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, [...]

Fairmont Fail

Jane and I had a fantastic time at Eric Goldman’s Internet Law Works-In-Progress conference, but we’re facing an early flight, and our room at the Fairmont shaking with the noise from the ballroom level (one level down). It’s supposed to quiet down… at some point. Apparently Fairmont hasn’t figured out that conference folks might have [...]

Cyberwar and Cyberespionage

My paper “Ghost in the Network” is available from SSRN. It’s forthcoming in the University of Pennsylvania Law Review. I’m appending the abstract and (weirdly, but I hope it will become apparent why) the conclusion below. Comments welcomed. Abstract Cyberattacks are inevitable and widespread. Existing scholarship on cyberespionage and cyberwar is undermined by its futile [...]

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!

Privacy, Security, and Cybercrime

In a forthcoming paper, I argue that security and privacy issues differ in important ways that are typically neglected by both scholars and courts. If you’re in Chicago at the end of the week, you can hear me drone on about the piece on a panel on cybercrime at a symposium at Northwestern University School [...]

Beating Revenge Porn with Copyright

The lawsuit against scumbag Web site Texxxan.com has generated attention to the problem of revenge porn, and to the paucity of legal remedies available to victims of it. Danielle Citron has two excellent posts over at Concurring Opinions analyzing the relevant statutory block, 47 U.S.C. 230, and the few cases that cut through its immunity. [...]

Whereupon I Depress Lifehacker Readers

Because DVD ripping is illegal if you bypass DRM. Which, most of the time, you have to.

Copyright Greenwashing

The Center for Individual Freedom has just published a paper by three RIAA lawyers that purports to develop a natural rights theory and history of copyright. The paper is short (6 pages long), which appears to be its only valuable quality. I’ll set out a brief critique below, but first I want to note that [...]

NZBMatrix Takes the Red Pill

I talked with Lifehacker’s IP guru Adam Dachis about the closure of several Usenet indexing services, including NZBMatrix. NZBMatrix threw in the towel after coming under twin pressures: a flood of DMCA notices related to links pointing to allegedly infringing content, and difficulty navigating the requirements of service providers such as PayPal. It’s the latest [...]

Petraeus and Privacy

The resignation of CIA Director David Petraeus, after a cyberharassment investigation brought his affair with biographer Paula Broadwell to light, has generated a fascinating upsurge in privacy worries. (Side note: I believe “working with my biographer” has now superseded “hiking the Appalachian Trail” as the top euphemism for infidelity). Orin Kerr has an excellent summary [...]