Wassom Augmented Reality Law, Privacy, and Ethics

Law, Society, and Emerging AR Technologies
1. Auflage 2015
ISBN: 978-0-12-800524-8
Verlag: William Andrew Publishing
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: 6 - ePub Watermark

E-Book, Englisch, 360 Seiten, Format (B × H): 191 mm x 235 mm

Augmented Reality (AR) is the blending of digital information in a real-world environment. A common example can be seen during any televised football game, in which information about the game is digitally overlaid on the field as the players move and position themselves. Another application is Google Glass, which enables users to see AR graphics and information about their location and surroundings on the lenses of their 'digital eyewear', changing in real-time as they move about. Augmented Reality Law, Privacy, and Ethics is the first book to examine the social, legal, and ethical issues surrounding AR technology. Digital eyewear products have very recently thrust this rapidly-expanding field into the mainstream, but the technology is so much more than those devices. Industry analysts have dubbed AR the 'eighth mass medium' of communications. Science fiction movies have shown us the promise of this technology for decades, and now our capabilities are finally catching up to that vision. Augmented Reality will influence society as fundamentally as the Internet itself has done, and such a powerful medium cannot help but radically affect the laws and norms that govern society. No author is as uniquely qualified to provide a big-picture forecast and guidebook for these developments as Brian Wassom. A practicing attorney, he has been writing on AR law since 2007 and has established himself as the world's foremost thought leader on the intersection of law, ethics, privacy, and AR. Augmented Reality professionals around the world follow his Augmented Legality© blog. This book collects and expands upon the best ideas expressed in that blog, and sets them in the context of a big-picture forecast of how AR is shaping all aspects of society. - Augmented reality thought-leader Brian Wassom provides you with insight into how AR is changing our world socially, ethically, and legally. - Includes current examples, case studies, and legal cases from the frontiers of AR technology. - Learn how AR is changing our world in the areas of civil rights, privacy, litigation, courtroom procedure, addition, pornography, criminal activity, patent, copyright, and free speech. - An invaluable reference guide to the impacts of this cutting-edge technology for anyone who is developing apps for it, using it, or affected by it in daily life.

Brian D. Wassom litigates disputes and counsels clients concerning copyright, trademark, publicity rights, and related intellectual property and advertising issues. In particular, Brian focuses his practice on social media and other emerging forms of digital communication. He has several years' experience assisting media companies in exercising their freedom of the press, obtaining access to information, and defending claims of defamation, invasion of privacy, and eavesdropping. Brian chairs his firm's Social, Mobile and Emerging Media Practice Group. He also authors a popular blog on this topic, as well as the online treatise Wassom on Social Media Law and the ebook Augmented Legality 1.0, which examines the law governing 'augmented reality technologies. He is also a highly sought-after public speaker. Brian regularly speaks to industry groups, legal education seminars, and conferences across the country on social media, augmented reality, and related topics. Brian is also the Secretary of, and legal counsel to, AugmentedReality.Org, a nonprofit trade association for the AR industry and organizer of Augmented World Expo, the largest annual gathering of AR professionals."

Autoren/Hrsg.

Wassom, Brian

Fachgebiete

• Rechtswissenschaften Wirtschaftsrecht Medienrecht Telekommunikationsrecht, IT-Recht, Internetrecht
• Mathematik | Informatik EDV | Informatik Informatik Mensch-Maschine-Interaktion Ambient Intelligence, RFID, Internet der Dinge
• Mathematik | Informatik EDV | Informatik EDV & Informatik Allgemein Rechtliche Aspekte der EDV
• Mathematik | Informatik EDV | Informatik EDV & Informatik Allgemein Soziale und ethische Aspekte der EDV
• Mathematik | Informatik EDV | Informatik Informatik Virtuelle Realität, Erweiterte Realität

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Part A - Understanding the Landscape

1. What is "AR Law," and Why Should I Care

2. A Summary of AR Technology.

 Part B - AR & the Law

3. Privacy. 

4. Advertising, Marketing & eCommerce.

5. Intellectual Property.

6. Real Property Rights. 

7. Torts and Personal Injury.

8. Criminal Law.

9. Civil Rights. 

10. Litigation Procedure.

Part C - AR & Society

11. Politics & Civil Society.

12. Personal Ethics.

13. Addiction & Pornography.

Leseproben

Chapter 1

What is “Augmented Reality Law,” and Why Should I Care?

Abstract

This chapter explains that the book is a “horizontal” survey of a number of different areas of law that are likely to be significant to people developing and using augmented reality (AR) technology, rather than a deep dive into any one particular legal doctrine. It also seeks to persuade the reader that AR law is an important subject to study because AR technology is poised to be an important aspect of the economy in the near future. Mass adoption of AR technology is inevitable for three primary reasons: convenience (meaning the unique way in which AR allows people to interact with digital data in the same way they would intuitively react to physical objects), creativity (meaning the unique space for creative expression that AR provides), and capability (meaning that digital and mobile technologies have reached sufficient critical mass to allow for the mass adoption of AR). Additional evidence of AR’s inevitability is found in the amount of money that investors have already put into the industry, and the amount of revenue it is projected to generate.

Keywords

Horizontal analysis

law of the horse

inevitable

Iron Man

billion-dollar industry

convenience

creativity

capability

Information in this chapter

• The “horizontal” nature of studying augmented reality law

• The inevitability of augmented reality technology

• The economic significance of augmented reality technology

What is “augmented reality law”?

