Catalyzing Privacy Law

The United States famously lacks a comprehensive federal data privacy law. In the past year, however, over half the states have proposed broad privacy bills or have established task forces to propose possible privacy legislation. Meanwhile, congressional committees are holding hearings on multiple privacy bills. What is catalyzing this legislative momentum? Some believe that Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which came into force in 2018, is the driving factor. But with the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) which took effect in January 2020, California has emerged as an alternate contender in the race to set the new standard for privacy.Our close comparison of the GDPR and California’s privacy law reveals that the California law is not GDPR-lite: it retains a fundamentally American approach to information privacy. Reviewing the literature on regulatory competition, we argue that California, not Brussels, is catalyzing privacy law across the United States. And what is happening is not a simple story of powerful state actors. It is more accurately characterized as the result of individual networked norm entrepreneurs, influenced and even empowered by data globalization. Our study helps explain the puzzle of why Europe’s data privacy approach failed to spur US legislation for over two decades. Finally, our study answers critical questions of practical interest to individuals—who will protect my privacy?—and to businesses—whose rules should I follow

Orbitopal Fixing

The topic of this paper are integer programming models in which a subset of 0/1-variables encode a partitioning of a set of objects into disjoint subsets. Such models can be surprisingly hard to solve by branch-and-cut algorithms if the order of the subsets of the partition is irrelevant, since this kind of symmetry unnecessarily blows up the search tree. We present a general tool, called orbitopal fixing, for enhancing the capabilities of branch-and-cut algorithms in solving such symmetric integer programming models. We devise a linear time algorithm that, applied at each node of the search tree, removes redundant parts of the tree produced by the above mentioned symmetry. The method relies on certain polyhedra, called orbitopes, which have been introduced bei Kaibel and Pfetsch (Math. Programm. A, 114 (2008), 1-36). It does, however, not explicitly add inequalities to the model. Instead, it uses certain fixing rules for variables. We demonstrate the computational power of orbitopal fixing at the example of a graph partitioning problem.Comment: 22 pages, revised and extended version of a previous version that has appeared under the same title in Proc. IPCO 200

The Albedo, Size, and Density of Binary Kuiper Belt Object (47171) 1999 TC36

We measured the system-integrated thermal emission of the binary Kuiper Belt Object 1999 TC36 at wavelengths near 24 and 70 microns using the Spitzer space telescope. We fit these data and the visual magnitude using both the Standard Thermal Model and thermophysical models. We find that the effective diameter of the binary is 405 km, with a range of 350 -- 470 km, and the effective visible geometric albedo for the system is 0.079 with a range of 0.055 -- 0.11. The binary orbit, magnitude contrast between the components, and system mass have been determined from HST data (Margot et al., 2004; 2005a; 2005b). Our effective diameter, combined with that system mass, indicate an average density for the objects of 0.5 g/cm3, with a range 0.3 -- 0.8 g/cm3. This density is low compared to that of materials expected to be abundant in solid bodies in the trans-Neptunian region, requiring 50 -- 75% of the interior of 1999 TC36 be taken up by void space. This conclusion is not greatly affected if 1999 TC36 is ``differentiated'' (in the sense of having either a rocky or just a non-porous core). If the primary is itself a binary, the average density of that (hypothetical) triple system would be in the range 0.4 -- 1.1 g/cm3, with a porosity in the range 15 -- 70%.Comment: ApJ, in press (May, 2006

Potential Economic Consequences of Local Nonconformity to Regional Land Use and Transportation Plans Using a Spatial Economic Model

To achieve the greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction targets that are required by California’s global warming legislation (AB32), the state of California has determined that recent growth trends in vehicle miles traveled (VMT) must be curtailed. In recognition of this, Senate Bill 375 (SB375) requires regional governments to develop land use and transportation plans or Sustainable Community Strategies (SCSs) that will achieve regional GHG targets largely though reduced VMT. Although the bill requires such a plan, it does not require local governments to adopt general plans that conform to this plan. In California, it is local, not regional, governments that have authority over land development decisions. Instead, SB375 relies on democratic participatory processes and relatively modest financial and regulatory incentives for SCS implementation. As a result, it is quite possible that some local governments within a region may decide not to conform to their SCS. In this study, a spatial economic model (PECAS) is applied in the Sacramento region (California, U.S.) to understand what the economic and equity consequences might be to jurisdictions that do and do not implement SCS land use plans in a region. An understanding of these consequences provides insight into jurisdictions’ motivations for compliance and thus, strategies for more effective implementation of SB375

Of austerity, human rights and international institutions

Austerity measures in many European countries have led to the violation of social rights and widespread socio-economic malaise. In the case of countries subjected to conditionality imposed by external institutions for the receipt of loans, the resultant harms have highlighted responsibility gaps across a range of international institutions. Two recent legal developments come together to expose these gaps: Greece’s argument in a series of cases under the European Social Charter that it was not responsible for the impact on the right to social security brought about by austerity measures since it was only giving effect to its other international obligations as agreed with the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund (the Troika), and the concern to emerge from the Pringle case before the European Court of Justice that European Union institutions could do outside of the EU that which they could not do within the EU – disregard the Charter of Fundamental Rights in the exercise of their tasks. That the Commission and ECB were in time answerable to international organisations set up to provide financial support adds an additional layer of responsibility to consider. Taking Greece as a case study and drawing on EU law, international human rights law, and the law on the international responsibility of states and of international organisations, this article looks to what we can expect in legal terms and as a matter of contemporary societal expectation when it comes to having international institutions respect human rights

Long read. Reconstituting the unequal global system after pandemic – a cautionary tale of international law

In this time of immense socio-economic upheaval, nationally and globally, much is made of how international law operates in dramatic circumstances. Margot E. Salomon (LSE) invites us to consider how practices that appear to suspend business as usual are better understood as a continuation of international law in sustaining our unequal world. Pointing to the regimes of international investment, sovereign debt, human rights and international cooperation, as well as international law’s partiality for fast violence, she argues that reconstituting the unequal global system after the pandemic requires that we first address disciplinary barriers to that essential project

Robots in the Home: What Will We Have Agreed To?

A new technology can expose the cracks in legal doctrine. Sometimes a technology resists analogy. Sometimes, through analogies, it reveals inconsistencies in the law, or basic flaws in framing, or in the fit between different parts of the legal system. This Essay addresses robots in the home, and what they reveal about U.S. privacy law. Household robots might not themselves uproot U.S. privacy law, but they will reveal its inconsistencies, and show where it is most likely to fracture. Just as drones are serving as a legislative “privacy catalyst” — encouraging the enactment of new privacy laws as people realize they are not legally protected from privacy invasions — household robots may serve as a doctrinal privacy catalyst. This Essay begins by identifying the legally salient features of home robots: the aspects of home robots that will likely drive the most interesting legal questions. It then explores how current privacy law governing both law enforcement and private parties addresses a number of questions raised by home robots. There are two legal puzzles raised — or revealed — by household robots. First, there is the question of whether a robot’s permission to be in a space also grants permission to record information about that space. Second, there is the broader legal question of whether traditional legal protection of the home as a privileged, private space will withstand invasion by digital technology that has permission to be there. This Essay claims that the legally salient aspects of home robots may drive a collision between the legal understanding of privacy in real physical space, and its understanding of privacy in the digital realm. That conflict in turn reveals inconsistent understandings of permission and consent in context, across privacy law