A UNC Student’s Summer Experience at the Future of Privacy Forum - Each summer, the Center for Media Law and Policy provides financial support through its summer grants program to UNC law and graduate students taking unpaid or low-paying jobs in the fields of media law or media policy. The writeup below is from Meredith Richards, a rising third-year law student at the UNC School of Law, who interned […]
Tech Ethics and Governance - Tomorrow, I will be joining some fantastic colleagues at Duke University to discuss the legal and ethical issues associated with cyber searches and data privacy. The panel is part of the Kenan Institute for Ethics’s “Tech Ethics and Governance: 2019 Conference on the Ethics of Emerging Tech.” The conference kicks off today at noon with […]
Immerse Yourself in IP and Media Law at the UNC Festival of Legal Learning - One of the biggest annual events at the UNC School of Law is the Festival of Legal Learning. This two-day convocation of legal geekery comprises 113 different continuing legal education (CLE) sessions and 152 speakers. For the past few years, the Center for Media Law and Policy has helped with the selection and coordination of […]
Privacy by Design: A Student Guide for Collecting and Protecting User Data - As we start the new semester at UNC – Chapel Hill, I want to reflect briefly on a class I taught last spring and highlight the great work of some of the students in that class. For the past six years, I’ve taught a class called Media & Internet Law Practicum. This is a class I […]
Workshop on Police Body-Worn Cameras a Success - Many law enforcement agencies across the country have implemented or are considering body-worn camera (“BWC”) programs as a means to improve policing and promote transparency. Despite the ubiquity of these programs, issues surrounding the use of such cameras continue to arise. While public debate has largely focused on the tension between police accountability and privacy, […]
Police Body-Worn Cameras: Time to Roll Up Our Sleeves and Study the Issues - We are excited for the North Carolina Law Review’s symposium this Friday on “Badge Cams as Data and Deterrent: Law Enforcement, the Public and the Press in the Age of Digital Video.” The symposium will consider the legal and practical issues surrounding the use of police body-worn cameras (BWCs). Many of the nation’s leading experts […]
A UNC Student’s Summer Experience at the FTC - From Amber Lee, a 3L at UNC School of Law, who interned at the Federal Trade Commission: This past summer, I interned for the Bureau of Consumer Protection at the Federal Trade Commission in Washington, D.C. The FTC’s mission is to protect consumers by preventing anticompetitive, deceptive, and unfair business practices to enhance and inform […]
UNC Media Law Students Graduating and Launching Careers - Two UNC media law students are graduating this spring and summer and moving on to great jobs in their fields. Both of them defended important research projects to earn their degrees. Brooks Fuller earned a Ph.D. from the UNC School of Media and Journalism in May and will begin work as an assistant professor in […]
Center to Hire Media Law and Policy Fellow - I’m excited to announce that the Center will be hiring a Media Law and Policy Fellow! The fellow will play a critical role in supporting a major research initiative at the Center focused on examining various legal and policy issues related to improving government transparency, including the impact government transparency can have on privacy, cybersecurity, equality, and other […]
Dual-Degree Spent Summer at the ACLU and FPF - This summer, I interned at the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California (ACLU-NC) in San Francisco and the Future of Privacy Forum (FPF) in Washington, DC. Both internships provided great opportunities to work on assignments related to my research interest – student privacy – and to be exposed to new areas of law. The […]
Scholarship Winners 2016 - The UNC Center for Media Law and Policy has awarded $6,000 in scholarships to three law students working in unpaid or underpaid internships in the field of media law and policy this summer. These are the scholarship winners and where they are working: Varsha Mangal is a legal intern in the Office of General Counsel […]
UNC Media Law Students to Present Research in Minneapolis - Four UNC School of Media and Journalism graduate students will present media law research papers at the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication’s (AEJMC) national convention in Minneapolis Aug. 4-7. One of those students – Lindsie Trego – won a prize for writing the third best student paper in the Law and Policy […]
FAA Releases Proposed Drone Regulations; North Carolina Proposes Exemption for Government Agencies - On Feb. 15, 2015, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) released proposed regulations for the use of drones. The proposal requires UAS (Unmanned Aircraft System(s)) pilots to be at least 17 years old, to take an initial aeronautical knowledge test followed by a new test every 24 months, and to pass a TSA screening. The FAA […]
Job opportunities in media law at your fingertips - It’s never too early – or too late – to start looking for the internship, fellowship, or job that is right for you. However, the process of sifting through hundreds of postings looking for what you want can be daunting. That is why the UNC Center for Media Law and Policy created its Job Center. […]
