Neural Interfaces and Privacy Law: In Search of a Mind Meld
Alyson Tseng Neural interfaces are electronic devices that are placed on the brain and other parts of the neural system and can collect biometric and neurometric data. Rapid developments and commercialization of neural interfaces in the non-medical realm raise concernsregarding data privacy. The major privacy risks created by neural interfaces demonstrate the need for a sufficient regulatory framework that can adequately govern new technologies. Current laws are insufficient to regulate neural interfaces. This Essay proposes changes that a United States data protection law could adopt. It also encourages companies to consider digital ethics in the design of new technologies. Read...
The Case for the Use of Facial Recognition Technology
Ye-Eun Sung Consumers often unknowingly enter brick-and-mortar stores that utilize facial recognition technology. Many are, therefore, at risk of their biometric data being wrongfully used without their consent or knowledge. The delay in the courts’ and the federal government’s response to facial recognition technology has allowed its development and use to remain unregulated. Although regulation of this technology is essential, its use should not be banned outright. Due to the changing retail landscape, facial recognition technology provides brick-and-mortar stores with information that allows them to remain relevant in a market that relies significantly on the internet and e-commerce. Read Full...
Apple Bites Back: An Antitrust Analysis of Qualcomm’s Licensing Practices
Marie Weisfeiler Both Apple and the Federal Trade Commission filed lawsuits against Qualcomm alleging antitrust violations. Specifically, both alleged that Qualcomm used its monopoly power to engage in unfair licensing practices and create an exclusive deal with Apple, in violation of its industry commitment to use fair practices in licensing its patents. This essay compares Qualcomm’s practices to those of Microsoft in 1998, which, because of Microsoft’s restrictive licensing and exclusive deals, were deemed to have violated the Sherman Act. It then considers the implications for licensing, technology, and antitrust law if a similar case is litigated in the future....
Protect Your Own Data: Interactive Streaming Narratives and Data Privacy Concerns
Sabra Paige Hopkins Black Mirror: Bandersnatch exemplifies the value of data gathered from interactive streaming narratives. Netflix can utilize its wealth of subscriber data to push targeted product placements to subscribers based on their demographic data. Data on subscriber choices could also be used to increase the accuracy of Netflix’s recommendation algorithm. In the wake of data privacy regulations, companies must justify their data collection and processing practices. Read Full Text Here
Get Out of My Head: An Examination of Potential Brain-Computer Interface Data Privacy Concerns
Kevin Y. Li Brain-computer interfaces (“BCI”), which interpret brain impulses and translate them into real world outputs, currently exist in a variety of forms. With the continued development of BCIs and their increasing complexity, privacy issues will arise in regards to the data that they collect. Existing federal statutes, such as HIPAA, as well as state data privacy statutes offer some protection to BCI users, but it remains to be seen whether these laws will be sufficient to accommodate the amount and sensitivity of the data likely to be generated by future BCIs. Lastly, this article explores the possibility of...
Resolving US-China IP Disputes Through the WTO: A Legal Alternative to Unilateral Sanctions
Stephen Garvey This article examines the United States’ ongoing trade dispute with China regarding Chinese abuses of American intellectual property rights. The U.S. has filed both a complaint against China before the WTO for violation of the Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (“TRIPS”), and simultaneously imposed a series of unilateral sanctions on Chinese goods, in violation of the WTO Marrakesh Agreement. Imposing illegal sanctions while seeking redress from the WTO undermines the legitimacy of the U.S.’ claims and has provoked retaliatory tariffs. As the TRIPS agreement comprehensively covers the dispute in question, the U.S. should scale...
Liability of Tesla’s Autopilot System Under California Tort Law
Jamin Xu On September 19, 2016, the U.S. Department of Transportation (“DOT”) published federal policy guidelines on automated vehicles in which it expressed its support for the development of autonomous vehicles and stated the potential of autonomous vehicles to drastically improve people’s safety and mobility. In order to address safety concerns, the Department released guidelines instructing states to close the gap between regulations that govern human-driven vehicles from self-driving ones by allocating tort liability among Highly Automated Vehicle (“HAV”) owners, operators, passengers, manufacturers and others when a crash occurs, while providing very little guidance in doing so. This approach encourages...
FTC Social Media Endorsement Guidelines: The Effects on Social Media Users and Business Owners
Jason Kim In the midst of heydays of social media, a social media user will inevitably face a product or service endorsement post in his/her social media feed or thread page. However, in the endorsement post, it is quite rare to see disclosure information as to whether the social media endorser has some kind of commercial relationship with the product manufacturer or service provider. On September 7, 2017 the FTC issued its first ever legal action against individual social media endorsers for posting endorsement posts without revealing their commercial relationship with the service providing company. This action by the FTC...
ISP Regulation and Antitrust: The Case for Better Competition
David Yangli Wang This Note firstly discusses net neutrality and ISP regulations broadly– do we see it as a commerce issue, a government regulation issue, a data fairness issue, or even a human rights issue? And if we decide that ISPs must be regulated, what type of antitrust regulation will be most effective? This Note takes a comparative look at Internet regulations around the world, examining both the development of broadband infrastructures and the antitrust laws (or lack thereof) of such countries. This Note ultimately concludes that the current antitrust regime in the United States will not be able to...
Data Exclusivity for Biologic Drugs: The TPP’s Potential Poison Pill?
Tina Cheung On October 5, 2015, after many years of secretive negotiations, the US government with 11 other countries across the Asia Pacific and Latin America reached an agreement on the largest free-trade deal in history, the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). Addressing everything from wildlife conservation and tax reductions for agriculture, to the free flow of information on the Internet and intellectual-property rights for movies and pharmaceutical drugs, this far-reaching agreement has the potential to impact up to one-third of world trade. One of the most contentious parts of the agreement involves intellectual property rights of pharma companies to data exclusivity...