One of the joys of writing the first book on a topic is having the freedom to frame the discussion however seems best to me. The topics of discussion in the following chapters are the ones that I find the most important to explore based on my own experience practicing law and spending time with members of the augmented reality (or “AR”) industry.

But there are also downsides to a project like this. Among those is the need to justify the book’s existence before convincing anyone to read it. In the case of AR law, I am often required to explain to listeners what “AR” even is before I can broach the subject of why the law governing it is distinct and significant enough to require its own book.

That is the function of this chapter and the next. Here, I will attempt to persuade you that the AR industry is one to take seriously, and that it will be important to understand (and to help shape) the law governing the use of AR technology. Assuming that you remain sufficiently open to these conclusions to follow me to Chapter 2, I will explain in greater detail the nature of AR and its related technologies. From that foundation, the rest of the book will survey a number of different legal and ethical topics that are likely to be, or are already being, implicated by AR.

I hope you will stick with me to the end, and agree that it was worth the ride.

A horizontal study

If you are a student, then you are likely accustomed to studying one concept – such as contract law, chemistry, or grammar – at a time. Even in professional settings, individuals and entire companies often find themselves, consciously or unconsciously, thinking and operating within defined tasks, categories, or industrial segments, to the exclusion of all other subjects. We frequently refer to these areas of concentration as “silos” or “verticals,” implying that the people inside them may build up quite a bit of knowledge of, or experience in, the given topic, but have relatively little idea how that topic relates to anything else. For example, an automotive engineer may spend years, even an entire career, immersed in the inner workings of a particular subsystem of a car, with no understanding or concern as to how that subsystem relates to or affects the rest of the vehicle. Similarly, many legal and medical professionals develop highly specialized (and expensive) skills in a niche practice area, but would not have the first clue how to help a random client who walks in off the street with a basic, everyday problem.

This is not such a study. “Instead of a deep ‘vertical’ look at one legal doctrine, this [book] will survey several disparate topics ‘horizontally.’1 In the current professional vernacular, it cuts across several verticals. Put another way, this book takes as its starting point one particular industry – the companies and innovators developing AR and related technologies – and surveys the various legal issues that members of that industry are likely to encounter. This approach has the advantage of being enormously more useful for the members of that industry and the professionals (like me) who would serve them, but it can be a bit disorienting (at least at first) for students accustomed to more abstract analysis.

That is not to say, by any means, that vertical studies of legal principles do not have their place in academia, or that students should avoid reading a book like this one. To the contrary, courses in basic legal doctrines provide the building blocks necessary for applying the law to complex problems. Horizontal exercises like this one can be ideal vehicles for transitioning from book learning to the ability to counsel clients in real-life situations. That is one reason why horizontal studies like this one are not uncommon during the third year of law school.

Perhaps the most direct audience for this book, however, is the growing ranks of those business people and technological dreamers who are out there, even now, literally building a new world around us all by means of what we currently call “AR” or “augmented world” technology. I have been privileged to meet and interact with scores of these innovators who are rapidly forming an industry out of concepts that were pure science fiction mere months earlier. They have the foresight to recognize just how much our world will change when we finally master the art of interweaving our digital and physical means of experiencing the world.

When I speak at AR conferences and events or counsel clients in this industry – usually after the audience has already heard from several entrepreneurs who cast grandiose visions of what can be done with the technology – I sometimes joke that it is my job as the lawyer in the group to crush their dreams and bring them back down to earth. Yet my actual intention (both there and here) is quite the opposite. These innovators’ dreams are so inspiring because they actually have a chance at being realized. But if AR entrepreneurs are going to successfully bring their visions to fruition, they need informed guidance from advisors who understand the realities and requirements of the legal and business worlds. These advisors must shepherd the innovators through the tricky landscapes and potential pitfalls of regulatory checklists, investment deals, IP protection, and all of the minutiae on which visionaries ought not spend too much of their time. I want more members of this industry to recognize their need for such guidance for the legal services industry to be better prepared to provide it.

This leads to two more currents that are important for me to mention at the outset. First, this book cannot, and does not attempt to, provide legal advice. Consult a lawyer directly before making business decisions. Second, the laws discussed herein are almost exclusively those of the United States. Although the AR community is truly worldwide and many legal and ethical principles cross national boundaries, it is the American legal system in which I practice and that forms the context for my analysis.

The law of the horse

Today, there is almost no one who could honestly be called an “AR lawyer.” This will remain true for some time, even as the industry begins to mature. One reason for this is that “AR law” is a concept much like a term I learned in my law school days: “the law of the horse.” This phrase illustrates the difference between vertical and horizontal legal studies. The idea behind it is that there is no such thing as “horse law.” Rather, if I own a horse and have a problem with the jockey, for example, I would seek counsel from an employment lawyer. If my shipment of hay doesn’t arrive, I should consult a commercial transactions attorney. And if my neighbor complains about the smell of horse ranch, I might consult an attorney experienced in nuisance law.

Each of these lawyers would be practicing some aspect of “horse law,” in some colloquial sense, but you would not call any of them a “horse lawyer,” because lawyers do not usually hold themselves out in that manner. Lawyers typically market their services according to particular categories of legal doctrine or practice. Historically, relatively few lawyers have packaged their services according to the needs of a particular industry, even though it might be more efficient for our hypothetical horse owner to find a lawyer or law firm specializing in “horse law” than to seek counsel from different specialists on each issue.

I first heard this “law of the horse” analogy applied to “Internet law,” to make the point...