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Daily Archives: March 17, 2019

Paper – Rethinking the Efficiency of the Common Law

Sokol, D. Daniel, Rethinking the Efficiency of the Common Law (February 3, 2019). Notre Dame Law Review, forthcoming 2020; University of Florida Levin College of Law Research Paper No. 19-14. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3328025 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3328025
“This Article shows how Posner and other scholars who claimed that common law was efficient misunderstood the structure of common law. If common law was more efficient, there would have been a noticeable push across most, if not all, doctrines to greater efficiency. This has not been the case. Rather, common law, better recast as a “platform,” could, under a certain set of parameters, lead to efficient outcomes. Next, the Article’s analysis suggests that while not every judge thinks about efficiency in decision-making, there must be some architectural or governance feature pushing in the direction of efficiency — which exists in some areas of law and not in others. This Article explains two-sided markets, or platforms, generally and applies the modular open-source platform model to judge made law. In doing so, it explores concepts that impact the efficiency of such platforms — platform governance, modularity, and fragmentation. Then, the Article applies the understanding of platforms to several areas of law that might be understood as more prone to economic analysis because the issues addressed in law tend to be more “economic,” such as torts, bankruptcy, patents, and corporations. In these areas, no combination of platform architecture and modularity has allowed for the development of more efficient legal rules as a general matter. Finally, this Article studies antitrust law as the one area of law that suggests that the efficiency of common law is possible and the causal mechanism of necessary conditions that needs to be met. Antitrust law is different than other areas of law because of a singular goal, an architectural governance based on a single federal court (the Supreme Court) with few substantive legislative changes for the past 100 years, which provides for coherent governance of the platform. The Article concludes by discussing the implications of an efficient platform design for other areas of law.”

How to Block Violent Videos on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube

Lifehacker: “Because it’s 2019, and livestreaming has had five years or so to really build up into a mainstream activity that people actually do, this means that horrific acts of violence and terror around the world have a greater-than-zero chance of having some video component attached to them. After all, now that plenty of people… Continue Reading

Coming Soon to a Courtroom Near You? What Lawyers Should Know About Deepfake Videos

The Recorder (Law.com / paywall] via free access on Yahoo} “Are rules that guard against forged or tampered evidence enough to prevent deepfake videos from making their way into court cases? …If you follow technology, it’s likely you’re in a panic over deepfakes—altered videos that employ artificial intelligence and are nearly impossible to detect. Or else you’re over… Continue Reading

The Medieval Masterpiece, the Book of Kells, Is Now Digitized & Put Online

openculture.com – “If you know nothing else about medieval European illuminated manuscripts, you surely know the Book of Kells. “One of Ireland’s greatest cultural treasures” comments Medievalists.net, “it is set apart from other manuscripts of the same period by the quality of its artwork and the sheer number of illustrations that run throughout the 680 pages… Continue Reading

FINRA National Financial Capability Study

FINRA Investor Education Foundation: – “A significant part of financial capability is the ability to make ends meet through adequate savings. Having resources for immediate medical needs is also an important component. In the U.S., 18% of individuals reported that over the past year, their household spent more than their income (not including the purchase… Continue Reading

FTC Releases 2018 Privacy and Data Security Update

“The Federal Trade Commission, the nation’s primary privacy and data security enforcer, released its annual report highlighting its privacy and data security work for 2018. The FTC’s privacy and security enforcement actions in 2018 included shutting down revenge porn website MyEx.com, approving a settlement with peer-to-peer payment service Venmo over deceptive privacy settings, approving an… Continue Reading

America’s doctors warn Google, Twitter, and Facebook: Anti-vaxxers are weaponizing tech platforms

Business Insider: The American Medical Association (AMA) is worried that anti-vaxxers are weaponizing the world’s biggest social media platforms, including Facebook, Google, and Twitter. Parents often use these platforms to spread misinformation about vaccine dangers that aren’t real. Doctors say the content is having a dangerous impact on the number of vaccinated people in America,… Continue Reading

Animal activist pivots to focus on creating and marketing meat alternative food products

The New York Times: “Bruce Friedrich used to be the guy who broke into fashion shows to splatter fake blood on the models wearing fur coats…These days, he is hoping capitalism might work where activism and persuasion fell short. The organization Mr. Friedrich founded in 2015, the Good Food Institute, is at the center of… Continue Reading

The perilous life of computer virus cracker making powerful enemies online

BBC: “Fabian is world renowned for destroying ransomware – the viruses sent out by criminal gangs to extort money. Because of this, he lives a reclusive existence, always having to be one step ahead of the cyber criminals. He has moved to an unknown location since this interview was carried out…Ransomware is a particularly nasty… Continue Reading