The Volokh Conspiracy
Mostly law professors | Sometimes contrarian | Often libertarian | Always independent
The Intercept—now running a close second to the FBI in sending leakers to jail!
Episode 263 of the Cyberlaw Podcast
With apologies for the lateness of this post, Episode 263 of The Cyberlaw Podcast tells the sad tale of yet another US government leaker who unwisely trusted The Intercept not to compromise its source. As Nick Weaver points out, The Intercept also took forever to actually report on some of the material it received.
In other news, Brian Egan and Nate Jones agree that Israel broke no new ground in bombing the headquarters of Hamas's rudimentary hacking operation during active hostilities.
Nick and I dig into the significance of China's use of intrusion tools pioneered by NSA. We also question the New York Times's grasp of the issue.
The first overt cyberattack on the US electric grid was a bust, I note, but that's not much comfort.
How many years of being told "I'm washing my hair that night" does it take before you realize you're not getting anywhere? The FCC probably thought China Mobile should have gotten the hint after eight years of no action on the company's application to provide US phone service, but just in case the message didn't get through, the Commission finally pulled the plug last week.
Delegating to Big Social the policing of terrorist content has a surprising downside, as Nate points out. Sometimes the government or civil society need that data to make a court case.
We touch briefly on Facebook's FTC woes and whether Sen. Hawley (R-MO) should be using the privacy stick to beat a company he's mad at for other reasons. I reprise my longstanding view that privacy law is almost entirely about beating companies that you're mad at for other reasons.
Download the 263rd Episode (mp3).
You can subscribe to The Cyberlaw Podcast using iTunes, Google Play, Spotify, Pocket Casts, or our RSS feed!
As always, The Cyberlaw Podcast is open to feedback. Be sure to engage with @stewartbaker on Twitter. Send your questions, comments, and suggestions for topics or interviewees to CyberlawPodcast@steptoe.com. Remember: If your suggested guest appears on the show, we will send you a highly coveted Cyberlaw Podcast mug!
The views expressed in this podcast are those of the speakers and do not reflect the opinions of the firm.
