Legal Developments in Hardware Hacking

Architecture and Background

Jennifer Granick & Matt Zimmerman - Legal Developments in Hardware Hacking Hardware hacking raises some novel legal issues This presentation will discuss recent updates in the law that hardware hackers need to know. Topics will include updates on phone unlocking and jailbreaking following the Digital Millennium Copyright Act rulemaking and reverse engineering law. We will also discuss a case in California that will decide whether it's legal for a company to automate user access to her Facebook's data without using the company's APIs. Jennifer Granick is the Civil Liberties Director at the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

Vulnerability Analysis

Before EFF, Granick was a Lecturer in Law and Executive Director of the Center for Internet and Society at Stanford Law School where she taught Cyberlaw and Computer Crime Law. She practices in the full spectrum of Internet law issues including computer crime and security, national security, constitutional rights, and electronic surveillance, areas in which her expertise is recognized nationally. Before teaching at Stanford, Jennifer spent almost a decade practicing criminal defense law in California. She was selected by Information Security magazine in 2003 as one of 20 "Women of Vision" in the computer security field.

Exploitation and Demonstrations

She earned her law degree from University of California, Hastings College of the Law and her undergraduate degree from the New College of the University of South Florida. Matt Zimmerman is a Senior Staff Attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, focusing on civil liberties, free speech, and privacy law. His practice further includes ongoing work in intellectual property law as well as government transparency issues. For the 2004 and 2006 elections, he coordinated a team of nationwide legal volunteers who responded to election-day problems with e-voting technology for the non-partisan Election Protection Coalition.

Remediation and Defensive Strategies

He currently heads EFF's efforts to coordinate nationwide e-voting litigation and amicus support and evaluate emerging voting technology. Prior to joining EFF, Matt was a Privacy Fellow at the public interest law firm The First Amendment Project where he specialized in privacy and open government issues. Previously, Matt worked at the international law firm Morrison & Foerster LLP, where he focused on technology and commercial litigation matters, and the nonprofit advocacy organization The First Amendment Project, where he specialized in privacy and free speech issues. He earned his law degree from Columbia University and his undergraduate degree from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. For copies of the slides and additional materials please see the DEF CON 18 Archive here: