunications companies with such requests.

Now You See Me: Snapchat’s new location-sharing Snap Map feature has raised concerns that users can unwittingly broadcast their exact real-world position in the app, though the company states that precise location data is deleted after a short period of time.

Information Security and Cyberthreats

Public Health Policy Meets Privacy: In its 17 point framework, the World Health Organization outlines the costs and benefits, such as potential patient privacy risks and tracking spread of diseases respectively, for countries’ adoption of the guidelines but emphasizes the importance and necessity for global ethical and responsible public health information collection and analysis.

Cyber Ceasefire: In a suspected effort to be harder on China, Canada signed an agreement with China agreeing not to conduct economic cyber espionage against the other, including hacking corporate secrets and proprietary technology, but the agreement does not address intelligence gathering via state-sponsored hacks.

Muddled Motivations: After another global cyberattack caused computer systems to fail around the world but yielded a small payout for the attackers, security experts are questioning whether the prospect of financial gain takes a backseat to other goals such as spreading an attack more quickly or sending a political message.

Intellectual Property

Copying Coachella? Urban Outfitters says it did not infringe on the music festival  Coachella’s trademark, arguing that its use of the mark in advertising is not confusing to consumers and that other infringement allegations should be directed at its legally distinct subsidiary, Free People.

Tweet Takedown: Twitter suspended several popular music blogs after they tweeted footage from awards shows and another blog that tweeted the track list for a forthcoming hip-hop album, leading to both speculation that Twitter will suspend individual accounts for alleged copyright violations and calls for more transparent account suspension guidelines.

Free Expression and Censorship

Net Neutrality Noisemaker No More: In the ongoing fight for net neutrality, a voice that was once a vocal proponent is now notably silent; Tumblr and its CEO David Karp have barely engaged in the current discussion for net neutrality, and some suspect this change is due to Tumblr’s new parent company, Verizon Wireless, an opponent of net neutrality.

Halting Hate Speech: German police raided homes and interrogated 36 citizens accused of using hate speech on Facebook and Twitter, including incendiary political comments and harassment based on sexual orientation, in the midst of a pending German law that would impose a fine of up $53 million on social media platforms that do not remove prohibited speech.

Practice Note

Patent Predicament: While proponents of the proposed STRONGER Patent Act believe that the legislation will better protect patent owners’ rights, critics argue that the Act would remove a mechanism for challenging bad patents and actually discourage inventors from conducting research and development in the United States.

On the Lighter Side

Robo Reporting Gone Awry: A robot reporter used by the Los Angeles Times called Quakebot reported that a 6.8 earthquake hit Los Angeles last Wednesday, which it did but in 1925; the robot reports on earthquakes via the U.S. Geological Survey’s website but due to a USGS staffer’s mistaken alert during an update of historical data, the robot in turn messed up.


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

Elizabeth Martin
Fellow, Fordham CLIP

Yemi Danmola
Harrison Kay
Editorial Fellows, Fordham CLIP

CLIP-ings: June 23, 2017

Internet Governance

Content With a Conscience: Google offered new “Community Guidelines” for its YouTube service that places additional restrictions on content deemed offensive but not flat-out removable, such as providing a warning to users, removing user recommendations and comments, and restricting the ability to monetize the content with advertising. 

All Access: The Supreme Court ruled that it is a violation of the First Amendment to ban people from the internet, recognizing a constitutional right even for individuals convicted of serious crimes to access what the Court believes is an essential forum for free speech activities.

Privacy

Dangerous Diagnoses: A data mining company has been soliciting people to take part in drug trials based in part on information it collects from data brokers about their potential health conditions, raising concerns that big data is exploiting sensitive and sometimes inaccurate medical information to turn a profit.

Internet ID? Technology companies and humanitarian groups are calling for a global digital identification system they say would make it easier to travel, sign documents, and even seek asylum, backed by encryption technology supposedly robust enough to store fingerprints, medical records, and banking information in a single mobile app.

Information Security and Cyberthreats

Data Disruption Drives $1M Deposit: A South Korean web hosting company, primarily serving thousands of small businesses, paid a $1 million ransom after an eight-day data outage cyber attack.

Meet Your Moderator: Due to a bug in the company’s system, the personal accounts of over 1000 Facebook content-moderators were posted in the groups that these administrators had removed from the site.

Intellectual Property

Moody Movie: Disney-Pixar is being sued over the idea for the 2015 film Inside Out by the co-founder of the National Childhood Grief Institute for her program designed to help children manage and understand their emotions, a program that she had pitched to Disney-Pixar annually from 2005-09.

Livestream LoserA U.S. District Judge ordered an unsuccessful plaintiff to pay the defendants’ attorneys fees as a punishment for the bogus copyright claim arising over the media outlets’ use of the plaintiff’s accidental live-stream of his child’s birth, an act protected by the fair use doctrine.

Show(room) Stopper: Fresh off the heels of its $13.7 billion purchase of Whole Foods Market, Amazon has received a patent for technology that prevents “showrooming” while customers are connected to the Wi-Fi in Amazon stores by restricting access to competitors’ websites, sending targeted offers, and even alerting Amazon employees that a customer is conducting online research while in the store.

Free Expression and Censorship

Mistakenly Mature Materials: As a Pride Month Initiative, with the help of many volunteered LGBTQ employees and content creators YouTube corrected its filtration system and updated its policies for its Restricted Mode, a system designed for public institutions to prevent mature content on their computers.

Maduro Gets Mad: Twitter allegedly blocked 180 accounts linked to the Venezuelan government, pointing not to a specific violation but instead to its usual policy of blocking accounts for abuse, spam or security issues and leading Venezuelan President Maduro to say that the government will retaliate by creating “10,000 or more” accounts.

Practice Note

Government Speech No-Go: The Supreme Court ruled that the anti-disparagement clause, which prohibits trademark registration if the trademark brings disparagement or produces contempt to “persons living or dead,” is unconstitutional as it violated the First Amendment, and thereby curtailing the scope of the government-speech doctrine by clarifying that the approval of a government, such as the USPTO, does not categorize the private speech as government speech capable of being silenced if it is viewed as disfavored by the government.

On the Lighter Side

To Push Puss Press… Netflix has announced it’s developing interactive-storytelling childhood shows, using Puss in Book: Trapped in an Epic Tale and Buddy Thunderstruck: The Maybe Pile and  Buddy Thunderstruck, providing viewers many opportunities to navigate the story and choose their own ending.


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

N. Cameron Russell
Executive Director, Fordham CLIP

Elizabeth Martin
Fellow, Fordham CLIP

Yemi Danmola
Harrison Kay
Editorial Fellows, Fordham CLIP

CLIP-ings: June 16, 2017

Internet Governance

Paid Postgramming: Instagram unveiled a new “branded content tool” that will help users tell the difference between sponsor-free posts and paid posts that signal partnerships with influencers, and it will help influencers and sponsors collect data on how the sponsored posts perform with users.

Classified Covfefe: As the White House states that social media posts should be considered as official presidential communications, lawmakers hope to amend the Presidential Record Act via the passing of the Communications Over Various Feeds Electronically for Engagement (COVFEFE) Act.

Privacy

Capable Crusader? With the identity of the perpetrator unknown, a lawyer unsuccessfully sued Facebook after his account was hacked and compromised with revenge porn postings; the 9th Circuit affirmed the district court’s ruling that under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, Facebook as a third party to the hack was not liable for such conduct.

Privacy for the Pro: While professional athletes’ status as public figures substantially affects the scope of their privacy rights, at least one federal district court has articulated additional privacy protections that loosen the otherwise higher standard for athletes to show that a public disclosure of private information amounts to an invasion of privacy.

