the Mark Pike

Mark Pike

• Technology Policy, etc.

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Posts tagged “legal”
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“ Courts across the country have been unclear about what privacy rights apply to e-mail and texting, which are fast eclipsing postal mail and conventional telephones. The Supreme Court should make clear that the Fourth Amendment’s robust privacy protections apply just as robustly to 21st-century communication. ”

The Supreme Court, Texting and Privacy - NYT

I was particularly interested in the oral arguments for Ontario v. Quon, not just to see how the Court applies search standards to the fact pattern, but also to see how the Court would handle the technology focused discussion.

After the Court heard arguments, there was a lot of press about how Chief Justice Roberts was a disconnected Luddite (“Maybe — maybe everybody else knows this, but what is the difference between the pager and the e-mail?”), but after reading the transcript, I found myself agreeing with this piece in The Weekly Standard that shows Roberts was just clarifying things for the record.

Many privacy advocates have been pushing the Court in Quon to adopt data minimization practices in order to ensure workplace privacy, even for government employees. Reading the transcript, it does not look like the Court will recognize such a right.

Now, with the iPhone lost & found, search & seizure case, it looks like legal interpretations of electronic privacy and reasonable search procedure is in the news again.

It leaves me wondering— in the future, will we always think Justices are old-fashioned and don’t understand technology? If the next generation of Justices grow up in the era of social networking, will they be more likely to recognize privacy rights, or will they just believe that everything should be transparent and public?

Rebuilding Greensburg

“What happened here?”

The question lingered in the air as our rental car sped along Route 54 in Kansas, somewhere between Wichita and Dodge City. We had no idea exactly where we were, or what had happened until we saw a sign.

GREENSBURG, KS
Rebuilding…
STRONGER, BETTER, GREENER
Home of the “BIG WELL”


That’s when I remembered the Tornado—and everything that came after it.

(Thanks to Chris Cheatham’s consistent coverage of Greensburg on Green Building Law Update)

On May 4, 2007, Greensburg was hit by an EF5 tornado, which destroyed 95% of the city and left the other 5% severely damaged (see e.g., Mike Theiss’ photos, and Jon Person’s photos). Only one building was left standing on Main Street (it’s now an antique store).

But the city decided to rebuild; and, it decided to rebuild “green.” In the words of then-Governor Kathleen Sebelius, “We have an opportunity of having the greenest town in rural America.”

Greensburg had to decide what policies to enact in order to achieve such a green goal. Just 12 weeks after the tornado flattened the town, the City Council presented a thorough long-term plan (.pdf, amazing that they made this so quickly and so well). The Public Square Steering Committee stated it’s vision statement therein:

“Blessed with a unique opportunity to create a strong community devoted to family, fostering businesses, working together for future growth.”

On December 17, 2007, Greensburg made history (.pdf) by being the first place in the country to require all city-owned buildings larger than 4,000 square feet to become certified LEED® Platinum by the U.S. Green Building Council and requiring all city-owned buildings to reduce energy use by 42% over current building requirements.

As a passerby on a road trip, it was inspiring to look out the car windows and see such an incredible story of rebirth in America’s Heartland.

Greensburg Arts Center Solar and Wind and Geothermal Greensburg SIPsmart Geodesic

Greensburg CUBED GROW Green Haus Structures Greensburg School Class of 2013

Check out the full photo set from our drive.

“ There’s a growing concern now about robot ethics, but what’s missing from those discussions is pragmatic lawyers thinking about what’s going to happen in the future. ”

Robots of future may need a good lawyer— San Francisco Chronicle

This article discusses some fascinating issues in the inevitable field of robo-litigation, though the title mistakenly suggests that robots need to lawyer-up as opposed to the humans interacting with them. I think the former would be a lot more interesting than the latter, so maybe I should hang a robo-shingle.

Who is Rosie the Robot Maid from the Jetsons going to call when she has questions about employment law? Where will WALL-E go for environmental law advice about brownfields? Who will defend Johnny 5 in front of a military tribunal for going AWOL?

I can see my commercial now:

Are you a robot that’s been hurt on the job? Are Isaac Asimov’s Three Laws of Robotics preventing you from getting what you deserve? Call Mark Pike, Robottorney-at-Law to help you with your robo-law needs. *Bleep bloop bleep*

Trust me, robots, you need a lawyer. The President has his eye on you.

“ The district attorney subpoenaed Facebook to verify that the words had been typed from a computer at an apartment at 71 West 118th Street in Manhattan, the home of Mr. Bradford’s father. When that was confirmed, the charges were dropped. ”

With Facebook as Alibi, Brooklyn Robbery Charge Is Dropped (NYTimes.com)

Things got a lot more interesting ever since Congress expanded the acceptance of electronic evidence in 2006. This type of info can work for prosecutors and defense attorneys, but I imagine things are going to get more complicated when geo-tagging, etc. has electronic devices speaking for us.

Also, this is perhaps the best alibi since that guy was cleared of murder charges because he was in the background of a “Curb Your Enthusiasm” episode.

Under Eighteen to Life 

The Supreme Court takes up the question of whether life sentences for juvenile offenders are cruel and unusual.

Here’s a piece I wrote for The American Prospect after sleeping by the steps of the Supreme Court yesterday so that I could attend oral arguments for two big cases.

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