Category Archives: Feminism and Technology

“Nipple Rings, Respect and the Undertreatment of Women’s Pain”

Posted on March 31, 2008 by Ann Bartow

Really interesting post by this name by Jennifer Bard at the Women’s Bioethics Project blog.

Share
Posted in Feminism and Law, Feminism and Politics, Feminism and Technology, Feminist Blogs Of Interest, Women's Health | Comments Off

District Court Rules State “Right of Publicity” and “False Designation of Origin” claims are NOT barred by Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act

Posted on March 30, 2008 by Ann Bartow

This decision provides a mechanism for the victim of social networking bad actors to pursue a claim for damages against the site hosting the damaging material. A media account of the suit, captioned Jane Doe v. Friendfinder Network, Inc., explains: … Continue reading →

Share
Posted in Feminism and Law, Feminism and Technology | Comments Off

In Defense of the Social-Networking Profs

Posted on March 24, 2008 by Bridget Crawford

Professors in cyberspace are receiving some unflattering attention (blogged here), but being a prof on Facebook and other social networking sites does not automatically put one in the Faculty Who Share Too Much Information category. I find Facebook an easy … Continue reading →

Share
Posted in Feminism and Technology, Feminist Blogs Of Interest | Comments Off

Samsung applies for patent on cell phone that monitors a woman’s menstruation cycle by measuring basal body temperature (BBT).

Posted on March 17, 2008 by Ann Bartow

Patent application here. The abstract: A basal body temperature (BBT) measurement method includes: measuring each distance to at least one ear canal area by emitting a pulse to a user’s ear canal; measuring a body temperature in the at least … Continue reading →

Share
Posted in Feminism and Technology, Women's Health | Comments Off

“A man accused of using a camera to take pictures under the skirt of an unsuspecting 16-year-old girl at a Tulsa store did not commit a crime, a state appeals court has ruled.”

Posted on March 12, 2008 by Ann Bartow

That’s the first sentence of an article from Fox News (yes, I know, sorry) entitled “Court Drops Case of ‘Peeping Tom’ in Target; Says Victim Was Not in Private Place”, here’s the rest: The state Court of Criminal Appeals voted … Continue reading →

Share
Posted in Feminism and Law, Feminism and Technology | Comments Off

News in Brief–Global Surrogacy Round-up

Posted on March 10, 2008 by Julie Shapiro

Bits and pieces from around the globe. From the NYT a rather long story that is a recap/expansion of the outsourced surrogacy stories I’ve noted for last month or so. Lots of detail about how it works, who it serves … Continue reading →

Share
Posted in Feminism and Law, Feminism and Technology | Comments Off

“…public humiliation could play a role in suicide because ‘hopelessness is often a major risk factor, and if you’ve been publicly humiliated and your reputation has been tarnished forever, you could see how someone could become hopeless.’ Such situations … could contribute to feeling that life is unbearable. …”

Posted on March 3, 2008 by Ann Bartow

That’s a short excerpt from this article in the NYT entitled “After Suicide, Blog Insults Are Debated.” Below is another: … unlike some other forms of public humiliation, online insults can live in perpetuity. Whether that increases suicide risk, Mr. … Continue reading →

Share
Posted in Blog Administration, Feminism and Technology | Comments Off

Notable Internet Privacy Litigation: Curran v. Amazon.com, Inc.

Posted on March 1, 2008 by Ann Bartow

Eric Goldman writes: Erik Curran was a National Guard soldier who served in “a combat zone.” For reasons unclear from this opinion, he was photographed by an unspecified photographer, and the photo (or photos) of Curran became widely republished. Erik … Continue reading →

Share
Posted in Feminism and Law, Feminism and Technology | Comments Off

“Struggling to Squelch an Internet Rumor”

Posted on February 29, 2008 by Ann Bartow

Nasty idiots can write whatever mean, false things they want, and then get their rumors and accusations into circulation on the Internet. Here’s a NYT account of this phenom.

Share
Posted in Academia, Feminism and Technology | Comments Off

“Facebook Can Ruin Your Life…”

Posted on February 27, 2008 by Ann Bartow

From the Independent, excerpt below: … An American insurance company, in defending its refusal to pay out a claim, is seeking to call in evidence personal online postings, including the contents of any MySpace or Facebook pages the litigants may … Continue reading →

Share
Posted in Feminism and Technology | Comments Off

Could Access To Cable Television Improve The Status of Women?

Posted on February 24, 2008 by Ann Bartow

A paper entitled “The Power of TV: Cable Television and Women’s Status in India” claims so. The abstract reports: Cable and satellite television have grown rapidly throughout the developing world. The availability of cable and satellite television exposes viewers to … Continue reading →

Share
Posted in Feminism and Culture, Feminism and Technology, Sisters In Other Nations | Comments Off

News in Brief–Three Biological Parents

Posted on February 6, 2008 by Julie Shapiro

I’ve written about how to attachment to genetics as the primary basis for parenthood binds us to a view of two and only two parents. Increasing use of assisted reproductive technology is, however, spurring us to at least loosen that … Continue reading →

Share
Posted in Feminism and Law, Feminism and Technology | Comments Off

News in Brief: Same Melody, Different Words

Posted on January 24, 2008 by Julie Shapiro

This is really a variation on the theme of yesterday’s post. For some months now the House of Lords in the UK has been debating legislation that revamps British law about assisted reproductive technology (ART). (Indeed, it was in the … Continue reading →

Share
Posted in Feminism and Law, Feminism and Technology, LGBT Rights | Comments Off

A Picture of A Disgusting Photographer

Posted on January 22, 2008 by Ann Bartow

Can you spot him? Photo from a rather sexist celebrity site.  

Share
Posted in Feminism and Law, Feminism and Technology | Comments Off

Photographs and Contextual Integrity

Posted on January 20, 2008 by Ann Bartow

From the NYT: Several gay adult Web sites have posted photographs of teenage water polo players from several high schools in Southern California, a newspaper reported. Some of the pictures, of boys as young as 14, were displayed next to … Continue reading →

Share
Posted in Feminism and Culture, Feminism and Technology | Comments Off

Twins Who Marry, II

Posted on January 15, 2008 by Ann Bartow

This story has been the subject of much commentary and surely almost all is said. But this link (included in the Telegraph version of the story) reveals a different aspect of the situation, one that has a great deal to … Continue reading →

Share
Posted in Feminism and Law, Feminism and Technology | Comments Off

Embryo Adoption?

Posted on January 8, 2008 by Ann Bartow

I was at the American Association of Law Schools (AALS) conference last week and there, amid all legal publishing companies and on-line search services in the Exhibitor’s Hall, was a table for something called Embryo Connection, which works with the … Continue reading →

Share
Posted in Feminism and Law, Feminism and Technology, Reproductive Rights, Sociolinguistics | Comments Off

Photographs, the Internet and Fair Use (Not The Copyright Law Kind)

Posted on January 7, 2008 by Ann Bartow

Two provocative posts about the ethics of re-posting photographs at Bitch, Ph.D. Here: The camera captures your soul: What is this picture for? and here: Feminism 101: The internet is a jungle, but if you are a woman it’s a … Continue reading →

Share
Posted in Feminism and Technology | Comments Off

Lack of Women in Computer Science Field

Posted on January 3, 2008 by Bridget Crawford

My son is home from his first trimester at the McCormick School of Engineering at Northwestern University.   He’s in the Computer Science department and hopes to go straight for a PhD in that field.   At dinner the other … Continue reading →

Share
Posted in Academia, Feminism and Technology | Comments Off

Especially For Our Alabama Readers: A Patented Process For Turning An Electric Toothbrush Into A Vibrator

Posted on December 31, 2007 by Ann Bartow

U.S. Patent No. 7,186,226 is a patent for a method of making a”massage device”out of an electric toothbrush, and includes claims pertaining to a process for removing the bristles from the head of the brush (because, ouch). The patent states … Continue reading →

Share
Posted in Bloggenpheffer, Feminism and Technology | Comments Off

Opportunities for Legal Research: Facebook Edition

Posted on December 18, 2007 by Bridget Crawford

From the NY Times: Each day about 1,700 juniors at an East Coast college log on to Facebook.com to accumulate”friends,”compare movie preferences, share videos and exchange cybercocktails and kisses. Unwittingly, these students have become the subjects of academic research. To … Continue reading →

Share
Posted in Feminism and Culture, Feminism and Law, Feminism and Technology | Comments Off

There is a conversation about gender issues and Internet law at Concurring Opinions that might be of interest.

Posted on December 11, 2007 by Ann Bartow

It’s here. –Ann Bartow

Share
Posted in Academia, Feminism and Technology | Comments Off

“Hillary Hatred Finds Its Misogynistic Voice”

Posted on December 1, 2007 by Ann Bartow

At Newhouse News Service, Jonathan Tilove writes: In the coming months, America will decide whether to elect its first female president. And amid a techno-media landscape where the wall between private vitriol and public debate has been reduced to rubble, … Continue reading →

Share
Posted in Feminism and Politics, Feminism and Technology, Sexism in the Media | Comments Off

More About Anonymous Online Bullying

Posted on November 29, 2007 by Ann Bartow

This ABC News article provides a lot of detail about the Myspace “hoax” that contributed to the suicide of 13 year old Megan Meier. Unlike previous accounts, it names the woman who tormented Megan in the guise of a teenaged … Continue reading →

Share
Posted in Acts of Violence, Feminism and Technology | Comments Off

“The anonymity provided by new technology limits a victim from responding in a way that may ordinarily stop a peer’s aggressive behavior or influence the probability of future acts, which provides an advantage to the perpetrator…”

Posted on November 27, 2007 by Ann Bartow

Article about online bullying   of and by teenagers here.

Share
Posted in Acts of Violence, Feminism and Technology | Comments Off

Externalities Illustrated

Posted on November 20, 2007 by Ann Bartow

Today’s NYT featires an article entitled At Jets Game, a Halftime Ritual of Harassment that reports: At halftime of the Jets’ home game against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday, several hundred men lined one of Giants Stadium’s two pedestrian ramps … Continue reading →

Share
Posted in Acts of Violence, Feminism and Technology, Sociolinguistics | Comments Off

Allen on “The Case for Cyberfeminism”

Posted on November 17, 2007 by Bridget Crawford

Feminist Law Prof Anita L. Allen (Penn) has posted to SSRN her essay  ”A Dialogue Among Dolls: The Case for Cyberfeminism.”   Here is the abstract:       Four dolls, two plastic and two biological are seated around a … Continue reading →

Share
Posted in Feminism and Technology, Feminist Legal Scholarship | Comments Off

One Very Sad Story About Internet Anonymity and Mean Assholishness

Posted on November 16, 2007 by Ann Bartow

Here. A follow up article at Wired contemplates the newspaper’s decision to “protect the privacy” of the accused bad actors here.

Share
Posted in Acts of Violence, Feminism and Technology, Women's Health | Comments Off

“Federal Judge Orders Anti-Abortion Extremist to Remove Threats to Clinic Staff from Website”

Posted on November 15, 2007 by Ann Bartow

From Law.com: A federal judge ordered an anti-abortion activist to remove Web site postings that authorities said exhorted readers to kill an abortion provider by shooting her in the head. District Court Thomas Golden granted an injunction Nov. 8 seeking … Continue reading →

Share
Posted in Acts of Violence, Feminism and Law, Feminism and Technology, Women's Health | Comments Off

AutoAdmit Law Suit Updates

Posted on November 11, 2007 by Ann Bartow

1. From Brian Leiter. 2. From Salon, via Maggie Chon.

Share
Posted in Academia, Feminism and Technology | Comments Off

O Canada!