Information Security and Cyberthreats

Cyberwar, cont. More than a year after launching a cyber offensive against the Islamic State that has yielded inconsistent results, U.S. counterterrorism officials are retooling their cyber warfare techniques with the goal of permanently dismantling ISIS cyber-infrastructure through more robust attacks.

Tweets from Thieves: A security research group has uncovered an international hacking scheme called the “Doubleswitch” in which hackers compromise the Twitter accounts of activists and journalists, locking the victims out of their accounts and allowing the hackers to use seemingly legitimate handles to disseminate fake news.

There Goes the Grid: U.S. intelligence officials are worried that the malware believed to have shut down part of the electric grid in Ukraine last year can be leveraged against other countries at a much larger scale, but the risk could provide the impetus for countries to better secure their power grids.

Intellectual Property

Tough Time for Trolling: Louis Vuitton is pushing back against being regarded as a “troll” as it is being sued for attorneys fees in its failed trademark infringement and trademark dilution litigation against the creator of “My Other Bag”; meanwhile, the 7th Circuit has squandered the hopes of housing copyright “trolls” who bring cases under the obscure Architectural Works Copyright Protection Act of 1990.

Free Expression and Censorship

Free Speech Frenzy? University of Wisconsin faculty and administrators are concerned about the passing of a vague state bill allegedly focused on public forums with invited speakers; while it would require the state’s institutions to remain “neutral” towards contemporaneously contested public policy issues, the unease arose due to uncertainty about the regulation of free speech on campuses, especially regarding scientific claims, if passed.

Sensitive Censorship: Pakistan’s government is taking a strong stance against negative social media, such as sentencing a citizen to death for a seemingly sacrilegious comment about the prophet Muhammad; Thailand is continuing to extend its censorship of negative commentary about the royal family by sentencing a man to 35 years in prison; China attempts to instill “socialist values” as it closed 60 gossip social media platform accounts for posting allegedly tasteless content.

Practical Note

Patent: Private or Public Property? The impending hearing of a case by the U.S. Supreme Court questions the America Invents Act’s constitutionality; the answer is dependent on the classification of patents as a public or private property right, and thus questions the constitutionality of the PTAB’s decisions; it appears that any answer suggesting private property rights or invalidating the PTAB will have reverberating effects on the world of patents.

Rushing a Right? The New York State Legislature proposed a bill that would significantly expand and make transferable the right to publicity, though First Amendment advocates see the bill as detrimental to the freedom of expression and call for more careful consideration of the scope and nature of the right.

On the Lighter Side

Communication-Free Courting: An interest-based dating app prohibits communication between potential suitors and utilizes common ideal date activities to match people, removing one of the uniquely human obstacles to setting up a date.


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

N. Cameron Russell
Executive Director, Fordham CLIP

Elizabeth Martin
Fellow, Fordham CLIP

Yemi Danmola
Harrison Kay
Editorial Fellows, Fordham CLIP

CLIP-ings: June 9, 2017

Internet Governance

Airbnb Addresses A.D.A.? A new study reported that mentioning a disability renders you far less likely to be preapproved for a rental, even though Airbnb has introduced new rental options to accommodate its diverse customer base, such as “instant bookings.”

SanFran Sidewalk Ban: As the prevalence of delivery services increases, San Francisco considers a bill that would ban autonomous delivery robots from roaming the city’s sidewalks because they pose a physical safety risk to pedestrians.

Privacy

Modern Monopoly? Antitrust regulators expressed concern that existing frameworks lack protections against tech giants’ monopoly over valuable user data, citing an ongoing investigation into whether Facebook abused its dominance as a social network through unfair terms of use and calling for increased scrutiny over use of that data.

BodyCam Conversation Concerns: An intensive study of body camera footage from Oakland, California reveals that police officers use less respectful language during interactions with black people; although the behavior’s cause is unknown it is an important first step towards community driven policing.

