Cardozo Cyberlaw Society

Our Mobile Privacy event which was canceled by Sandy has been rescheduled for Monday, 11/26 at 6pm:

Reasonable Expectations of Mobile Privacy: Is Warrantless Phone Tracking Unconstitutional?
11/26 at 6pm in the Moot Court Room

Recent legislative and judicial developments in mobile phone surveillance have emphasized the stark contrast between privacy advocates and law enforcement. New legislation proposals would require warrants to obtain mobile phone location data. But the law enforcement community has pushed back claiming this would hinder their investigation powers and there is no reasonable expectation of privacy over such data. Join us as we hear from both sides of this debate.

Featuring:
Jed Davis (formerly with US Attorney’s Office EDNY)
Michael Price (Brennan Center for Justice)
Ben Wizner (ACLU)

Food and drinks will be served in the lobby after the event. Please RSVP to cardozocyberlaw@gmail.com
(please RSVP again even if you RSVPed for the 10/31 date so we can update our list)

On Thursday, November 15, the Internet Society’s North American Bureau in collaboration with its New York Chapter (ISOC-NY) will present INET New York: An Open Forum on The Copyright Alert System – a half-day conference at New York Law School. Public advocacy organizations and Internet users will have the opportunity to participate in a multi-stakeholder dialogue on key issues relating to the Copyright Alert System (CAS) – sometimes called the 6 strikes program, and due to kick off on November 28, 2012 – with representatives and members of the Center for Copyright Information (CCI) which is administering the system. Click here for a video Invitation by Paul Brigner.

This is a very rare opportunity to learn about this important new program straight from those in charge of it. Events like this usually take place in Washington, DC, but the New York Chapter of the Internet Society has made great efforts to bring it here to New York.

If you would like to attend, please RSVP to cardozocyberlaw@gmail.com by 5pm on Monday, 11/12, so we can forward our group size to the organizers.

Cardozo Cyberlaw Society and American Constitution Society present:

Reasonable Expectations of Mobile Privacy
Is Warrantless Phone Tracking Unconstitutional?
10/31 at 12:00pm in Room 424

Recent legislative and judicial developments in mobile phone surveillance have emphasized the stark contrast between privacy advocates and law enforcement. New legislation proposals would require warrants to obtain mobile phone location data. But the law enforcement community has pushed back claiming this would hinder their investigation powers and there is no reasonable expectation of privacy over such data. Join us as we hear from both sides of this debate.

Panelists:
Jed Davis (formerly with U.S. Attorney’s Office EDNY)
Michael Price (Brennan Center for Justice)
Richard Tucker (U.S. Attorney’s Office EDNY)
Ben Wizner (ACLU).

Lunch will be served. Please RSVP to cardozocyberlaw@gmail.com

The Intellectual Property Law and Cyberlaw Societies invite you to…

BLOGGING WITHOUT LOGGING FTC LAWSUITS

Wednesday, October 10, 2012
12 – 1:30 p.m.
Jacob Burns Moot Court Room
55 Fifth Avenue

This panel will discuss how to address and manage compliance issues while taking into account the sometimes competing and/or disparate issues of FTC compliance.

Moderator: Robert deBrauwere, Co-chair, Digital Media Practice Group, Pryor Cashman LLP
Panelists:
Tom Chernaik – Co-founder, CMP.LY
Susan Getgood – Vice President, Influencer Marketing, BlogHer
Leonard Gordon – Partner, Antitrust/Advertising/Marketing, Venable
Michoel Ogince – Director, Platform & Product Strategy, Big Fuel

Please RSVP to Brittney Hershkowitz, IPLS Copyright Chair, brittney.hershkowitz@law.cardozo.yu.edu

The Federal Communications Bar Association & students from Cardozo, Brooklyn Law and New York Law School are hosting a Legal Happy Hour this Wednesday night, 9/12, from 6-9pm at Von Bar (3 Bleecker St, New York, NY).

This is a happy hour for lawyers and law students interested in technology, media, and telecommunications law. Join us to kick-off the 2012-2013 school year, meet new friends and colleagues, and discuss emerging issues of law and policy!

Welcome back, school is now in session! Don’t be fooled by the date of our last post. Cardozo Cyberlaw Society was very active over the 2011-2012 academic year.

During the Fall semester, we hosted an exciting panel discussion with The Calyx Institute’s Nicholas Merrill and the ACLU’s Jameel Jaffer. Both men discussed in detail how they successfully challenged portions of the Patriot Act’s National Security Letter (NSL) provisions, after Merrill received an NSL from the FBI requesting account information about one of his ISP’s clients back in 2004. Mr. Merrill and Calyx have been making news recently as Calyx strives to raise money to launch a privacy-focused telecom venture, and NSLs get new attention as EFF challenges the entire NSL statute in a new lawsuit.

We also held a very informative panel event on legal issues faced by tech startups. The panel featured Jonathan Askin from Brooklyn Law School’s BLIP Clinic and Etsy’s General Counsel, Sarah Feingold. The event generated great feedback and we plan to produce a follow-up to it soon.

We are currently planning our Fall and Spring events, so feel free to send us an email if you are interested in any particular cyberlaw issues or cases.

