Pittsburgh Journal of Technology Law and Policy (University of Pittsburgh)
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3-D Printed Guns: A Developing Technology with Dangerous Potential
Get PDFAs an up-and-coming technology, the full potential of 3-D printing has yet to be realized, and its movement toward at-home consumers may cause problems that still remain undiscovered. Paired with the inconsistencies between various state and federal laws, the continued development of 3-D printed weapons could pose a major threat to our nation’s security. Left untouched, current trends could allow for the issue of untraceable weapons to spiral out of control and beyond repair. 3-D printing is undoubtedly one of the world’s most revolutionary technologies, but it could become one of the world’s most dangerous if left without limits.
Foreword
Get PDFThe Pittsburgh Journal of Technology Law & Policy is pleased to announce it will now publish one issue per year. Articles, essays, and other submissions will be reviewed and, if accepted, published on a rolling basis
Walk Out Technology: The Need to Amend Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act to Protect Consumer Privacy and Promote Corporate Transparency
Get PDFWhile the FTC can and has brought claims under Section 5 of FTC Act, there is a new need for federal legislation to be more specifically targeted toward online stores and physical stores that abuse the technology to track consumers. Companies need legislative guidelines on what information they can collect from consumers, what they can do with this information and how transparent they must be with consumers. The FTC’s reports are helpful to protect privacy, if companies actually follow them. There is a great need to amend Section 5 of the FTC to deal with consumer privacy in this new autonomous retail world. Amazon\u27s "Just Walk Out" technology should not give Amazon the opportunity to walk all over consumers’ privacy.
Reviving Spent Nuclear Fuel Reprocessing in the U.S.
Get PDFNuclear power generation is responsible for fifteen percent of the world’s electricity, and since the beginning of the century additional nuclear reactors have appeared on the global grid in places other than the United States and Europe. Currently, sixty one nuclear reactors are under construction, and three-quarters of those are located in four countries: China, India, South Korea, and Russia. China aims to quadruple its nuclear power capacity by 2020. The United Arab Emirates entered into a 20 billion dollar contract with a South Korean consortium to build four nuclear reactors expected to be operational in 2017. Nuclear power creates radioactive waste with a half-life that spans thousands of years. If nations could reduce the radioactivity and volume, and thus the potential harmfulness, of nuclear waste by recycling spent nuclear fuel, would they take this opportunity? In the United States, the answer is no. In France, however, the answer is yes. The purpose of this paper is not to advocate for or condemn the use of nuclear technology
Foreword
Get PDFPrivacy and technology issues tend to implicate one another. Sometimes they reinforce each other, such as when improved data security thwarts hackers. But often the use of technology diminishes privacy because, in order to benefit from the technology, users must surrender some personal, otherwise private information. In such cases the technology may be powerful, profitable, fun, or convenient, but the privacy consequences of its use can be quite profound
Microbiomes Germ Clouds and the Future of DNA Jurisprudence
Get PDFA scientific study published in Science in August 2014 revealed that every human lives inside their own microbial germ cloud, which is both mobile and traceable. While microbiomes can potentially revolutionize the field of medicine, they may also transform the field of law by its use in tracking and identifying criminals.
Spectrum Sharing in the Context of Vehicle-to-Vehicle Technology: Bureaucratic Hoops, Fierce Competition, Political Maneuverings, and the Larger Policy Issue
Get PDFThis article addresses the political and regulatory issues facing V2V implementation while promoting the larger policy question of greater wireless access. Opening the heavily regulated electromagnetic spectrum to greater commercial use benefits American consumers, advances technological innovations, and could create hundreds of thousands of jobs. V2V technology holds tremendous promise for improving vehicle safety and reducing fatalities, and deploying V2V as soon as possible could save thousands of lives
The Use of Non-Confidential and Limited Confidential Information Obtained by Metadata Mining Outside the Context of Discovery Should Be Ethically Permissible
Get PDFJ.D. Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, 2015; B.S. Carnegie Mellon University, 2012. Thanks to Professor Lester Brickman and JS for their feedback
Connected Vehicle Technology: An All Too Convenient Solution to Roadway Problems in the United States
Get PDFAutomobile accidents and roadway infrastructure problems are increasing in the United States. Specifically, 5.7 million automobile accidents were reported in 2013. The number of automobile accidents caused by lane drifting has increased over the past fifteen years, given the increased number of drivers on the road. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the United States Department of Transportation (USDOT) have developed a cumulative solution to these problems. Connected Vehicle technology is part of the USDOT’s “Intelligent Transportation Systems” (ITS) initiative. The ITS initiative targets automobile crash avoidance and better traffic flow through the use of automated technologies.[1] Id. at v.