Caller I.See: A new FCC proposal would allow law enforcement officials to uncover details about anonymous threatening callers, but the FCC must strike a balance between the privacy interest of legitimate callers and penalizing threatening callers, who the Commission says lack a legitimate privacy interest.

Information Security and Cyberthreats

Revenge or Resilience: With no safeguards to ensure that victims only engage with their stolen data and issues in determining chain-of-custody and how to handle international threats, hacking back, the inspiration for the bipartisan Active Cyber Defense Certainty Act bill could do more damage than good; an alternative could be to use the power of human resilience to train cybersecurity staff and the public by using simulated phishing emails and social engineering.

Google Games to Do Good: Be Internet Awesome is the fun educational curriculum developed by Google to teach children about the dangers of the internet, such as cyber-bullying, information security, phishing attacks, and other bad internet behavior.

Intellectual Property

The Stolen Oldies? iHeartMedia Inc. will not need to pay royalties for “pre-1972s” – sound recordings generally excluded from the federal copyright system – after a federal judge in Illinois ruled that any remaining common law protection of the copyright is lost when the recordings are sold or broadcasted.

Sampling Snafu: In an unusual victory for music sampling, hip-hop artist Drake was found not to have infringed on an earlier composition by jazz artist Jimmy Smith based on the doctrine of fair use, though the case highlights the complexity of current copyright licensing law.

Free Expression and Censorship

Ruined Revenue: To appease advertisers and high-profile content creators, YouTube has disabled advertisements from running on hateful, demeaning, or incendiary videos.

Social Media Stumps Scholars: First Amendment academics are divided as to whether President Trump caused a free speech violation by blocking some of his followers on Twitter, causing a debate over whether a President’s Twitter account is analogous to a public forum or to a one-way communication channel.

Practical Note

Government Geeks: A digital civil rights organization filed a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against the FBI after it reportedly paid Best Buy’s ‘Geek Squad’ employees to perform warrantless searches on defective devices, causing debate over whether such searches violate the Fourth Amendment.

On the Lighter Side

APPocalypse? Apple kicked off WWDC 2017 with a short video depicting the supposed inevitable apocalypse that would occur in a modern-day app-less reality.


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

N. Cameron Russell
Executive Director, Fordham CLIP

Elizabeth Martin
Fellow, Fordham CLIP

Yemi Danmola
Harrison Kay
Editorial Fellows, Fordham CLIP

CLIP-ings: June 2, 2017

Internet Governance

Testing Troubles: In response to a leak of national school exam papers Ethiopia shut down internet access across the nation in order to prevent similar cheating on another round of upcoming national exams for the third time in one year.

Congress Contemplates Overseas Data Compliance: Congress is proposing legislation to address the retrieval of data from U.S. companies held overseas, after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled that Microsoft did not have to turn over data stored on an overseas server that pertained to a suspect in a criminal case.

Privacy

Passengers Planes & Pictures: This month JetBlue Airways plans to unveil a new process to streamline boarding by utilizing facial recognition software to confirm flight information with a photo taken at the gate.

AI Interest in Inattention: A French business school’s proposed use of facial recognition software and artificial intelligence to track student’s attentiveness during online lessons, develop customized quizzes and improve teaching poses privacy risks as it requires masses of personal data.

Streaming Execs Shrug Shoulder on Password Sharing: A study revealed that over half of video streaming viewership is conducted via sharing passwords and, despite ongoing debate, industry executives regard the practice as commonplace.

Information Security and Cyberthreats

Smart Cities Step Up Security or Succumb to Susceptibilities: As the percentage of the world’s residents in urban areas grows, so does the threat of the smart systems used to manage the cities’ operations; thus safeguards are needed to protect these vulnerable systems that cities increasingly depend on.

To Hack a Heart: A pair of recent studies warn that pacemakers, insulin pumps, and other life-or-death medical equipment are prone to thousands of cyber vulnerabilities, due to bugs in their code, lack of knowledge about how to write secure code and the fact that only 17% of manufacturers have taken steps to secure their devices.

