Steptoe Cyberlaw Podcast, Episode #79: An Interview with Peter Singer

The cyberlaw podcast is back from hiatus with a bang. Our guest is Peter Singer, author of Ghost Fleet, a Tom Clancy-esque thriller designed to illustrate the author’s policy and military chops. The book features a military conflict with China that uses all the weapons the United States and China are likely to deploy in the next decade. These include China’s devilishly effective sabotage of the US defense supply chain, Silicon Valley’s deployment of a letter of marque, and some spot-on predictions of the likely response of our sometime allies.

Episode 79 also recaps some of the most significant cyberlaw developments of the past month.

First, to no one’s surprise, the cybersecurity disaster just keeps getting worse, and the climate for victims does too: breach losses are being measured in the tens or even hundreds of millions of dollars, with a networking company losing $30 million and unlawful insider trading profits reaching $100 million.

Meanwhile, the courts are less than sympathetic. The Seventh Circuit cleared the way for a breach suit against Neiman Marcus, while the FTC and the Third Circuit were kicking Wyndham around the courtroom and down the courthouse steps. We wonder what exactly Wyndham did to earn the court’s ire.

Next, we savor the “long, withdrawing, roar” of 215 metadata litigation, as privacy groups try with ever more desperation to pile a judicial ruling on top of their Congressional win. We ask what the hell the DC circuit’s splintered ruling means, and whether Judge Leon is really determined to jam still more exclamation points into the case despite its imminent mootness. (Answer from Judge Leon: Hell, yes!!!). Privacy groups are agitating for the Second Circuit to issue an injunction against the program. We ask: is that as dumb and violative of ordinary judicial procedures as it sounds? Stay tuned.

Finally, the messy fight over location data and the warrant requirement just won’t die, and may be metastasizing. Judge Koh and the Fourth Circuit say a warrant is needed for location data, revitalizing a circuit conflict that looked as though it was curing itself. Meanwhile, DOJ gets in the act, declaring as a matter of policy that federal use of stingrays needs a warrant. The result is that thousands of Baltimore cases could be at risk as a result? Luckily, Jason Weinstein hints, most of those cases wouldn’t have yielded a conviction.

The Cyberlaw Podcast is now open to feedback. Send your questions, suggestions for interview candidates, or topics to CyberlawPodcast@steptoe.com. If you’d like to leave a message by phone, contact us at +1 202 862 5785.

Download the seventy-ninth episode (mp3).

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The views expressed in this podcast are those of the speakers and do not reflect the opinions of the firm.