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Are All Americans Deserving of Equal Privacy Rights in the Age of the Internet of Things?

By: Colin Nardone

I. Introduction

In this modern technology age, do we really have a right to privacy? Practically everything we do, whether it is checking the weather, changing our thermostat, or using an internet connected home security system, is tracked by some company online. These companies compile these vast amounts of data, and often sell them to the highest bidder. Sometimes, even the police gain access to this data in order to solve crimes. Does the Constitution have any meaning in this kind of hyper-connected world?

The Fourth amendment provides “[t]he right of the people to be secure in their person, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures,” but is there anything left to these words to provide that security for individuals, especially those most impoverished in our country?[1] Within the last few decades, the Supreme Court has generally recognized a right to privacy under the Fourth Amendment in specific contexts where technology is involved.[2] But does this same right extend equally to all Americans including those who live in public housing across the United States?

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Modernizing Commercial Aviation: A Proposal for Blockchain as a Solution to Aircraft Registration and Recordation

By: Colin Mummery

I. Introduction

Aircraft financing is a distinctive area of commercial asset-based financing because of unique rules, regulations, and practices.[1] Indeed, the inherent mobile capacity of an aircraft raises important considerations for financing as compared with more traditional fixed assets such as real estate.[2] The law governing any aircraft financing involves a combination of international, federal, and state law.[3] While federal statutes provide for a national system of aircraft registration and lien recordation, the validity and priority of an interest remain state law questions.[4] The ratification by the United States of the Cape Town Convention and associated aircraft Protocol further impacts the federal and state interplay with respect to aircraft objects covered by the Convention by altering certain rules governing aircraft financings through the establishment of an international framework for the creation, registration, enforcement, and prioritization of certain interests relating to specified airframes, engines, and helicopters.[5]

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You’re Blocked! Should Public Officials Be Allowed to Stifle Speech On Social Media?

By Peter Kourkouvis

I. Introduction

Last May, the Southern District of New York ruled in Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University v. Trump (Knight Institute) that President Trump violated the First Amendment rights of seven individuals when he blocked them from the @realDonaldTrump Twitter account because of their critical comments.[1] Merely the highest-profile instance of a burgeoning phenomenon, people across the U.S. have complained about elected officials blocking them from their social media pages.[2] Since the Knight Institute decision, the Fourth Circuit became the first court of appeals to decide that such exclusion violates the First Amendment.[3] Lawmakers have been put on notice.[4]

However, the issue remains unsettled. Central to determining whether public officials’ blocking of the public from their social media pages violates the First Amendment is determining whether a social media page can constitute a public forum. This Article examines this controversial issue by first discussing the Supreme Court’s public forum doctrine in Part II. Then, Part III discusses how courts have applied forum analysis to public officials’ social media pages. In Part IV, I argue that the approach taken by the Southern District of New York and the Fourth Circuit conforms with public forum analysis, makes sense given popular usage of social media, and best serves the policy of promoting robust discussion on social media, while also providing government officials guidance as to how to avoid violating the public’s First Amendment rights.

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