News | CLINIC UPDATE

BLIP Students Advocate for Innovation

The Dis/Connect chandelier creates an internet-free zone beneath it
The Dis/Connect chandelier creates an internet-free zone beneath it
PHOTO: © Eric Forman Studio
The Dis/Connect chandelier creates an internet-free zone beneath it
The Dis/Connect chandelier creates an internet-free zone beneath it
PHOTO: © Eric Forman Studio
One would be forgiven for thinking, on the basis of appearances, that Dis/Connect, the product developed by one of the Brooklyn Law Incubator and Policy (BLIP) Clinic’s latest clients, was nothing more than a chandelier. Yet the technology inside could potentially violate federal law.

Designed by New York–based artists Eric Forman and Ben Luzzatto, with engineer Dan Gross, the core of Dis/Connect is a signal jammer that creates a small cellular- and internet-free zone, allowing those beneath it to engage with one another without the distraction of incoming calls, texts, and notifications on their cell phones. While the device was designed for benign purposes, the technology behind it is outlawed by current regulations in order to protect signals sent by emergency services.

In response, BLIP Clinic students have provided legal, regulatory, and policy support for the designers. Students also prepared a draft petition for the Federal Communications Commission to allow for limited use of the technology, arguing that “mandating constant connectivity to the network is both invasive to property and individual privacy, and harmful to mental and behavioral health.”

“Times of great turmoil can also provide opportunities for great innovation,” said Professor Jonathan Askin, who directs the clinic. “Our law students have been at the forefront, providing legal support for dozens of inventors and entrepreneurs working to make the world a better—and a more equitable—place.”

In July 2021, BLIP’s Justice Lab was a key collaborator in the launch of the LIFT NY Family Law Navigator, a free web-based app that provides customized information on New York State family law to families and community members who might not be able to afford a lawyer. Designed in collaboration with Legal Information for Families Today, a Brooklyn-based legal services organization, and Neota Logic, a legal technology company, the tool uses a familiar question-and-answer interface to quickly gather information from the user anonymously and provides a report with relevant legal information tailored to the user’s situation in under five minutes.

In April 2021, BLIP students provided administrative support to a group in New York City building People’s Choice Communications, an independent, cooperatively owned internet service provider. The co-op was founded by union members participating in the longest strike in U.S. history against Spectrum, the city’s largest broadband internet provider. The light, scalable network connects homes and buildings to the internet via rooftop antennas and charges a much lower rate than comparable cable plans. Thousands of residents in the Bronx have already joined the network, and the co-op is collaborating with public schools and public housing residents to provide service to even more.

BLIP was recently praised by tech writer Cory Doctorow, who in his popular blog noted the clinic’s high level of work representing local startups in patent litigation. “[BLIP] provides an invaluable community service,” he wrote.

Disability Rights Activists Organize to ‘Persist in Crisis’ at Annual Roundtable

An audience of 117 law students, city and state officials, disability advocates and activists, and community leaders gathered earlier this year for the seventh annual Disability and Civil Rights Clinic Breakfast Roundtable. The virtual event, sponsored by the Disability and Civil Rights Clinic and the Center for Health, Science and Public Policy, gave attendees a collaborative environment in which to explore recent legal and policy developments impacting adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities while exchanging ideas, establishing new community partnerships, and deliberating on solutions for change. The theme of this year’s roundtable, “Persisting in Crisis: Civil Rights and the Disability Community,” was chosen to address all of the changes in the field caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and renewed calls for racial justice.