Media Law Blog

Paid video subscriptions have been around for some time now, but only in the last 5 years or so has the idea really become mainstream. The likes of Netflix and Hulu are so popular nowadays that many companies that traditionally broadcast on normal television airways are starting to create their own paid subscription streaming services. This has even prompted many people to go "cable-free" meaning they will use only their subscriptions to get the shows they want versus traditional cable or satellite broadcasts. I have used Netflix a very good amount, not as many as most but probably at least once a week. I don't "binge" shows like some people, but one or two episodes at a time usually suffice for me. I also started using Hulu in college more because I could get it for free with my Spotify Premium subscription which I can get for a reduced price as a college student. While some folks may get rid of the cable box and stay with their preferred streaming service, I j...

Gambling has been around for centuries if not longer. People look to win it big on games of chance like poker, roulette, and the ever-popular slot machines. Sometimes they hit the jackpot but often the players go for broke in the end. For professionals with years of experience and knowledge of the game, the payouts can be massive, but a casual player will have to get lucky to win it big. But what if there was a way to bet on something that you may know a little better than the numbers game behind blackjack or Texas hold 'em? What if just by following your favorite sporting events you could strike riches? Well, now you can. Well...you always could just not legally under federal law. In May of last year, the Supreme Court reversed a previous ban which has now allowed states to introduce their own legislation to allow betting for sporting events. The sports betting industry has been reported to be a multi-billion dollar industry so many states have acted quickly in trying to pass legi...

The group presentations in class were a cool way to hear from some of the less outspoken people in our class and a fun opportunity to dig into an interesting topic. My topic about echo chambers gave me a look into the bias in certain news or media outlets that I used every day. One topic from another group I found particularly interesting was the presentation for the "Five Eyes". I consider myself a pretty big history buff, not necessarily in the political realm, but was still surprised I had never heard of the Five Eyes. I knew some information about the intelligence community but mostly from past wars but hadn't heard even the slightest whisper of any joint intelligence operations outside of shared intel between agencies like the CIA and MI6 or something along those lines. The 5 countries all share relatively similar beliefs in a lot of areas so they may have the same uses for the intelligence they collect. Not to mention that the quality of the information in the intel...

A new fad that has become really big in the last few years are DNA/ancestry services. Sites like 23 and me and others take a sample of your DNA and send you a report of where your ancestors came from originally and even sometimes information about your personality or about the likeliness you are diagnosed with a disease. Aside from being cool to track down your heritage there seem to be some other benefits as well. Are you destined to have high cholesterol in the future? Will you get diabetes in the future? These tests can tell the truth. But what happens after a company sends its findings back to you? Where else does this information go? Many people have raised concern that the government is using this to document thousands of citizens DNA. The aforementioned site "23 and Me" has a statement on their website about how they handle requests from the police for DNA samples. Having samples like this on record could prove beneficial by being able to confirm suspects or victims bu...

In Catherine Crump's TEDtalk on Privacy she explains how more advanced technology is being used by police departments for surveillance reasons. License plate readers that have data stored in a massive database that can be used to help track individuals. Is this too much information for the police? Or is it better for us because dangerous individuals can be suppressed before bad things happen? A lot of people want their privacy intact and with good reason. You should be able to live your life without having to worry about who's watching or what is being recorded about you. There is a reason for all of the security though. Terrorist threats are constantly being dealt with before, during, and after they occur and often at the expensive of the government and taxpayers. Surveillance of suspect individuals can be good but it needs to be kept in check. Just because someone visits a mosque doesn't mean they should be seen as a threat like is explained in Crump's talk. My person...

The generation of children born around the mid-1990s and beyond has been the most technology-immersed generation ever. Dubbed the "iGeneration", a play on devices like the iPod and iPad, the generation is snapping, tweeting, posting, and sharing their way through life. As a member of this generation, I am susceptible to this behavior as well. But what kind of digital footprint do I leave? How connected am I to the rest of the world via the Internet? Let's start with what kinds of online services I use. Most often I browse and post on Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat and Reddit. I will also use Facebook and LinkedIn occasionally while visiting other sites and apps less frequently. Overall most of this social media covers a lot of my screen time because the combined usage of these sites allows me to stay in touch with my friends while we are all away at school, keeps me updated on the latest sports and social/pop culture news, as well as world news. The internet has become ...

Everyone has their favorite social media. Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and countless other sites and apps give us our daily dose of news, entertainment, and updates on the lives of our friends and families. One site I have come to use quite often is the site Reddit. Reddit claims itself to be the "front page of the internet" and does a pretty good job holding that title up in my opinion. When you open Reddit for the first time you are greeted with posts and articles from every corner of the internet and every interest imaginable. You can subscribe to "subreddits" which are concentrated on specific topics and serve to bring all the news regarding these topics into one location. Subreddits range from normal things like sports, politics, and finance to the downright weird ones like r/WtWFotMJaJtRAtCaB which is a subreddit dedicated to pictures of water flowing over a milk jug and creating a bubble, hence the name "When the Water Flows over the Milk J...