Intellectual Property

From Rags to Royalties: Spotify has reached a $43 million settlement in a class action copyright lawsuit claiming that the music streaming company failed to pay thousands of songwriters proper royalties in making their compositions available to its base of over 100 million users.

Patented Parachute: As part of its Prime Air drone delivery project, Amazon received a patent for a shipping label that includes a built-in parachute attached to an autonomous drone, even though such drones are not authorized to fly in the U.S. under current FAA rules.

Free Expression and Censorship

Facebook Fuels Fight: To combat the circulation of hateful content, Facebook has employed Filipino college graduates to review and remove a never-ending stream of terror-related posts, resulting in traumatized employees and a high turnover rate; Facebook is furthering the fight against harmful content by allowing users to flag information as fake news.

Playback Problems: At least two UK-based radio stations have opted not to play a popular song with lyrics accusing British Prime Minister Theresa May of being a “liar” and untrustworthy, while the band that wrote the track sees the move as an attempt to undermine public opinion about May’s ruling party.

Practical Note

Ruling Restricts Patent Rights: The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent ruling that a patentee’s rights in the patented item will be exhausted upon sale of the item will require companies to rebuild licensing agreements and remodel product pricing, further changing the landscape of patent owners’ protections.

On the Lighter Side

North Korea Negates Novelty? North Korea’s newest release, the iPad, blatantly inspired by American tech.


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

N. Cameron Russell
Executive Director, Fordham CLIP

Editorial Fellows, CLIP
Yemi Danmola
Harrison Kay

CLIP-ings: May 19, 2017

Internet Governance

Wake-Up Call: Congress recently proposed a bill that would require the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) to inform representatives of other government agencies about security holes it finds in software like the recent WannaCry ransomware attacks; in a recent blog post Microsoft called out governments for stockpiling vulnerabilities instead of reporting issues to vendors.

Privacy

Implied Consent? Google’s AI subsidiary DeepMind was given access to the personal medical records of over 1.6 million National Health Service (NHS) patients in the U.K., but the data sharing agreement between the Royal Free NHS Trust and DeepMind to create a new medical app was found to have been conducted on an “inappropriate legal basis.”

Information Security and Cyberthreats

Makes Us Wanna Cry: Intelligence officials and security experts are pointing to North Korea as the source of WannaCry, the ransomware that affected over 200,000 computers in 150 countries; the ransomware locks people out of their data and demands a ransom.

More Bad News for United: A United Airlines flight attendant mistakenly posted cockpit door access codes, the codes needed to request entry to the flight deck, on a public website.

Sign Here: DocuSign, the owner of eSignature, a digital signature service, said that a database of customer email addresses was breached and used in a phishing campaign.

Intellectual Property

Google It: The Ninth Circuit ruled that “Google” has not become a generic trademark, like “aspirin”, rejecting the claim that the company lost control of its name because of widespread use of “google” as a verb.

The End of the MP3: The research company Fraunhofer IIS that holds the patents on MP3 encoders and decoders announced it had ended the “licensing program for certain mp3 related patents and software”, leading many to believe that MP3 may now be a “dead format.”

Free Expression and Censorship

Bring a Book: The Department of Homeland Security is expected to ban laptops and other large electronic devices from carry-on bags on flights from Europe to the United States.

On the Lighter Side

Bad Date: A man is suing his date for texting while they were watching a showing of the movie Guardians of the Galaxy 2; he is asking for $17.31, the cost of the 3D movie ticket.


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

N. Cameron Russell
Executive Director, Fordham CLIP

Fellow, CLIP
Elizabeth Martin

CLIP-ings: May 12, 2017

Internet Governance

Clash With Cabbies: The Advocate General of the Court of Justice of the European Union advised that Uber operates a transport service, not as an ‘information society service’, and so should be subject to taxi licensing regulations.

