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Caging the Bored Ape: How the FTC\u27s Expanded Anti-Monopoly Authority Can Tame NFTS for Web 3.0
Get PDFNon-Fungible Tokens, or “NFTs,” ballooned into a 40-billion-dollar industry in under a decade. Their creators include artists, corporations, entrepreneurs, fraudsters—and even Donald Trump. While NFT owners and traders could be any of us, the parties running the marketplaces are hidden. NFT regulators have yet to be identified. Most alarmingly, the dominant NFT marketplaces are dangerously centralized. Accordingly, the publicized tales of exorbitant or manipulated NFT prices and frequent related scams abound. Meanwhile cryptocurrency—the technology enabling the life of an NFT—remains beset with, at best, theoretical models for effective regulation a full generation after its emergence.
To propose a rational start to NFT regulation, the author—a former regulator—tackles the basics: NFT design, “minting,” opening for purchase and trading, and ultimate repose in the digital wallets of purchasers. Specific legal ills occasioned by each step of the process are described. In turn, the apparent choices for NFT regulator are examined. To be sure, the eager lethargy exhibited by investment regulators confronting virtual currencies has proven rule adoption to be a quixotic dream. Thus, the author suggests that the storied FTC, the agency with the heart and the mission, be chosen as the force to slow market consolidation and counter anti-competitive practices cementing in the country’s vastest NFT marketplaces. Such remedy (enabled by the FTC’s revision of its antitrust mission late last year) would temper the rampant loosing of NFTs on all unbridled marketplaces until more ill ramifications can be catalogued and comprehended. Further, the proposed resolution of “trust-busting type” oversight is not only amply supported by the recent FTC successes but also greatly aligned with the idyllic hopes of the budding “WEB 3.0” world. Namely, if the latest incarnation of interactive cyberspace is to truly “shatter the monopolies on who controls information”, the first step is to ensure that the interrupter itself is not a monopoly
Qualified Knowledge: The Case for Considering Actual Knowledge in Qualified Immunity Jurisprudence As It Relates to the First Amendment Right to Record
Get PDFThis Note argues that this particular finding of the Frasier court is both pragmatically and philosophically problematic. By design, the qualified immunity doctrine seeks to shield police officers from civil rights lawsuits. However, prioritizing assumed knowledge over actual knowledge in determining what qualifies as a clearly established constitutional right harms the citizens that law enforcement officers have sworn to protect and serve. While traditional delineations of clearly established rights have involved appeals to precedent, public policy concerns are also important considerations in the qualified immunity analysis. In this way, Frasier is especially concerning in that it prioritizes the total defense of police officers over the deterrence of civil rights violations. Only Supreme Court intervention can rectify this particular problem. Namely, the Court should reverse the Tenth Circuit’s Frasier judgment and similar judgments in other circuits and find that officers who knowingly violate the constitutional right of private citizens to record public police interactions are not entitled to qualified immunity.
This Note proceeds in Part I with a historical outline of the qualified immunity doctrine for law enforcement officers. Part II then evaluates how courts have applied the qualified immunity doctrine in cases concerning arrests of private citizens for filming police activities. Part III outlines Frasier v. Evans and offers a new standard for incorporating actual knowledge into the existing qualified immunity analysis. Finally, Part IV addresses related policy implications and responds to potential counterarguments.
This abstract has been taken from the author\u27s introduction
The African Century: Renewable Energy Opportunities in Sub-Saharan Africa
Get PDFEven if the world’s developed nations are able to curb their carbon emissions in the coming years, major hurdles will still exist. One such hurdle is fulfilling energy needs in urbanizing areas, like sub-Saharan Africa. Many global regions are urbanizing but none as rapidly as sub- Saharan Africa. The global share of Africa’s urban residents is expected to grow from 11.3% in 2010 to 20.2% by 2050.
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While sub-Saharan African countries have peculiar social and economic characteristics, there are common elements that allow this Note to focus on the region as a whole. This general approach can be adjusted on a country-by-country basis. Some such common elements include: (1) abundant natural resources which can be converted into energy, (2) inefficient local infrastructures by which those resources can be converted into energy, (3) underinvestment in transmission and distribution networks, and (4) affordability constraints.
