Author: Dave Levine
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The Defend Trade Secrets Act and Whistleblowers
As Freedom to Tinker readers know, I’ve been an active opponent of the federal Defend Trade Secrets Act (DTSA). Though my position on the DTSA remains unchanged, I was both surprised and pleased to see that the revised Defend Trade Secrets Act now includes a narrow, but potentially useful, provision intended to protect whistleblowers from trade secret…
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Updating the Defend Trade Secrets Act?
Despite statements to the contrary by sponsors and supporters in April 2014, August 2015, and October 2015, backers of the Defend Trade Secrets Act (DTSA) now aver that “cyber espionage is not the primary focus” of the legislation. At last month’s Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, the DTSA was instead supported by two different primary reasons:…
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New Professors' Letter Opposing The Defend Trade Secrets Act of 2015
As Freedom to Tinker readers may recall, I’ve been very concerned about the problems associated with the proposed Defend Trade Secrets Act. Ostensibly designed to combat cyberespionage against United States corporations, it is instead not a solution to that problem, and fraught with downsides. Today, over 40 colleagues in the academic world joined Eric Goldman, Chris Seaman, Sharon…
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The Defend Trade Secrets Act Has Returned
Freedom to Tinker readers may recall that I’ve previously warned about legislation to create a federal private cause of action for trade secret misappropriation in the name of fighting cyber-espionage against United States businesses. Titled the Defend Trade Secrets Act (DTSA), it failed to move last year. Well, the concerning legislation has returned, and, although it has some changes,…
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The Chilling Effects of Confidentiality Creep
Today, North Carolina’s Governor Pat McCrory has a bill on his desk that would make it impossible for the public to find out what entities are supplying the chemical cocktail – the drugs – to be used for lethal injections in North Carolina. Known as the Restoring Proper Justice Act (the “Act”), it defines “confidential…
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Congress' Fast Track to Bad Law
Congress appears poised to pass Trade Promotion Authority, otherwise known as “fast track,” for the Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP). If this happens, it will likely close the door to any possibility of meaningful public input about TPP’s scope and contours. That’s a major problem, as this “21st century trade agreement” encompassing around 800 million people in…
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The Error of Fast Tracking the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement
National media reported yesterday that a Congressional agreement has been reached on so-called “fast track” authority for the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP). This international agreement, having been negotiated under extreme secrecy by 12 countries including the United States, Australia, Canada, Japan, Malaysia and Singapore, is supposed to be an “ambitious, next-generation, Asia-Pacific trade agreement that reflects…
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The Dangers of the New Trade Secrets Acts
First, I want to state how thrilled I am to be joining the great group here at CITP. Every CITP scholar that I’ve gotten to know over the past several years have become friends and influenced my work in areas ranging from voting machine code access to international lawmaking processes. I’m delighted to be a…