Cases and Materials on Property: An Introduction to the Concept and the Institution

A Review of Cases and Materials on Property: An Introduction to the Concept and the Institution by Charles Donahue, Jr., Thomas E. Kauper, and Peter W. Marti

Introduction

The Articles in this Symposium vividly demonstrate that the reason that the pornography debate is no longer at the forefront of national consciousness is surely not that the phenomenon itself has disappeared. Nor is it that we have achieved anything approaching consensus, for we cannot seem to agree even about what pornography is, much less about its harms or benefits. Nor is it even that we have suddenly discovered and begun to deploy, from tools long available in our legal arsenal, enforcement strategies promising cures less harmful than the disease. Quite the . contrary. As the editors of this journal have discerned,\u27 the dilemma posed by pornography to a free society persists, and it continues to raise a kaleidoscope of legal issues. The editors have solicited articles from authors with an astonishing array of viewpoints; each perspective generates useful insights into this most perplexing topic. I shall take the remainder of this Introduction to provide the reader with a brief road map to what follows, with the hope of facilitating a sense of where the pieces fit within the ongoing struggle to define the issues

Information About Individuals in the Hands of Government: Some Reflections on Mechanisms for Privacy Protection

Information is the handmaiden of the modern activist state. In particular, information provided by individuals to government enables government to assess and collect taxes, to distribute social welfare benefits, and to pursue its regulatory agenda. Computer technology enhances the government\u27s ability to gather, store, analyze, and process personal data. Computers make it easy for government agencies to share with one another information provided to them by individual citizens. These facts bring issues of informational privacy to the fore. In this Article, Professor BeVier examines one such issue, namely that of unconsented-to use by government of accurate information provided by citizens about themselves. Professor BeVier frames the issue in part as a problem in the control of information but primarily as a problem in the control of government. Neither the Privacy Act of 1974 nor the Computer Matching Act of 1988 nor the privacy exemptions of the Freedom of Information Act effectively constrain unconsented-to use or disclosure of personal data by federal agencies. Nor, she concludes, would the Data Protection Board advocated by most other commentators represent a genuine solution

Introduction

The Articles in this Symposium vividly demonstrate that the reason that the pornography debate is no longer at the forefront of national consciousness is surely not that the phenomenon itself has disappeared. Nor is it that we have achieved anything approaching consensus, for we cannot seem to agree even about what pornography is, much less about its harms or benefits. Nor is it even that we have suddenly discovered and begun to deploy, from tools long available in our legal arsenal, enforcement strategies promising cures less harmful than the disease. Quite the . contrary. As the editors of this journal have discerned,\u27 the dilemma posed by pornography to a free society persists, and it continues to raise a kaleidoscope of legal issues. The editors have solicited articles from authors with an astonishing array of viewpoints; each perspective generates useful insights into this most perplexing topic. I shall take the remainder of this Introduction to provide the reader with a brief road map to what follows, with the hope of facilitating a sense of where the pieces fit within the ongoing struggle to define the issues