By David Zvirman, Staff Writer Everyone who has flown on a plane in the U.S. in the last decade has experienced an administrative search by a Transportation Security Officer (“TSO”) of the Transportation Security Administration (“TSA”).[1] In 2017 alone, the TSA screened 771.5 million travelers in 440 federalized airports, which […]
Features Articles
Fracking Trespassers: PA Court Rules Hydraulic Frackers No Longer Shielded by Rule of Capture
By Kurt Valentine, Web Editor On August 27, 1859, the first commercial oil well in the United States, drilled by Edwin Drake, struck oil along the banks of Oil Creek near Titusville, Pennsylvania.[1] Drake’s well “forever changed America’s economy, standard of living, and culture.”[2] The gas and oil industry is […]
FCC Rule Gives US a Fighting Chance on 5G
By Brandon Schall, Staff Writer On September 26, 2018, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voted to approve a new rule that would cap the amount of fees local authorities could charge wireless providers on its fifth-generation networks (5G).[1] The rule also tightened deadlines for localities to consider applications for companies […]
Police Fragmentation: A Discussion on Consolidation
By Kyle Steenland, Feature Editor It’s no secret that Pennsylvania’s police department structure is one of the most fragmented in the country. Fragmented systems – meaning a structure of police departments without any central governing agency – result from municipalities, counties, and communities creating their own departments to provide for […]
The CLOUD Act: Impact on Activists, U.S. Citizens
By Karissa Murphy, Executive Editor In 1986, Congress enacted the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA).[1] This Act regulated how United States law officials could access data stored overseas.[2] Over 30 years, and countless technological developments later, Congress enacted the CLOUD Act, which seeks to update its predecessor.[3] The CLOUD Act, […]
Who Owns Your Face?
By Kyle Steenland, Associate Editor If you search the term “biometrics technology” nearly 3 million results in a fraction of a second are at your fingertips. But what exactly does “biometrics technology” entail? Going by the definition, biometrics is the “the process by which a person’s unique physical and other […]
A New Information Age: ‘Fake News’ and the Power of Narrative
By Nicole Prieto, Editor-in-Chief In her surrealistic graphic novel Temperance,[1] Cathy Malkasian posits an unusual thought experiment: Can a community enclosed in a ship of stone — buoyed along a fictional sea of fire and convinced it is surrounded by “enemies” that do not exist — thrive unperturbed for 30 […]
FCC Repeals Net Neutrality, But Repeal Remains in Limbo
By Brandon Schall, Staff Writer Since the adoption of the Protecting and Promoting the Open Internet rules, better known as net neutrality, by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on Feb. 26, 2015, there has been controversy.[1] The FCC adopted the rules on a 3-2 vote and Chairman Tom Wheeler said, […]
Russian Election Meddling Inspires Seattle to Enforce Local Disclosure Laws Against Facebook
By Natalia Holliday, Web Editor In the late 1990s, political advertiser Alan Gould proposed an idea to promote political campaigns on the internet by posting banner ads on websites. To Gould, it was clear that the internet could be used to target messages and reach vast populations in a click. […]
Will the ‘Trial of the 21st Century’ Be as Popular as the 20th’s?
By Nick Frost, Executive Editor “Down there on the ground is a white Ford Bronco,” Peter Jennings reported as, seemingly, the entire country tuned in to watch one of the slowest car chases to receive nationwide coverage.[1] From the early moments of the O.J. Simpson case, people across the nation […]
2016 Best Legal Blog Nominee