Posted on October 24, 2007 by Ann Bartow

So I’m in Canada, wearing a jacket my pocket debris suggests I haven’t warn in four years, since the last time I was here. It was 85 degrees Fahrenheit when I left South Carolina, so I packed the coat in … Continue reading →

Share
Posted in Academia, Feminism and Technology, Law Schools, Law Teaching | Comments Off

“Arse Elektronika” 2007

Posted on October 21, 2007 by Ann Bartow

Sample entrant: “Moaning Lisa” Annalee Newitz writes: Her name is Moaning Lisa, and I fondled her at Arse Elektronika, a conference in San Francisco last week devoted to pornography and technological innovation. Her creator, Matt Ganucheau, is a local artist … Continue reading →

Share
Posted in Feminism and Technology | Comments Off

Blogging as a Feminist Legal Method

Posted on October 20, 2007 by Bridget Crawford

Back in May, we blogged here about  this great post by em at hermanifesta suggesting that blogging is a new feminist legal method.   The mainstream press has noticed young women’s embrace of the internet.   The October 13, 2007 … Continue reading →

Share
Posted in Feminism and Law, Feminism and Politics, Feminism and Technology | Comments Off

Two Porn Spammers Are Going To Jail

Posted on October 18, 2007 by Ann Bartow

Via Information Week: Two men convicted of sending pornographic spam under the Can-Spam Act have been sentenced to serve more than five years in prison, the U.S. Department of Justice said Friday.Assistant Attorney General Alice S. Fisher of the criminal … Continue reading →

Share
Posted in Feminism and Law, Feminism and Technology | Comments Off

Using Facebook to Identify Attackers

Posted on October 17, 2007 by Bridget Crawford

An earlier post described how police used bragging posts on Facebook to identify suspects in the beating of an Indiana woman.   Now this from cnn.com: Using a Facebook profile, police arrested a suspect in an attack on the Georgetown … Continue reading →

Share
Posted in Acts of Violence, Feminism and Technology, LGBT Rights | Comments Off

Attackers Brag on Facebook

Posted on October 13, 2007 by Bridget Crawford

A local Indiana television station reported this story: Police said five women, four of them Ball State University students, brutally attacked another woman and then bragged on the Internet about what they had done. The attack happened in an off-campus … Continue reading →

Share
Posted in Acts of Violence, Feminism and Technology | Comments Off

“The U.S. Supreme Court declined Monday to hear a challenge to Alabama’s ban on the sale of sex toys, ending a nine-year legal battle and sending a warning to store owners to clean off their shelves.”

Posted on October 3, 2007 by Ann Bartow

Full story here. See also. Text of dumbass Eleventh Circuit opinion that will not be reviewed here. Text of completely stupid Alabama law here. Video of Molly Ivins weighing in on similarly ridiculous Texas law here. Online source of vibrating … Continue reading →

Share
Posted in Feminism and Technology | Comments Off

The Confluence of Online Dating, Copyright Law and Child Pornography

Posted on October 3, 2007 by Ann Bartow

All brought together in the RIAA’s legal campaign against unauthorized music downloading. From Wired.com: Is 30-year-old Jammie Thomas of Minnesota also a Kazaa user named Tereastarr, who allegedly downloaded and shared copyrighted music? The Recording Industry Association of America says … Continue reading →

Share
Posted in Feminism and Law, Feminism and Technology | Comments Off

Katharine Q. Seelye of the NYT Writes: “I’m writing a small column item for Monday’s Caucus blog about why more men seemed to be involved in politics online than women. I wondered if you 1) agreed with that and 2) why or why not.”