Privacy and Court Records: Online Access and the Loss of Practical Obscurity - I’m excited to announce that Professor Anne Klinefelter and I received an award from the Berkeley Center for Law & Technology and Microsoft Corp. to study the extent of private and other sensitive information in court records. The $43,000 award will go to the Center for Media Law and Policy and the Kathrine R. Everett Law Library at the UNC […]
Not Waiting for the FAA, North Carolina and 9 Other States Enacted Drone Laws in 2014 - As discussed in last month’s post, the FAA’s most recent notable effort to regulate Unmanned Aircraft Systems and/or Vehicles (UAS/UAV) is the opening of six test sites, where the FAA will oversee UAS exploratory research and safety developments through February 2017. While regulation of UAS at the federal level has received significant attention, state and […]
State of the Drone: FAA Test Sites Take Off - In August 2014, a small but noteworthy milestone in the Federal Aviation Administration’s regulation of drones – or “unmanned aerial systems” (UAS), in the agency’s parlance – occurred. On August 13, the FAA announced that the final of six test sites for UAS research had opened. With operations at the FAA’s six test sites underway […]
My EPIC Summer - In a humble office above a Dupont Circle bagel shop in Washington, D.C., a very small army of dedicated attorneys fights to protect your digital privacy. They vigilantly watch the watchers, among them the actual U.S. Army with its “surveillance blimps.” They comb through public records to expose secret surveillance. They use their expertise to […]
UNC’s Constitution Day, Featuring David Medine - Over the past few years, the UNC School of Law has served as host of UNC-Chapel Hill’s campus-wide Constitution Day celebration. This year the speaker will be David Medine, chairman of the U.S. Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board, who will speak on the topic of “Providing for the Common Defense without Compromising Privacy and Civil Liberties.” […]
Drone Journalism Resource Page - It’s not a bird, it’s not a plane, and unfortunately it’s not Superman either. So what is this small white device with propellers? It’s a drone, and in the next few years, drones just like this one might be whizzing over your head doing everything from taking pictures to delivering a late night pizza. News […]
Students Receive Support Grants for Summer Internships - The UNC Center for Media Law and Policy has awarded $1,000 summer grants to two students in the center’s dual-degree program. The grants went to Natasha Duarte and Kevin Delaney to support their summer internships. Kevin will be at the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press in Arlington, Va. Natasha will be at the […] Congratulations to UNC Students: Publications and Conference Papers - What’s more fun that sharing good news about our great media law students? Absolutely nothing! So here it goes. . . . UNC School of Journalism and Mass Communication Ph.D. student Karen McIntrye has had an article accepted for publication in the Newspaper Research Journal. The title of her paper is “Drone Journalism: Exploring the […]
Supreme Court won’t hear challenge to NSA surveillance - The Supreme Court Friday declined to consider the legality of the National Security Agency’s collection of Verizon customers’ phone call records. The Court declined without comment to decide whether the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court exceeded its jurisdiction when it issued orders to Verizon to turn over the records of all phone calls made wholly within the […]
New York AG wants Airbnb to turn over user information - Short-term rental website Airbnb provides an alternative to hotels and makes it easier for people to sublet their homes while they’re out of town, but its New York users could be in legal trouble. The state of New York has subpoenaed Airbnb in an attempt to prove that some users renting out rooms on the […]
States Regulate Access to Online Accounts After Death - States have taken matters into their own legislative hands over who can gain access into an individual’s online account information after death. A great deal of personal information lives online: important financial records are stored in online banking accounts and email, and social media sites contain personal data including photos and videos. After death, unless […]
FBI pursues Silk Road’s private Bit Coin key information - Center blogger Samantha Scheller wrote a blog post for the Digital Media Law Project on the FBI’s pursuit of private passwords protecting Bit Coin currency associated with the Silk Road. An attempt to compel those charged in connection with the illegal drug purchasing website could raise a Fifth Amendment question of self incrimination. Read Scheller’s […]Government Shutdown Affects FOIA Requests - The government shutdown is having an impact on every “nonessential” federal service, including Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and Privacy Act (PA) requests under the NSA. According to the NSA’s website, all FOIA and PA requests or inquiries submitted to the FOIA/PA office “will not be addressed until the office reopens.” The NSA’s homepage also […]
