Singularity Law

This year seems to have been one of the busiest, if not the busiest yet, in the field of cyber law. Much of this activity did not result in any concrete outcomes (yet), so many of the issues that we were hoping to get resolved in 2011 will be around again next year.
There are so [...]

On September 15, 2011, the FTC announced that it is seeking public comment on proposed amendments to the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Rule, which govern the collection and use of personal information from children under the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). The law was enacted in 1998 and the Rule was originally promulgated in [...]

During the first few years after the emergence of the commercial Internet in 1993 (or so), the U.S. government took a hands-off approach to regulation of the ‘net. The Clinton Administration, in particular, realized that over-regulation of the Internet in its infancy could have a serious, negative impact on its growth. The thought at that [...]

As a long-time fan of Apple products (starting with the Apple II in the late 1970s up to today’s latest Mac Pro and iPhone), I was wary of getting an iPad, since I didn’t like the idea of Apple being able to dictate what software I could and could not use on my computer. While [...]

In 1995 I read a book written by Nicholas Negroponte – the Founding Director of the MIT Media Lab. Called, Being Digital, the book made some predictions that were both incredibly exciting and seemingly improbable. This was a time when the Internet was just coming into its own – having been a closed, government-funded network [...]

For a number of years, I have taught a law school course titled “Drafting and Negotiating Technology Contracts.” It is one of many skilled-based courses being offered by law schools today to help their students “hit the ground running” as they enter the practice of law. Over the last decade, law firms have increasing insisted [...]

I was intrigued by a recent study of the views of entering college freshman done by Beloit College. Many of the items related to technology, such as:
• With cell phones to tell them the time, there is no need for a wristwatch.
• Email is just too slow….
• They never twisted the coiled handset wire aimlessly [...]

The Federal Communications Commission’s loss in recent Comcast decision has cast doubt on whether the FCC has the authority to implement net neutrality regulations applicable to ISPs. While Congress certainly has the ability to broaden the FCC’s charter to include regulating the Internet, Republicans in Congress have made it clear that they are not [...]

In the mid-1990s, I spoke on a panel at the “Digital World” conference in Hollywood, California. It was one of the first conferences to bring together the entertainment industry and the nascent Internet industry. I remember clearly that the keynote speaker, one of the major studio heads at the time, starting off his speech with [...]

Many legal pundits start each year with an excellent series of predictions on where IT law will go during that year. I don’t want to provide a list of issues that may (or may not) be resolved in the next 12 months. Instead, I want to note an issue that II believe will be THE [...]