Search and the First Amendment

Jane and I are in Arlington, Virginia, for a conference on Competition Policy in Search and Social Media at George Mason University. Jane, Neil Richards, Dawn Nunziato, and Stuart Benjamin will discuss the interplay of the First Amendment, regulation, and search / social media. I expect an entertaining fight over whether search results are speech, [...]

Is Data Speech?

Jane Yakowitz Bambauer has a new article forthcoming in 66 Stanford Law Review __ (forthcoming 2014), titled “Is Data Speech?” Here’s the abstract: Privacy laws rely on the unexamined assumption that the collection of data is not speech. That assumption is incorrect. Privacy scholars, recognizing an imminent clash between this long-held assumption and First Amendment [...]

The Illegal Process and Orwell’s Metaphors

James Grimmelmann and David Post have responses to Orwell’s Armchair up at the University of Chicago Law Review’s Dialogue site. I’m grateful and flattered to have them as partners in the discussion, and I am very excited to read their articles!

Orwell’s Armchair

The final version of Orwell’s Armchair, 79 University of Chicago Law Review 863 (2012) , is available on-line (and in print, for those of you who roll old-school). Here’s the abstract: America has begun to censor the Internet. Defying conventional scholarly wisdom that Supreme Court precedent bars Internet censorship, federal and state governments are increasingly [...]

Having Solved Piracy, Time for Child Porn!

When I teach Internet Law, I joke that banning child pornography is straightforward since there isn’t a pro-kid porn lobby (unlike, say, banning copyright infringement or adult pornography). I stand corrected: Rick Falvinge, founder of Sweden’s Pirate Party, has taken up the pro-legalization cause. (Interesting choice as a policy focus, but to each their own.) [...]

Censorship v3.1

I have a new essay up on SSRN, titled Censorship v3.1. It’s under consideration by the peer-reviewed journal IEEE Internet Computing. Here’s the abstract: Internet censorship has evolved. In Version 1.0, censorship was impossible; in Version 2.0, it was a characteristic of repressive regimes; and in Version 3.0, it spread to democracies who desired to [...]

The Obama Administration and Chutzpah

I’ve posted a new essay, titled Chutzpah, to SSRN. It’s forthcoming in the peer-reviewed Journal of National Security Law and Policy. Here’s the abstract: President Barack Obama campaigned on a platform of governmental transparency. This Essay examines how his administration has implemented this commitment in two policy areas: Internet communication, and intellectual property. It finds [...]

Hollywood Comes to Brooklyn

Catchy title, no? Today, Al Perry, Vice President of Worldwide Content Protection and Outreach at Paramount Pictures, came to BLS to talk about movies, piracy, and the Internet. He spoke for about 40 minutes, and then Jason Mazzone offered comments. Next, we had about 30 minutes of spirited discussion with BLS students. I’m writing up [...]

Pangloss’s Copyright

Further proof that, from an IP perspective, we do not live in the best of all possible worlds… My Essay “Pangloss’s Copyright” in the Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal, in response to Peter Yu’s excellent “Region Codes and the Territorial Mess,” is now available. Feedback welcomed!

The Myth of Perfection

As promised, The Myth of Perfection is now available at the Wake Forest Law Review Online.