tech law

Georgia Professor Greg Day presents at Japan’s Fair Trade Commission Symposium

University of Georgia Professor Greg Day was recently invited to present “The Evolving Landscape of Dark Patterns in the United States” at Japan’s Fair Trade Commission symposium titled Dark Patterns: The Role of Competition Policy on Deceptive Web Designs. Day’s presentation centered around antitrust, consumer protection laws, and dark patterns.

Below is a description of the symposium:

There are a variety of acts known as “dark patterns,” such as forcing consumers to register as members when browsing or purchasing products, or obscuring important information for consumers. These acts of dark patterns not only disadvantage consumers and other users, but there are also concerns that they may harm fair and free competition between businesses that use dark patterns and those that do not use such means. It is necessary to consider how to address the issue of dark patterns from the perspective of Antimonopoly Act and competition policy.

This symposium will include speeches and a panel discussion regarding current situation of dark patterns, their regulatory trends and future issues in Japan and abroad, and the way competition policy should approach dark patterns.

Day is an Associate Professor of Legal Studies at the Terry College of Business and holds a courtesy appointment in the School of Law. He is also an Affiliated Fellow at Yale Law School’s Information Society Project as well as the University of North Carolina’s Center for Information, Technology, and Public Life. His research has primarily focused on the intersection of competition, technology, innovation, and privacy as well as the disparate impact of anticompetitive conduct.

Georgia Law Professor Thomas Kadri selected as Visiting Fellow of the Law Department of the European University Institute in Florence, Italy

University of Georgia School of Law Professor Thomas E. Kadri was selected as a Visiting Fellow at the Law Department of the European University Institute in Florence, Italy. Kadri’s fellowship will be supported by a Sarah Moss Fellowship and the Rusk Faculty Scholar-in-Residence Program provided by the Dean Rusk International Law Center.

During his time in Florence, Kadri will expand his ongoing research pertaining to the legal and technical regulation of AI-generated “deepfakes” and focus on the European regulatory approaches to this topic. In 2024, Kadri authored his third book, Dilemmas in Digital Abuse, which discusses related topics including harmful technological advancements and the corresponding regulatory responses.

Kadri is an Assistant Professor of Law at Georgia Law Law, and his research focuses on torts and criminal law, with an emphasis on how technology, law, and social norms enable and affect privacy, speech, and abuse. His scholarship appears in journals including the Harvard Law Review Forum, UCLA Law Review, Texas Law Review, Utah Law Review, Maryland Law Review, and Journal of Free Speech Law and he has published shorter pieces in The New York Times and Slate. His course offerings include Torts, Cybercrime, and Regulating Digital Abuse.

Alexander White (J.D., ’09), Bermuda’s Privacy Commissioner, speaks at UGA Law

University of Georgia School of Law alumnus Alexander White (J.D., ’09), Privacy Commissioner of Bermuda, spoke to students about current developments and careers in the field of data privacy and cybersecurity in the Dean Rusk International Law Center’s Louis B. Sohn Library this week.

Students from UGA Law’s International Law Society and Privacy, Security, and Technology Law Society attended the talk and asked questions regarding recent data privacy and cybersecurity regulations and comparative privacy regimes, such as Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation. White provided insight into the various ways students can enter into this rapidly-evolving field at both the domestic and international level, emphasizing the importance of taking related coursework and participating in international programming during law school. He mentioned the transformative impact of his own Global Externship Overseas experience in Cambodia, work that he believes mirrors his current position’s mandate to “create laws around the proper and ethical way to do something.” White also offered his perspective on emerging concepts such as Artificial Intelligence and how they impact data privacy, specifically for regulators. 

White started his career in insurance and became certified in multiple jurisdictions under the International Association of Privacy Professionals. In 2014, he transitioned into the privacy field with his appointment as the State Deputy Chief Privacy Officer for the South Carolina Department of Administration, tasked with developing a statewide privacy program. White was appointed by former Secretary Jeh Johnson to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Data Privacy and Integrity Advisory Committee (DPIAC) for a three-year term in 2017. Three years later, the Governor of Bermuda appointed White as founding head of the country’s data protection authority as Bermuda’s first Privacy Commissioner in 2020. White also teaches a Comparative Privacy Law course at UGA Law.

UGA Law Professor Kadri presents on “Cyberflashing” and other projects at gatherings in Germany

University of Georgia School of Law Professor Thomas E. Kadri presented his article “Cyberflashing,” co-authored with Harvard Law School SJD candidate Brenda Dvoskin, at a workshop hosted by Goethe University’s Center for Critical Computational Studies in Frankfurt, Germany. He also discussed several current works-in-progress during a visit to the Weizenbaum Institute for the Networked Society in Berlin, Germany. 

At these gatherings, Kadri discussed several of his current projects, including his work investigating how large technology companies have adopted particular strands of feminism to gain, exercise, and justify their power to regulate sexual speech and imagery. He also presented a related project that explores a recent legislative trend to regulate “cyberflashing,” which is the act of sending a nude image to a person without receiving prior consent. Lastly, Kadri discussed a piece proposing a regulatory response to how data brokers are enabling and exacerbating interpersonal abuse like stalking and harassment. 

The Weizenbaum Institute aims to investigate “the ethical, legal, economic and political aspects of digital change” to create an empirical basis for “responsible digitalisation.” Kadri explains how his current research fits within this framework:

“With each new innovation in the digital age, it can be tempting to assume that our capacity to use technology in a certain way means that we should use it in that way. My work, in part, seeks to resist this kind of technological determinism. Digitalization has offered huge benefits for humanity, but that doesn’t mean humanity should abdicate responsibility for judging — including through law — how we should use technology. Though it’s not for me to say, my hunch is that this kind of critical approach to technology (and law) would align with the Weizenbaum Institute’s aims to create a foundation for “responsible digitalisation.”

Kadri is an Assistant Professor of Law at UGA Law, and his research focuses on torts and criminal law, with an emphasis on how technology, law, and social norms enable and affect privacy, speech, and abuse. His scholarship appears in journals including the Harvard Law Review Forum, UCLA Law Review, Texas Law Review, Utah Law Review, Maryland Law Review, and Journal of Free Speech Law and he has published shorter pieces in The New York Times and Slate. His course offerings include Torts, Cybercrime, and Regulating Digital Abuse. 

Prior posts on Kadri’s scholarship can be found here.