“Help, I’ve fallen, and I can’t get up!” Many of us remember this commercial depicting an elderly woman, known as Mrs. Fletcher, who had fallen, but with the help of a medical pendant worn like a necklace, first responders are alerted through the press of a button. LifeCall, the maker of the medical pendant, began running this commercial in 1989 in perhaps the first popular application of wearable technology. What is Wearable Technology? Today, wearable technology is the Apple Watch, Fitbit, Wea... Read more

Earlier this month, Twitter and Facebook blocked and limited distribution of a New York Post article about Hunter Biden’s dealings in Ukraine. These decisions garnered significant backlash from lawmakers and other Americans who called into question the content moderation policies of social media platforms. While the decisions surrounding the New York Post article were likely verified by a human, most initial content moderation decisions are determined by algorithms rather than humans. Algorithms... Read more

Cyberattacks have significantly increased throughout this Coronavirus pandemic. The most common of these attacks is ransomware, where a hacker sends malware to a target that encrypts data, devices, and networks and demands payment for the decryption key. If a target has not prepared for such an attack, the only remedies are to pay the ransom or to reject the ransom and rebuild network systems and infrastructure from scratch – a process that can take weeks or months. According to Check Point Rese... Read more

If you are old enough to remember dial-up, you can probably still hum the familiar cadence that took more than a minute to connect to the Internet through your phone line. Thankfully, Americans today can connect to the Internet in less than a second and without a theme song. We often refer to Internet services as broadband, but what counts as broadband and why is there still a “digital divide”? In the late 1990s, high-speed Internet was deployed for the first time. Twenty years later, the Intern... Read more

When you hear the words “artificial intelligence,” images of Skynet from the Terminator movies might pop in your mind. Although this scenario makes for good cinema, it is far from the reality of how artificial intelligence operates. Artificial intelligence is already present in our daily lives through our smartphones, Internet-connected devices, voice assistants like Alexa and Siri, medical diagnostics, and others. But what is artificial intelligence and does its potential to augment human capab... Read more

Last week, the leaders of “Big Tech” – Amazon, Apple, Alphabet (Google), and Facebook – testified before a House committee on whether they were, in fact, too big. Unsurprisingly, these companies argued they face robust competition. But does the presence of any competition eliminate monopolistic market power? Federal Communications Commissioner Brendan Carr recently stated in an interview with Politico that “Big Tech is a handful of corporations that now have state-like power and influence that c... Read more

By now you probably have received a phone call, email, or even a text message offering assistance or money to help during this Coronavirus pandemic. Did it seem too good to be true? That’s because it was. Unfortunately, scammers are taking advantage of this global health crisis to exploit Americans charitable nature as well as their need for assistance. To help Americans during this difficult time, Congress authorized direct payments from the IRS to taxpayers to provide an immediate hand-up. Con... Read more

The overwhelming majority of Americans signing up for new online products and services check the box confirming they have read and agree to the Terms of Service without ever opening the document. As consumers, we know these terms are important, but we breeze through them on our way to accessing the latest social media or online content. Why don’t people read Terms of Service, also called Terms and Conditions or Terms of Use? What are we missing when we simply check the box without reading them? ... Read more

What is a Stingray? Recent protests have led to concerns about how law enforcement is using technology to surveil protesters. Facial recognition, drones, body cameras, and Stingrays are all methods outlined in the media as threatening the first amendment right to free speech and assembly. While most are familiar with facial recognition, drones, and body cameras, Stingrays may be less recognized or understood. Stingrays are a common name for International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI) catcher... Read more

What is Section 230? In 1996, Congress enacted the Communications Decency Act primarily to regulate online pornographic material. Twenty-four years later, arguments surrounding a little-known provision of that law, section 230, may dictate how you answer Facebook’s prompt “What’s on your mind?” or Twitter’s “What’s happening?” among other heavily used social media platforms. So, what is Section 230? Should there be reforms with how social media platforms monitor content? In basic terms, “interac... Read more