Blog Post

By: Kory Crichton

The United Nations memorialized the freedom of movement, where every human being has “the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country.”[1] 165 years before the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, United States President George Washington emphasized the value of immigration:

“The bosom of America is open to receive not only the Opulent and respectable Stranger, but the oppressed and persecuted of all Nations and Religions; whom we shall welcome to a participation of all our rights and privileges, if by decency and propriety of conduct they appear to merit the enjoyment.”[2] [emphasis added]

Government can establish and enforce a system that welcomes immigrants and benefit from their wealth of experience and expertise, while minimizing the associated risks. How far can a government regulate immigration before (1) encroaching upon the right to freely move, and (2) losing the innovative gains of immigration?

As is evident by the 2016 presidential elections, the merit of an immigrant group is informed by cultural values and biases. Fear and ethnocentrism are dominant values expressed on the campaign trail. These values breed hate, a perverted sense of nationalism, and a false sense of security.

The frontrunners in this election have advocated building walls—a technology of ancient times and a present day symbol of apartheid. On one side of the aisle the leading candidate voted for a discomfiting piece of legislation known as the “Secure Fence Act of 2006.”[3] The Act, amongst other provisions, called for a wall to stretch 700 miles along the Mexican border from California to Texas.[4] The other side of the aisle pledged with bombastic rhetoric: “I will build a great, great wall on our southern border and I will have Mexico pay for that wall. Mark my words.”[5]

Ironically, the United States’ economy is driven by “service industries, where free cross border movement of talent is increasingly important to economic health.”[6] When it comes to immigration, inflaming the passions of jingoism adversely impacts our economic prosperity and national security. Throughout history, addressing challenges with divisive values has favored faddish symbols over human progress.

In addressing the deficiencies of the U.S. Visa System, a state governor compared visas to FedEx: “You go on online and at any moment, FedEx can tell you where that package is. Yet we let people come into this country with visas, and the minute they come in, we lose track of them.”[7] Then, he offered “FedEx founder Fred Smith to come and work for the government to show U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) how to set up a system for tracking people.“[8] The suggested technology is reminiscent of the movie Eagle Eye, where the government designed a system to track people, which ultimately developed autonomous capabilities to research, study, spy upon, and attempt to kill Shia LaBeouf.[9] Designing a system to track immigrants like they are FedEx packages lends itself to abuse.

Far from these erratic suggestions proposed by petulant voices, there are reasonable proposals that offer practical solutions. In 2014, President Barack Obama issued a memo discussing five necessary steps to update the U.S. Visa System: (1) developing a cross-agency digital services team to improve user experience and adjudicative efficiency, (2) redesigning “systems with an eye towards human perspective and accessibility,” (3) establishing “a communication task force to create clearer, plain-language instructions,” (4) improving “content management”, and (5) creating “an interagency task force to enhance data collection.”[10] In contrast, this suggestion by the President promotes values that do not involve building a wall or tracking devices. Rather, they involve the recognition of the United States as a country founded and built by immigrants.

Our Southern border and the U.S. Visa System are one of many issues plaguing the current immigration process. Apartheid and invasive technologies have no place in our society. The discussion needs to be about humane solutions for resolving the difficulties of the United States’ immigration system.

In 2016, which set of values will you vote for?

 

[1] G.A. Res. 217 (III), art. 13, (Dec. 10, 1948).

[2] George Washington, “Address to the Members of the Volunteer Association of Ireland, December 2, 1783,” in John C. Fitzpatrick (ed.), The Writings of George Washington (Washington DC: Government Printing Office, 1921, vol. XXVI, p. 254.

[3] H.R. 6061, 109^th Cong. (2006) (where Hillary Clinton voted “Yea,” the bill ultimately passed in the Senate, and construction of the wall has already taken place).

[4] The Secure Fence Act of 2006, Pub. L. 109-367, 120 Stat. 2638 (Oct. 26, 2006).

[5] Donald Trump, Donald Trump Presidential Announcement Full Speech 6/16/15, YouTube (June 16, 2015), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XXcPl4T55I.