Judge: Google may have illegally wiretapped its users’ email - Google may have violated the federal Wiretap Act when it routinely scanned the content of emails for purposes of providing targeted advertising and creating user profiles, a federal judge ruled yesterday. The Northern District of California denied Google’s motion to dismiss the Wiretap Act claims against it, allowing the case to go forward. The court […]
Looking for a Job in Media Law? - Looking for a job can be time consuming and frustrating. Often the best opportunities are found through networking and word of mouth. But what if you are a student or recent grad? Or are trying to change fields or areas of practice and you don’t have a network? Breaking into a new field, or even trying […] States enact social media privacy laws protecting employees, students - In August, New Jersey became the twelfth state to pass a law prohibiting employers from asking employees for their social media usernames and passwords. Read more about the New Jersey law here. Some states, including California, Michigan, and Illinois, also prohibit schools from requiring students to disclose their social media passwords. Illinois’s Right to Privacy […]
Senate Judiciary Committee Meets to Discuss Federal Shield Law, S.987 - Natasha Duarte contributed to this post. The Senate Judiciary Committee is scheduled to meet with lawmakers today to discuss the federal reporter shield bill proposed by Senator Schumer (D-NY) in May of this year. Tune in to a live webcast of the meeting beginning at 10:00am. The Free Flow of Information Act, S.987, includes some […]
Amicus brief argues NSA surveillance violates freedom of the press - The Reporter’s Committee for the Freedom of the Press filed an amicus brief in ACLU v. Clapper arguing that government collection of call records violates the First Amendment freedom of the press by impeding reporters’ ability to maintain confidential sources. The brief supports the ACLU’s motion for a preliminary injunction to stop the NSA from […]
Twitter Round-Up Week of: September 2 - As part of a new weekly feature on our blog, I’ll post the highlights from the Center’s and my Twitter feeds. Here is what had my attention on Twitter this week: [View the story “Weekly Twitter Roundup” on Storify]Unintended Targets: The NSA’s bulk email collection and Obama’s use of the word “targeting” - A Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court opinion released yesterday shed more light on how the National Security Agency collects Americans’ email data, highlighting the disconnect between the NSA’s collection practices and the Obama Administration’s characterization of email surveillance under the PRISM program. The FISA Court opinion held that methods used by the NSA from 2007 to […]
EFF Weeks 8-9: How the NSA’s mass data collection violates the First Amendment - EFF filed a lawsuit last Tuesday against the National Security Agency for its mass collection of Verizon customers’ phone records. First Unitarian Church of Los Angeles v. National Security Agency was filed on behalf of a diverse group of 19 organizations and focuses on an important First Amendment right: the right of association. Protecting associational […]
EFF Week 3: The First and Fourth Amendments — down, but hopefully not out - It was a busy week at EFF. The phones have been ringing almost non-stop with journalists, supporters, and concerned people. The news outlets wanted interviews with attorneys. The supporters wanted to commiserate. The concerned people wanted answers — how can the government do this, and what does it mean? Of course, the fact that the […]EFF Internship Week 2: Facial Recognition and Privacy - [Ed: This is the second in a series of posts by Natasha Duarte, who is blogging about her summer internship experience at EFF.] This week I researched how state law enforcement agencies use facial recognition software to track individuals. I’m helping EFF prepare public records requests to gather more information on the facial recognition and […]
Final Interdisciplinary Lunch of the Year - This Friday the Center will hold its final interdisciplinary lunch of the year from noon to 1:15 p.m. in the Halls of Fame Room in Carroll Hall. The topic for this lunch is “Privacy by Design.” More information on the lunch (and how to RSVP) is available here. If you haven’t attended one of our lunches […]
UNC Students Presenting Research at AEJMC Southeast Colloquium - UNC School of Journalism and Mass Communication graduate students will present 13 research papers at the AEJMC Southeast Colloquium in Tampa this week. Ph.D. student Liz Woolery, who works in our media law center, will present two papers, one of which won third place in the Law and Policy Division. Both of Liz’s papers are […]
Employment Opportunities at Harvard’s Berkman Center for Internet & Society - If you are a lawyer (or law student) looking for a chance to learn about Internet Law, Privacy, Copyright etc., you can’t do better than to spend some time at Harvard’s Berkman Center for Internet & Society (full disclaimer: I spent 5 years there myself). If you don’t believe me, read Tabitha Messick’s account of […]
