EOC: WEEK 5 - Midterm

I believe there is no real way to create laws that keep up with the technology. This is because we have to take our time in creating the law for various reasons, and then after in is set in place new technology is out. The only thing they could do is  actually restrict technology from coming out until a law is in place, but that would  stop our progress as a nation.

By Shaun Chapson

 

Technology and the ways we use it will change the role of law and lawyers.

Courts and legislatures are struggling to keep up with the fast pace of technology. New laws and cases are quickly outdated. For example in 2007, the Ninth Circuit issued Perfect 10 v. Google, a copyright case with a cutting-edge description of how the Internet works. That description is now wrong and so is most of the basis for the holding.

Recently, a jury awarded Apple $1billion in a patent infringement case. The complaint was filed in April 2011. Since then, Apple has released new versions of the Macbook Pro, iMac, Macbook Air, iPad, iPhone, and at least two operating systems.

State legislatures have rushed bills into law to protect employees and job applicants from having to give employers their social media passwords. But even that took months. Neither Congress nor legislatures are capable of keeping up with how fast technology is moving. Most pending bills are older than the original iPad.

“By Heather Bussing”

Radical changes in information-gathering methods and information-sharing technologies have created loopholes that can render key federal data privacy protection laws ineffective, according to a Government Accountability Office security expert.

That assessment was contained in the written testimony of Gregory Wilshusen, the GAO's information security issues director, before a subcommittee of the Senate Committee of Homeland Security and Government Affairs.

The 22-page GAO statement "Federal Law Should Be Updated to Address Changing Technology Landscape" (PDF) focused on the government's data-handling systems across all agencies and specifically mentioned the 2006 breach of 26.5 million veterans' records by the Veterans Affairs Department as an example of security problems involving personally identifiable data.

The number of reported security incidents involving federal agencies has risen dramatically in recent years, to 42,887 in 2011 from 5,503 in fiscal 2005, according to the GAO. Among the 2011 incidents, 15,560 involved the unauthorized disclosure of personally identifiable information, Wilshusen said.

“By Joseph Conn”

http://www.hrexaminer.com/can-law-keep-up-with-technology/

 

EOC: Week3 - Erin Brockovich

An earlier lawsuit based on Brockovich's investigation of PG&E's desert land records culminated with the company paying $333 million to some Hinkley townsfolk in 1996. That lawsuit served as the basis for the movie starring Julia Roberts that made a celebrity out of the formerly obscure legal assistant.

The rural residents and their attorneys said that community exposure to the carcinogen hexavalent chromium, or chromium-6 — in desert water allegedly tainted by PG&E in the 1950s and 1960s — led to widespread illness and deaths.

PG&E used chromium-infused water as a coolant at some of its natural gas compressor stations. It allegedly discharged that tainted water into local groundwater supplies.

Lawyers allegedly held the award money for nearly six months before it was dispersed. Hinkley residents received no explanation for the delay. They had lost Erin as an advocate: "suddenly, they couldn’t get through to anyone, not even Brockovich." Because of the secrecy imposed on the arbitration process, Sharp makes the case that it’s impossible to determine where interest on the award money went. Where’s the rest of our money? plaintiff Carol Smith asked. Many legitimate questions about the award disbursement remain unanswered. A report about Erin 

Brockovich the real person, not Julia Roberts, appeared in Entertainment Weekly (5/12/00). Several male acquaintance of Brockovich, one of whom was portrayed as a supportive, upstanding character in the film, allegedly demanded that Brockovich pay them off. Otherwise, they would supply the tabloids with a story that Brockovich and Ed Masry had had an affair and that Brockovich was an unfit mother. Both Brockovich and Masry cooperated in an FBI sting operation, which led to the men being arrested for extortion.

http://usf.usfca.edu/pj//erin-jackson.htm

http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/money/industries/energy/2006-02-06-pge-settlement-brockovich_x.htm

WEEK1 - EOC: My Voice

Hello my name is Shaun Chapson, and my passion is breaking the rules of reality, and creative real life dreams.

WEEK2 - EOC: Supreme Court

   Hill has a truly unique case. He was convicted of murdering his girlfriend. He was then convicted of beating his prison cellmate to death. At the time of his trial, he was unable to prove his mental retardation beyond a reasonable doubt (a high burden uniquely imposed in Georgia alone), as the government’s experts all felt that he was either malingering or competent.

     All of those experts later changed their diagnoses, citing inexperience and insufficient time with Hill for proper evaluation. All seven experts who have examined him now agree that he is, beyond a doubt, mentally retarded.

     I believe that Hill although being mentally retarded still has to fallow the laws of the American people. He is not crazy, or have multi personality disorder, that may lead him to do something without clearly knowing what he is doing.  Even Though he is mentally retarded he should still have an understanding of good and bad.

WEEK2 - EOC:My Voice

Cases on the Horizon

Predicting what the Supreme Court will or won’t do is always a tricky business. Indeed, after a few faulty predictions, CNN’s lead Supreme Court analyst announced this summer that he will only “make predictions about the past” from now on. Some cases, though, are relatively safe bets, and the following two cases are more than likely to be reviewed by the Supreme Court in the next two terms.

Contraceptive Mandate Litigation. In an effort to increase access to contraceptive services, the Department of Health and Human Services issued guidelines requiring employers to pay for contraception, sterilization, and abortifacients, and granted a narrow exemption for certain religious employers.

A challenge to the Voting Rights Act coverage formula, a case dealing with racial preferences in higher education, Arizona’s proof of citizenship voter registration requirement, and, of course, the long-awaited same-sex marriage cases. With a number of cases involving the Fourth Amendment, from drug-sniffing dogs to warrantless blood tests