whisper network: informal sharing of essential communal information, including warnings of egregious or illegal behavior (e.g., sexual harassment or assault). *** TROVELOG *** They called themselves the Glass Ceiling Club. A group of young and ambitious women in the 1990s from the investment bank Bear Stearns would gather at local restaurants every couple of months to discuss [...]
service animal: an animal trained to perform specific tasks for a disabled person; not an "emotional support animal" (ESA), which is a pet that provides comfort or emotional support to the owner and may not be trained. *** TROVELOG *** It is estimated that service dogs have existed since around 13,000 B.C., for many purposes — performing [...]
breach fatigue: the apparent lack of significant responses and countermeasures by consumers regarding safeguarding their information in the wake of well-publicized reports of huge data breaches by major companies. *** TROVELOG *** The news has been dominated lately by the failure of one company, Facebook Inc., to safeguard customer data. But Facebook isn't alone. In just the [...]
liar libel: a defamation lawsuit by a plaintiff who claims the defendant's statement that the plaintiff lied about a material matter is an assertion of fact, not opinion. *** TROVELOG *** Before the #MeToo movement, libel lawsuits from people accused of lying were in decline. Indeed, a 2016 law review article chronicled what it called “the slow, quiet and [...]
information escrow: a confidential allegation (e.g., re sexual harassment/ assault) transmitted to a secure, online site where it is time-stamped and held for possible future reporting to appropriate authorities. *** TROVELOG *** Callisto [is] an online nonprofit startup that seeks to leverage the power of tech to fight sexual harassment and assault. Using Callisto, a victim can [...]
going dark: the consequences of law enforcement’s inability to use traditional wiretaps and search warrants to access encrypted online communications in investigations of criminal and terrorism suspects. *** TROVELOG *** Federal law enforcement officials are renewing a push for a legal mandate that tech companies build tools into smartphones and other devices that would allow access to [...]
a provision in a commercial real estate loan agreement that holds individual developers personally liable for the loan if their borrower company should file for bankruptcy. The commercial real estate market is being hobbled by billions of dollars in distressed debt, and some experts are pointing to a provision in many loans — [...]
small payments that are made by a foreign company in some countries to facilitate the initiation of certain services. The new [British] law, called the Bribery Act, takes effect in April [2011]. It resembles the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act [FCPA], which bars companies that trade on U.S. exchanges from bribing foreign government officials [...]