Taking Matters Into Their Own Hands: Seattle’s mayor implemented a rule requiring that cable internet providers obtain opt-in consent before sharing web browsing history and other data whenever it is needed for something besides essential service.

Privacy

Smile for the Camera: Google has created a “Street View ready” standard certification program so users can use 360-degree cameras to capture and upload Street View imagery directly to Google; so far 20 cameras have been certified.

Information Security and Cyberthreats

Hackers, Spammers, and Comedians: The Federal Communications Commission said its website was hit by deliberate denial of service attacks and not caused by comedian John Oliver’s popular television segment urging viewers to submit online comments to the FCC to save its current net neutrality rules; additionally, a bot may be behind the posting of over 58,000 identical comments supporting the FCC’s proposal.

Election Hacking: Two days before France’s presidential election, hackers leaked emails from Emmanuel Macron’s campaign and the director of the NSA confirmed that the NSA had warned French cybersecurity officials of Russians hackers attempts to compromise some elements of the election.

Intellectual Property

“Dancing Baby”: The US solicitor general and the US Copyright Office recommended against the Supreme Court taking the Lenz v. Universal copyright case; the case has been going on for nearly a decade.

Practice Note

Choices on Geoblocking: With recent uncertainty in courts with regard to geolocation and territorially limiting conduct on the internet, internet content providers or service providers should consider the pros and cons of geoblocking, blocking access to content on the internet based on a user’s physical location, as a practice to avoid personal jurisdiction.

Free Expression and Censorship

Totally Fake: Facebook has increased its efforts to tackle fake news by burying links to low-quality websites; in preparation for the UK general elections, Facebook removed accounts it believes were involved in the spread of misinformation and published advertisements in British newspapers educating readers on fake news.

On the Lighter Side

Entertain Your Tastebuds: Smalt, the salt shaker with Bluetooth and music streaming capabilities you didn’t know you needed.


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

N. Cameron Russell
Executive Director, Fordham CLIP

Fellow, CLIP
Elizabeth Martin

CLIP-ings: May 5, 2017

Internet Governance

Net Neutrality Rollback: The chairman of the FCC released his plan to roll back the FCC’s rules prohibiting ISPs from treating online traffic in a discriminatory manner and, shortly after, judges on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals declined to rehear the case en banc that upheld the FCC’s 2015 Open Internet Order.

UK Crackdown: UK government issued a warning that sellers and consumers will face severe penalties and possibly jail time if they sell or purchase Kodi boxes, media players that permit third party add-ons which allow a user to stream illegally copied films and TV shows.

Privacy

Transparency in New York: A privacy group sued the New York Police Department over its failure to release documents related to its use of facial-recognition technology.

Silent Trackers: Researchers found that over 200 Android apps use ultrasound cross-device tracking, technology that embeds high-frequency tones in advertisements which are detected by devices that reveal information about the ads a user watches.

Information Security and Cyberthreats

Do Not Click: Google is investigating a phishing email scam that affected as many as one million users; recipients of the email that clicked on a shared Google document risked giving the sender access to their Google contact lists and Google Drive.

What’s Your Number? In 2016 the National Security Agency collected more than 151 million records about Americans’ phone calls despite a law passed last year intended to curb bulk surveillance.

Intellectual Property

Up Next: Music Lawsuits: The Eagles are suing a hotel for trademark infringement for using the name “Hotel California” and Eminem’s lawsuit begins this week against a New Zealand political party for using his song “Lose Yourself”.

Free Expression and Censorship

Hiring Content Cops: Facebook announced a plan to hire 3,000 new employees to screen and remove inappropriate content and graphic videos, such as live videos of murders or suicides.

On the Lighter Side

Trolling Apple Fans: The dictionary entry for Merriam-Webster’s newest word: “sheeple”, meaning people who are easily influenced, uses Apple fans as an example.