Posted on October 1, 2007 by Ann Bartow

Read the responses here. Below are a couple of excerpts: Good questions. I am a woman. Personally I post comments under fake male names to some blogs (not this one), where postings under a female name are routinely attacked in … Continue reading →

Share
Posted in Feminism and Politics, Feminism and Technology | Comments Off

Verizon and Abortion

Posted on September 27, 2007 by David S. Cohen

Looking for a reason to switch from Verizon as your cell-phone carrier? Here’s a good one: Saying it had the right to block”controversial or unsavory”text messages, Verizon Wireless has rejected a request from Naral Pro-Choice America, the abortion rights group, … Continue reading →

Share
Posted in Feminism and Technology, Reproductive Rights | Comments Off

“… The emails also revealed that MediaDefender probably was negotiating with the New York Attorney General’s office to allow them access to information about users accessing pornographic material.”

Posted on September 24, 2007 by Ann Bartow

One more example of the confluence of copyright “enforcement,” pornography, and the complete absence of privacy on the Internets explained here and here.

Share
Posted in Feminism and Technology, Sociolinguistics | Comments Off

The Internet and Your Job

Posted on September 14, 2007 by Ann Bartow

From this article in the NYT: Every summer for the last four years, e-mail security company Proofpoint has surveyed large companies about their Internet security anxieties and the measures they are taking to protect themselves. The findings, of course, are … Continue reading →

Share
Posted in Acts of Violence, Blog Administration, Feminism and Technology | Comments Off

Are You An Othered Feminist?

Posted on August 13, 2007 by Ann Bartow

Twisty deconstructs that Are You A Feminist? Quiz making the rounds in two parts: Are You A Fake Feminist?   and “My PMS Disaster Level”: High I particularly liked this excerpt from the post at the first link: … Where … Continue reading →

Share
Posted in Feminism and Technology, Feminist Blogs Of Interest, Sociolinguistics | 2 Comments

Proprietary Digital Sex

Posted on August 10, 2007 by Bridget Crawford

From the AP: Kevin Alderman…[a] 46-year-old entrepreneur recognized four years ago that people would pay to equip their online selves — which start out with the smooth anatomy of a Barbie or Ken doll — with realistic genitalia and even … Continue reading →

Share
Posted in Feminism and Technology | Comments Off

AT&T Will Censor Internet Content, So The Government Doesn’t Have To!

Posted on August 10, 2007 by Ann Bartow

The LA Times reports that AT&T censored a performance by Pearl Jam, in an article that notes: In a prominent nod to one of the festival’s lead sponsors, the logo for this year’s Lollapalooza concerts in Chicago includes the tag … Continue reading →

Share
Posted in Feminism and Law, Feminism and Technology | Comments Off

“Trembling in your schoolgirl uniform”

Posted on August 7, 2007 by Ann Bartow

Girl in the Machine has a good but depressing post about the different ways game producers treat female and male protagonists. Here are two excerpts: … A Surivival Horror game that features a female protagonist tends to be slower-paced with … Continue reading →

Share
Posted in Feminism and Technology, Sexism in the Media | Comments Off

Who’s Your Egg Donor? The British Government Wants the World to Know

Posted on August 4, 2007 by Bridget Crawford

From this article in the London Times: The birth certificates of children born from donated eggs and sperm would be marked with details of the way they were conceived, under proposals advanced yesterday [July 31, 2007]  by MPs and peers. … Continue reading →

Share
Posted in Feminism and Law, Feminism and Technology, Reproductive Rights, Women's Health | Comments Off

EPIC Privacy Videos

Posted on July 20, 2007 by Ann Bartow

Access them here; Colbert Report entry here.

Share
Posted in Feminism and Technology | Comments Off

What the Federal Bureau of Prisons Doesn’t Trust Us to Interpret

Posted on July 19, 2007 by Bridget Crawford

From the New York Times: Experts have often wondered what proportion of men who download explicit sexual images of children also molest them. A new government study of convicted Internet offenders suggests that the number may be startlingly high: 85 … Continue reading →

Share
Posted in Acts of Violence, Feminism and Law, Feminism and Technology | Comments Off

“Porn 2.0: What Happens When Free Porn Meets Social Networking”

Posted on July 11, 2007 by Ann Bartow

Via Alternet, an article about “amateur pornography” that discusses privacy concerns but not copyright issues.

Share
Posted in Feminism and Technology | Comments Off