5 Predictions for Augmented Reality Law in 2013 (and a Look Back at 2012)

As a public radio commentator once said, augmented reality has “been the Next Big Thing for a while now, although it never manages to become the Actual Current Big Thing.”  In keeping with this Sisyphean observation, we did not (yet) see quite as much development in either AR technology or the law governing its use in[...]

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How Social Media Law Developed in 2012

In January of this year, I wrote an article for Mashable called “5 Predictions for Social Media Law in 2012.”  As the year comes to a close, I’m happy to report that all five came true.  Let’s take a look: 1.  Facebook Litigation Brings New Attention to the Right of Publicity.  A year ago, a[...]

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10 Reasons NOT to “Declare” Your Copyrights and Privacy on Facebook

Facebook has been overrun over the past few days with users’ “declarations” about their supposed copyright and privacy rights.  Dozens of my own Facebook friends have re-posted the same message, and others are wondering aloud if this is something they need to be doing, too.  So do these boilerplate declarations accomplish anything, other than fueling[...]

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FTC Issues Best Practices for Facial Recognition Privacy

On October 22, 2012, the Federal Trade Commission released a report entitled “Facing Facts: Best Practices for Common Uses of Facial Recognition Technologies”.  The FTC has had its eye on this technology for a long time–at least since the workshop it held on the subject in December 2011–aware that it is being implemented by a[...]

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Augmenting Perceptions of Society and Self

The following article of mine was published in the latest issue (No. 1 | 2012) of the Journal of CyberTherapy and Rehabilitation, a publication of the Interactive Media Institute.  Please check out the entire issue for a fascinating and in-depth collection of article on the use of augmented reality in health care. Social media have forever altered the[...]

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[From the Archives] The Coming Conundra: Real Laws in an Augmented Reality

While I’m away on vacation, I’ve pulled this still-timely article from my archives.  It was originally published in the Winter 2011 issue of SideBAR, the newsletter of the Federal Bar Association’s Litigation Section, and was posted on Wassom.com in March 2011. Over the past decade, there has been no shortage of articles, CLEs, and speeches[...]

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Living in IPv6: What Happens When Everything & Everywhere Goes Online?

What happens when every physical object and place has an internet IP address?  This could happen in the very near future, and the impact on daily life could be profound. Several trends are already moving in that direction: Hardware: We already see RFID tags used to track the whereabouts of consumer goods.  Consumer electronics, vehicles,[...]

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[In Brief] Federal Agencies Pulling Out the Stops to Regulate Mobile Privacy

There is a full-court press underway among federal agencies to regulate the privacy of mobile applications.  Just a few examples: The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) issued a Public Notice requesting comments on wireless service providers’ privacy and data security practices with respect to information stored on their customers’ mobile communications devices. The comment period is[...]

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FCC Releases Report on Geolocational Privacy [ALERT]

On May 25, 2012, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) released a report with the opaque title “Location-Based Services: An Overview of Opportunities and Other Considerations.”  The report outlines the growing use of location-based services (LBS) in navigation, tracking, social networking, gaming, retail, real estate, advertising, news, weather, device management, and public safety applications, and government[...]

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Invading Privacy With Wearable Video Recorders and AR Eyewear

 We are entering an era where personal, wearable video recording devices are about to become ubiquitous.  It’s already a given that surveillance cameras are everywhere in modern-day public life, from stores to gas stations to street corners to traffic lights.  Those are so small as to be barely visible anymore, and we rarely even think[...]

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