[6] Kenneth J. Harder, Immigration Law, 74 Tex. B.J. 34, 35 (2011).

[7] Raul A. Reyes, Christie’s laughable FedEx solution on immigration, CNN, (Aug. 31, 2015), http://www.cnn.com/2015/08/31/opinions/reyes-chris-christie/.

[8] Id.

[9] Eagle Eye (DreamWorks Pictures 2008).

[10] The White House, Office of the Press Secretary, Modernizing & Streamlining Our Immigration System for the 21^st Century, (July 15, 2015), at 5.

By: Jonathan Ziarko 

“Life is short. Have an affair,” – the now infamous tagline of Ashleymadison.com. This summer the website was subject to one of the largest data breaches yet. Ashley Madison is a website owned by Avid Life Media, and it provides an online dating service for people who are already in a relationship. [1]

The hack, perpetrated by “The Impact Team,” a group of hackers who are taking credit for this massive data breach, is just one in a long line of data breaches of websites and companies.[2] In late August the hackers released the data of 33 million website users including their user names, real life addresses, phone numbers, passwords, email addresses, and potential credit card information.[3] Around 15,000 of the email addresses in the data file have been linked to the U.S. military or government addresses.[4] Access to the data could have a real impact on the people who are linked to the accounts. There is a serious possibility that the information leaked could be used to blackmail people who do not want their membership to such a website revealed. In fact, simply being on the list could put marriages in jeopardy.[5] The revealed information has already been linked to two suicides in Canada.[6]

So far there have been four class action suits brought against Avid Life Media, including one originating in Canada.[7] Avid Life Media is facing damages up to around $578 million from the Canadian lawsuit alone. [8] The lawsuits originating in the U.S. have yet to specify damages or even gain class action status but it is alleged that Avid Life Media acted negligently by failing to exercise reasonable care in protecting and safeguarding personal information in their possession, breach of contract, and other privacy violations.[9] A major contention in the lawsuits is the fact that the website charged users a $19 fee to permanently delete all of their data, however the data was still available.[10] The hackers stated this is the reason why they targeted the website in the first place as an act of so-called “hacktivism,” in order to stop the website form taking money for not actually removing data.[11] Internal sources are showing that the company was aware of some of the potential vulnerabilities but took no steps to fix them.[12]

The outcome of these cases could very well be groundbreaking on the subject regarding how the law is shaped around data protection. To date it seems there is no security system that is impervious to hacking, even the government is susceptible. Can there ever really be a reasonable expectation that all the data we put out on the Internet will remain private? All that companies can do is to use the best security they can by following industry standards and by doing their best to contain a breach when it does occur. As these cases unfold it may in fact have a large impact on how Internet based services conduct business and store data. It no longer seems a question of can personal data be stored securely online, but rather how long until someone decides they want to take our information and share it with the world.

 

[1] Amanda Lee Myers, Americans Sue Ashley Madison Over Hack, Time Inc. (Aug. 25, 2015), http://time.com/4010665/ashley-madison-american-lawsuit/

 

[2] Meg Wagner, Adultery website Ashley Madison hacked; intruders threaten to leak 37 million users’ personal info, New York Daily News (July 20, 2015, 8:40 AM), http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/adultery-website-ashley-madison-hacked-article-1.2297545

 

[3] Ashley Madison: What’s in the leaked account data dump?, BBC (Aug. 19, 2015), http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-33986228

 

[4] Id.

[5] Myers, supra note 1.

 

[6] Ashley Madison: ‘Suicides’ over website hack, BBC (Aug. 25, 2015), http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-34044506

 

[7] Myers, supra note 1.

 

[8] Id.

 

[9] Kim Zetter, Ashley Madison Hit With $500 Million In Lawsuits, WIRED (Aug. 25, 2015, 3:30 PM), http://www.wired.com/2015/08/ashley-madison-hit-500-million-lawsuits/

 

[10] Myers, supra note 1.

 

[11] Wagner, supra note 2.

 

[12] Zetter, supra note 9.

 

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