Symposium Announcement: Defining a Search in the 21st Century - I’m a little late in getting the word out on this, but tomorrow (January 25) the Center is partnering with the North Carolina Journal of Law & Technology to host a symposium entitled “U.S. v. Jones: Defining a Search in the 21st Century.” U.S. v. Jones, decided by the United States Supreme Court on January […] Interdisciplinary Faculty Lunch: Privacy and Human Subject Research - Next Friday, January 18, the Center is hosting the first of our spring interdisciplinary faculty lunches on the topic of “Privacy and Human Subject Research” from 12:00 to 1:15 p.m. in the Cowell Boardroom (Room 5003) at the UNC School of Law. The lunch, which is open to all UNC faculty, will focus on how […]
Best New Internet Law Books? - Each fall I informally survey my media law colleagues and former Ph.D. students in search of great, new books to assign for my Internet law class. The class is a mix of UNC School of Journalism and Mass Communication undergraduates who already have completed a basic media law class and graduate students. I’m looking for […]
Interdisciplinary Lunch: Who Owns Research Data? - Last year, the Center began hosting a bi-monthly gathering of faculty and graduate students from across UNC-CH to discuss the challenges and opportunities posed by new communication technologies, including social media, mobile platforms, and the Internet, and the impact they are having on governments, the economy, and cultural and social values throughout the world. Our first lunch of the […]
Privacy and Libel on the Internet - Privacy law expert Daniel J. Solove, professor in the George Washington University School of Law, was a featured speaker in the Mary Junck Research Colloquium series in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication. He also spoke in professor Cathy Packer’s “Law of Cyberspace” class. He discussed his book, “The Future of Reputation: Gossip, Rumor […]No Events
2023
| Date/Time | Event |
|---|---|
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01/25/2023 12:30 pm - 1:30 pm |
Fireside Chat with Cherie Givens
Toy Lounge, Dey Hall, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill NC |
2019
| Date/Time | Event |
|---|---|
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10/25/2019 12:00 pm - 1:15 pm |
How the Marriage of Surveillance and Copyright Threaten Freedom of Expression | Interdisciplinary Lunch Series
Room 141, Carroll Hall, Chapel Hill NC |
|
02/20/2019 12:00 pm - 1:15 pm |
Life After UNC: Becoming a Non-Profit Privacy Lawyer and Advocate
Room 4085, UNC School of Law, |
|
02/08/2019 - 02/09/2019 All Day |
Media Law and IP Sessions at the UNC Festival of Legal Learning |
2018
| Date/Time | Event |
|---|---|
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01/29/2018 1:00 pm - 2:30 pm |
Hot topics in Media and Privacy Law: What to Expect in 2018
The University Club, Durham NC |
2017
| Date/Time | Event |
|---|---|
|
11/03/2017 8:30 am - 4:00 pm |
NC Law Review Symposium - Badge Cams as Data and Deterrent: Law Enforcement, the Public and the Press in the Age of Digital Video
George Watts Hill Alumni Center, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill NC |
2016
| Date/Time | Event |
|---|---|
|
11/04/2016 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm |
Redefining Cybersecurity Policy: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Addressing Systemic Failures
Manning Hall, UNC School of Information and Library Science, Chapel Hill NC |
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04/15/2016 12:00 am - 1:00 pm |
Free Speech Attorney to Speak at UNC April 15
Room 5046, UNC School of Law, Chapel Hill NC |
|
02/19/2016 8:00 am - 12:30 pm |
Symposium: Privacy of the Home and the Internet of Things
George Watts Hill Alumni Center, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill NC |
2015
| Date/Time | Event |
|---|---|
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10/23/2015 12:00 am - 1:15 pm |
Privacy and Court Records: Empirical Research and Tools for Managing Sensitive Information
Marion A. Cowell, Jr. Boardroom (Room 5003), UNC School of Law, Chapel Hill NC |
|
10/07/2015 5:30 pm - 6:30 pm |
M.A./J.D. and Ph.D./J.D. Media Law Dual Degrees Info Session
Freedom Forum Conference Center on the Third Floor of Carroll Hall, Chapel Hill NC |
|
03/31/2015 12:00 pm - 1:30 pm |
Big Data, Algorithms, and Discrimination
Room 4004, UNC School of Law, Chapel Hill NC |
2014
| Date/Time | Event |
|---|---|
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11/17/2014 5:30 pm - 6:30 pm |
Woodrow Hartzog: The Public Information Fallacy
Freedom Forum Conference Center, Chapel Hill NC |
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11/06/2014 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm |
IP and Media Law Career Night
Tru Deli + Wine, Chapel Hill North Carolina |
|
09/26/2014 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm |
Media Law Summer Internships Panel
Room 4085, UNC School of Law, |
|
09/25/2014 - 09/26/2014 All Day |
Law School for Digital Journalists
Sheraton Chicago Hotel and Towers, Chicago IL |
|
09/23/2014 5:15 pm - 6:45 pm |
Fair Use or Foul Play? Video Games and the First Amendment
Room 5052, UNC School of Law, Chapel Hill |
2013
| Date/Time | Event |
|---|---|
|
11/01/2013 12:00 pm |
Big Data and Computational Politics | Interdisciplinary Lunch Series
Halls of Fame Room, Chapel Hill NC |
|
10/18/2013 All Day |
Law School for Digital Journalists
Marriott Marquis Hotel, Atlanta GA |
|
04/12/2013 12:00 pm - 1:15 pm |
Privacy by Design | Interdisciplinary Lunch Series
Halls of Fame Room, Chapel Hill NC |