This abstract has been taken from the author\u27s introduction and Part I of the article
The New Insular Cases
Get PDFThe Insular Cases is a name given to a series of cases decided by the U.S. Supreme Court dealing with the status of the territories the United States acquired at the turn of the twentieth century. The Insular Cases rely on outmoded assumptions about the peoples who live in those islands, ninety-eight percent of whom belong to racial and ethnic minorities, and extend the extraconstitutional doctrine of territorial incorporation, a Plessy-style doctrine of separate governance for these territories that is different than the territories that preceded them. These cases, and the doctrine they announced, have been universally decried as at best “incorrectly decided” or anachronistic, and at worst “central documents in the history of American racism.” Despite the overwhelming academic and popular consensus against the Insular Cases, the Supreme Court has not only failed to overrule them but has instead unwittingly engaged in a project of establishing new Insular Cases. Establishing a list for the new Insular Cases is the purpose of this Article. Thus far, these cases are: (1) Puerto Rico v. Franklin California Tax-Free Trust, (2) Puerto Rico v. Sanchez Valle, (3) Financial Oversight and Management Board for Puerto Rico v. Aurelius Investment, LLC, (4) Tuaua v. United States, and (5) United States v. Vaello Madero. While not all of the new Insular Cases explicitly rely on the rationale of the old, all expand upon and solidify the evil that the Insular Cases introduced into our jurisprudence: permanent American colonialism.
This abstract has been adapted from the author\u27s introduction
An Interview with W.C. Jefferson (part one)
Get PDFSo what it is, is that we\u27re not all born equal, but what we all should have is a chance to be the best we can be. -- Jeff Jefferson
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The first part of Jefferson’s oral history took place via Zoom on September 26, 2023. Jefferson started by discussing his undergraduate education at Central State in Ohio, where he participated in ROTC. Afterwards, he joined the army and completed two tours in Vietnam during the Vietnam War. He then discussed starting law school and how he balanced work and family during his 1L year. Jefferson described a meeting with then-Dean James Whyte, and the effort to recruit more Black students that resulted from it. The last bit of the interview touched on law school facilities, class and faculty, and the namesake of the Black Law Students Association (BLSA).https://scholarship.law.wm.edu/oralhist_all/1006/thumbnail.jp
Critiquing the SEC\u27s Ongoing Efforts to Regulate Crypto Exchanges
Get PDFDespite the so-called “Crypto Winter” in the spring of 2022, which saw a deep plunge in global crypto markets, interest in the appropriate way to develop, use, and regulate cryptoassets and crypto-based businesses continues to be high. In the United States, a Presidential Executive Order and multiple bills that seek to tackle various issues of crypto regulation are regularly highlighted in the news, suggesting the appropriate treatment of crypto is a growing national priority. Despite these discussions, which tend to focus on finding a balanced way to regulate those within the industry without stifling the technology, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) continues to seek to assert its jurisdiction unilaterally. A pending proposal from the SEC, misleadingly characterized as an attempt to regulate trading in government securities, would broaden the definition of “exchange” with potentially destructive consequences. This Article carefully considers the existing definition of “exchange” under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the ’34 Act), and then examines a proposal from the Commission that would substantially broaden the current interpretation to reach a much larger group of persons involved in trading cryptoassets without adding clarity or a path to compliant operation for such persons. It then evaluates why the proposal creates problems, identifying a number of such issues before concluding that a better approach would be to allow the legislative process to play out
The Need for Additional Landslide Regulation: Examining Flooding Through a Case Study
Get PDFNatural disasters are increasing at an alarming rate. As of this writing, the top five deadliest disasters occurred after 1970, and the top five most economically devastating occurred in the years since 2005, with three of them occurring in 2017. These increasing storms are exacerbated by the worsening of climate change and global warming. The problem will continue to increase if federal and state governments fail to properly regulate and prepare for these natural disasters. This Note will specifically discuss the regulation and prevention of landslides by comparing them to the regulation of flooding. Other examples of natural disaster regulation that this Note will not discuss include building codes for earthquake protection and wildfire prevention regulations in the west.
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This Note will argue that government intervention is crucial to alleviate the burden caused by the changing climate and the increase of storms. Part I discusses the background of landslides, including the importance of landslide mapping and education. Part II compares landslides to flooding and shows how they can be addressed similarly, yet as of now are treated differently. The Conclusion illustrates gaps in regulation as it stands now and proposes that adjustments should be made. These modifications should focus on preparation of these events by the government instead of reacting to them as they occur.
This abstract has been taken from the author\u27s introduction
Completing Streets: Improving America\u27s Complete Streets
Get PDFPart I of this Note discusses the history of city planning in the United States, starting in the early twentieth century, as well as the rise of auto-centric cities. Part II examines how states and local governments across the United States are adopting policies called Complete Streets initiatives in order to create safer streets that accommodate pedestrians, cyclists, and public transportation users, as well as cars. Finally, Part III discusses the shortcomings of Complete Streets policies and argues that unless broader measures are taken to address failures in city and road design from a systems perspective, Complete Streets initiatives cannot fully achieve their stated goals.
This abstract has been taken from the author\u27s introduction