Bad Blood© with Taylor Swift’s Album Re-recording Posted on February 20, 2021 Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought that someone other than Taylor Swift owns Taylor Swift’s songs. But it’s true and poses a hurdle as Swift commits to re-recording her own songs. This delicate situation has led to some bad blood between Swift and Scooter Braun, who owns the rights to the master recordings of Swift’s older music...
Continue reading

Apple’s New Privacy Features Subject of Potential Litigation from Facebook Posted on February 20, 2021 Facebook is reportedly preparing an antitrust lawsuit against Apple, alleging that the App Store engages in anticompetitive behavior by requiring third-party app compliance with rules that Apple’s own apps do not follow. The lawsuit would be the latest escalation in Facebook and Apple’s ongoing feud, which was recently exacerbated by two new privacy features of iOS 14. The first feature...
Continue reading

The State of Privacy under a Biden Administration: Federal Cybersecurity Legislation, Strict Regulatory Enforcement, and a New Privacy Shield with the EU Posted on February 20, 2021 From January 20th onward, the Biden administration has collided headfirst with unprecedented public health, economic, and national security crises, symptoms of a pandemic that have sparked intense speculation around the new administration’s privacy policy. Digital contact tracing, sweeping collection of personal data, sophisticated modes of AI surveillance, foreign data hacks, and real world manifestations of cyber terrorism have provoked serious...
Continue reading

The SolarWinds Software Hack: A Threat to Global Cybersecurity Posted on February 08, 2021 In December 2020, FireEye, a cybersecurity company, announced that their software had been compromised by a cyber attack. FireEye immediately tracked the attack back to a March 2020 update from SolarWinds, a Texas-based company that makes IT management software. The software in question, Orion, was corrupted by malicious code embedded in a software update that was then installed by around...
Continue reading

Garcia v. City of New Hope: The Eighth Circuit Affirms First Amendment Protections for Rude and Offensive Speech Posted on February 07, 2021 Garcia v. City of New Hope, No. 19-1836 (8th Cir. Jan. 5, 2021), opinion hosted by USCourts.gov. The United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit reinstated a Minnesota driver’s First Amendment retaliation claim last month, reaffirming constitutional protections for “rude and offensive” speech. In their January 25, 2021 opinion, the court held that a police officer who detained...
Continue reading

Campbell v. Reisch: Blocking Constituents on Twitter Posted on February 07, 2021 Mike Campbell v. Representative Cheri Toalson Reisch, No. 19-2994 (8th Cir. Jan. 27, 2021). Complaint hosted by CourtListener. District Court opinion hosted by Casetext. On January 27, 2021, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals issued its opinion in Campbell v. Reisch. The court held that Cheri Toalson Reisch, a Republican state representative for Missouri’s 44th District, is entitled to block...
Continue reading

Increasing global access to COVID-19 vaccines and treatments through patent pools Posted on February 06, 2021 As of January 2021, the COVID-19 pandemic has contributed to more than 2 million deaths worldwide, with greater than 400,000 deaths in the US alone. With the recent approvals of the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines in the US, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Further, Gilead’s drug remdesivir has received Emergency Use Authorization for the treatment...
Continue reading

Everalbum, Inc: In first facial recognition misuse settlement, FTC requires destruction of algorithms trained on deceptively obtained photos Posted on January 13, 2021 In the Matter of Everalbum, Inc., File No. 1923172 (FTC Jan. 11, 2021) [Complaint, Proposed Settlement] Everalbum, Inc. has settled Federal Trade Commission (FTC) allegations that it deceived users about its use of facial recognition and improperly retained photos and videos from users who had deactivated their accounts. As described in the FTC’s complaint, the company used photos uploaded to...
Continue reading

Carson v. Makin: First Circuit Court of Appeals Affirms Decision to Restrict State Funding for Religious Schools in Maine Posted on November 18, 2020 Reaffirming precedent, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit recently held that a Maine Department of Education policy that requires private schools to be nonsectarian to qualify for tuition assistance payments does not violate parents’ constitutional rights to choose where to send their children to school. The Maine Constitution requires the legislature to support and maintain public schools...
Continue reading

Speech First v. Fenves: A Challenge to University Speech Policies Posted on November 18, 2020 Speech First, Inc. v. Fenves, No. 19-50529 (5th Cir. Oct. 28, 2020). Complaint hosted by speechfirst.org. On October 28, 2020, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals issued its decision in Speech First v. Fenves. The Court held that Speech First, a national free speech advocacy organization, had standing to challenge the University of Texas’s (“UT”) speech codes on behalf of...
Continue reading