Cisco is facing a lawsuit from dissidents who were captured and tortured for several years by the Chinese government. The complaint filed by Ward & Ward PLLC on behalf of the victims alleges that Cisco aided the Chinese Communist Party in developing technology that would help track and censor all Internet traffic to and from China, suppressing the right to freedom of speech in favor of an oppressive regime. A civil liberties organization Electronic Frontier Foundation has called on its followers to sign a petition urging Cisco to “stop helping China abuse human rights!”

The American Civil Liberties Union continues its fight for Internet freedom and equality. ACLU has filed a lawsuit against a Missouri school district for using software that filters websites advocating for the LGBT community. According to the complaint, blocking sites that advocate for the LGBT community hampers certain students’ abilities to access information that could help them “with the difficult issues of coming out to family members, integrating their sexuality and religious faith, dealing with the threat of bullying, and surviving high school as an LGBT person.”

The 2012 presidential race has seen its first cyber attack. Yesterday, the campaign website of presidential candidate, libertarian Ron Paul, was hacked during the so called “money bomb” fundraiser. www.ronpaul2012.com reports that some donors were prevented from pledging. Seems like we are in for another exciting GOP primary!

Have you ever been a victim of cable industry’s anti-competitive tactics? You may find these horror stories collected by Gizmodo entertaining, and perhaps empathize with one or two.

AT&T T-Mobile Merger. Recently, the law firm Bursor & Fisher filed several individual arbitration cases on behalf of AT&T customers, pursuant to an arbitration clause in the AT&T customer contract. In an effort to keep the AT&T and T-Mobile merger “on track,” AT&T has filed suit in eight different jurisdictions to bar those individual actions.

BART Wireless Service Shutdown. Last Thursday, San Francisco’s Bay Area Rapid Transit system shutdown a wireless network to prevent protesters from gathering.  BART authorities claimed the shut down was to prevent overcrowding on train platforms, leading to “unsafe conditions.” Prior to the shutdown, protesters allegedly said they would use mobile devices to “coordinate disruptive activities.” The FCC launched an investigation into the shutdown and the rationale behind it.

Google. Google is acquiring Motorola Mobility, the cellphone handset manufacturer, for nearly $12.5 billion.  The acquisition will be Google’s largest venture and essentially turns Google into a major player in the cell phone industry, putting the company in direct competition with Apple.

The Internet – Where Everyone Knows Your Name (And Where You Want to Transfer). Tammy Hsu, a law student at Wake Forest has been “candidly” blogging her way through the transfer application process, hoping to land a coveted spot at Yale Law School. Genius move or blogging gone wrong?

USF Reform. The Universal Service Fund is a fund created by the FCC in 1996 (when the Telecommunications Act was passed) that aimed to promote the availability of quality telephone service throughout the country. Recently, six large telecommunications companies submitted a proposal to the FCC which would transition the fund’s purpose from purely telephone-based services to mobile broadband. However, opponents are concerned that the plan is purely “self-serving” in that it will reduce carrier costs while keeping consumer prices the same.

Bandwidth Caps. AT&T has announced that it will begin throttling the Internet connectivity of the top 5% of its mobile broadband users. The change will only affect users with unlimited monthly plans, however. FTA: “Heavy users who don’t want their speeds curbed can switch to a so-called tiered plan and pay more.”

LightSquared. Finally, LightSquared, the company that’s using high-frequency spectrum to bring cheap mobile Internet to everyone has made a deal with Sprint. In the deal, Sprint will share its 3G network with LightSquared so that the latter’s customers can roam on Sprint’s 3G network, and in exchange, LightSquared will permit Sprint customers to use its LTE (4G) network. Seems like a pretty good deal, and timely considering that there’s a merger on the horizon between AT&T and T-Mobile, leaving Sprint potentially out in the cold.

Seeking to eliminate the tax inequality between physical and online retailers, the Congress introduced the Main Street Fairness Act on Friday. The Act aims to simplify and standardize the tax collection process associated with Internet sales. Even though many online retailers refuse to collect sales tax at the checkout, the consumers are currently required to report these untaxed purchases on their tax forms. If passed, the Act will eliminate this requirement and give states the ability to force online retailers to collect sales tax. Amazon and eBay had strong (albeit opposite) reactions to the bill.

As AT&T/T-Mobile merger gains some support from state regulators, many continue to warn against the imminent dangers of the proposed move. Our Vice-President, Cary Adickman, has recently summarized the potential detriments of the $39 billion purchase, debunking AT&T’s claims that “the merger would lower prices, create jobs and increase competition.”

Go Daddy announced that it has added former White House Advisor Andrew Kline as its new Deputy General Counsel for Global Policy. Upon accepting the position, Kline said: “After seeing Go Daddy’s commitment and pledge to ‘do the right thing,’ I was inspired … and knew I could go into the private sector and make a difference.” As the world’s largest domain name registration company, Go Daddy is in a position to meaningfully influence the Internet policy and facilitate the expansion of cyber economy. Kline will help Go Daddy grow internationally and strengthen its fight against illegal activities like rogue Internet pharmacies and copyright infringement.