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

N. Cameron Russell
Executive Director, Fordham CLIP

Fellow, CLIP
Elizabeth Martin

CLIP-ings: April 28, 2017

Internet Governance

Haters Hating Hate: In a landscape of inconsistent procedures regarding hate speech takedowns, the European Commission has drafted a document suggesting that the EU standardize rules regarding how online sites must delete hate speech and illegal content like child porn to create a more “transparent and predictable environment.”

Progressive Prohibition on Product Promotions to Protect Public: The FTC is warning celebrities that they must disclose when a company pays them to endorse their products on social media platforms such as Instagram or otherwise face an investigation and a possible fine of up to $16,000 per violation.

Privacy

Beware the Big Blimp: New information has revealed that for over a decade starting in 2004, the Hover Hammer, a blimp launched from Maryland by the NSA, was equipped with an eavesdropping device that enabled it to obtain international shipping data from the Long Island area and also intercept wireless communications including mobile phone calls.

Bit of Data Found in Fitbit: Data taken from a murdered woman’s fitness tracker points to her husband as the killer since it shows that she was still moving around at the time her husband claimed she had already been shot dead by a masked intruder.

Information Security and Cyberthreats

Creepin’ Kremlin: APT28, the same Russian group blamed for the DNC hack late last year, has been phishing high-profile users of Google and Yahoo! mail and using a technique called “tabnabbing” which replaces unused open tabs on a user’s computer with illegitimate sites, all in an attack against French presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron.

Hackers Gonna Hack: An American cybersecurity firm is accusing Beijing hackers of cyberattacking South Korea’s government, military, defense companies, and a conglomerate in retaliation to South Korea’s statement that it would deploy THAAD, a missile-defense system that would be used against North Korea but which the Chinese government says is a threat to China due to the radar’s ability to extend into Chinese territory.

Intellectual Property

Juicero, the Jealous Juicer v. Juisir: Despite recent revelations that the juice bags filled with pre-chopped fruits and vegetables used to make juices with a squeezing device called Juicero can actually be squeezed by hand without the $400 appliance, the company is suing Chinese company Juisir for patent, trade dress, and trademark infringement.

Fans Fighting for Freedom: In a recent lawsuit, a Dutch court has held that fans who make unauthorized subtitles for movies and TV shows infringe on others’ copyrights because most fansubbing consists of adding subtitles to already pirated content, despite the Free Subtitles Foundation’s argument that fansubbers do a service to the public by making foreign language content available to a larger audience.

Free Expression and Censorship

Pushing Past Political Propaganda: A former Newsweek journalist who was imprisoned for four months, interrogated, beaten, and charged with espionage by the Iranian government has created an app called Sandoogh96—Vote2017 in English—which, amid the impending Iranian presidential election, allows users to access propaganda-free information about candidates, in a country where it is nearly impossible to access unbiased information.

College’s Cancellation of Conservative Coulter Causes Conflict: The Berkeley College Republicans and the Young America’s Foundation are suing UC-Berkeley for trying to restrict conservative speech on campus after the university cancelled an appearance by Ann Coulter citing security concerns; back in February the university allegedly suffered $100,000 in damages after some demonstrators became violent in their efforts to block Milo Yiannopoulos from speaking on campus.

Practice Note

Voilà Voice Via Virtualization: Given a sample audio recording of someone’s voice, website Lyrebird.ai will create a program that will speak like the recorded person, which raises issues of First Amendment protection, the right of publicity, defamation law, and the crime of impersonation.

On the Lighter Side

Death-Defying Digital Doppelganger: If you are the kind of person who wishes to haunt your loved ones after death, you could become a digital phantom through “Eternime,” a startup service whose algorithm filters through your social media profiles and internet usage data to build an avatar with your mannerisms that can interact with the slightly creeped out friends you leave behind.


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

N. Cameron Russell
Executive Director, Fordham CLIP

Editorial Fellows, CLIP
Nadia Kashem
Meghna Prasad