Threats to Privacy Rights: The Chilling Effects of Online Surveillance

Lawrence G. Walters heads up the Walters Law Group, www.firstamendment.com, an ‘AV’ rated (preeminent) law firm concentrating in First Amendment, Internet, Intellectual Property and Gaming law. Mr. Walters is an accomplished civil rights advocate, a widely-published author, and a well-known public speaker. His client reviews and peer endorsements can be found here. He frequently represents the online entertainment community, as well as other more traditional industries. He has practiced law for over 27 years, and is often consulted as a national expert on legal issues pertaining to Free Speech and the Internet. He regularly contributes to television news programs on networks such as NBC, ABC, PBS, BBC, CBC, Fox News Channel, MSNBC, CNBC, and CNN. His high profile cases are often followed by the print and online media, having been covered in such publications as the Chicago Tribune, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, San Francisco Chronicle, Wired Magazine, Business 2.0, Playboy, ABA Journal, St. Petersburg Times, Orlando Sentinel, etc. Mr. Walters began practicing law in Central Florida in 1988, after graduating from Florida State University, College of Law, with Honors. While in law school, he studied English common law at St. Edmunds Hall in Oxford University, and interned with a federal judge in the Northern District of Florida. During his career, Mr. Walters has served as a Law Studies professor at the University of Central Florida, and acted as a Director for the local Bar Association and the local Chamber of Commerce. Among his many civic and community activities, he has served as Chair of the Legal Panel of the ACLU, Central Chapter, and is a founding member of the advisory panel for U.C.F. Law Studies Department, Larry also acts as General Counsel to the Woodhull Sexual Freedom Alliance, which focuses on advancing the human right to sexual expression. He has established and directed numerous non-profit associations and trade groups, including the Internet Freedom Association, the Jacksonville Property Rights Association and the Association of Coastal Property Owners. His efforts in helping fight online child exploitation earned him the Annual Service Recognition Award from the Association of Sites Advocating Child Protection, in January, 2005. Mr. Walters has been recognized as one of the Top 100 News Makers by the media industry group, Xbiz, and was included in the top 10% in the ‘Best of the Bar’ competition, through a poll conducted by the Orlando Business Journal. Mr. Walters' First Amendment law practice dates back to the late '80s when he defended numerous small video stores in Florida against a government censorship campaign. In 1997, he formed the Florida Bar's First Amendment Law Committee, which he chaired for over a decade. He represents hundreds of webmasters across the globe in connection with the regulation and protection of online content. Mr. Walters regularly deals with issues relating to online advertising, Internet gaming, free speech concerns, domain name protection, mobile applications, and other cutting edge practice areas. Walters Law Group handles cases involving constitutional and commercial issues such as civil rights litigation, licensing and zoning suits, intellectual property claims, domain name disputes, appeals and white collar criminal defense. Larry often finds himself embroiled in precedent-setting cases in the fields of online gaming, adult entertainment, social networking and advertising law. He has initiated over 100 federal law suits, and defended over 30 criminal obscenity cases during his career, many of which involved racketeering charges. The lawyers in the firm also handle transactional matters such as licensing agreements, sales contracts, online user terms, privacy policies, and acceptable use policies. In addition to practicing law, Larry has developed various software devices to assist the online entertainment community with legal compliance, including the patented BirthDateVerifier; an online age verification tool. More recently, he launched mobile applications such as Quick2257 to assist with federal records keeping requirements, and QuickDMCA, to enable online copyright enforcement. Mr. Walters is a frequent lecturer on Free Speech issues, and has presented seminars across the country on Internet law, Gaming law and the First Amendment. One of his speeches dealing with the First Amendment and Terrorism, was published in the Representative American Speeches of 2003, along with those of former President George W. Bush, Dr. Condoleezza Rice, and Sen. Hillary Clinton. He regularly publishes articles of interest to webmasters on countless websites and magazines, including legal updates directed at specific industries. His website, www.FirstAmendment.com, which has been in operation for over 15 years, and is recognized as a global resource for Internet and Constitutional law issues. The firm operates the Web Law Network, an umbrella resource site providing legal information on a variety of Internet law fields. His blog can be found at www.LawofSex.com. Over the years, Mr. Walters has published several law review articles on Free Speech issues and Gaming law, along with abook chapter on the First Amendment protections of commercial speech. In 2005, Mr. Walters was appointed to the Board of Officers of the First Amendment Lawyers Association, a prominent, nationwide group of First Amendment practitioners, where he served as the group’s National Chairman and past President. He has earned an “AV” (preeminent) rating fromlawyers.com, the recognized national rating service for lawyers, and “10.0 – Superb” by Avvo.com, the popular online attorney rating service. Mr. Walters is admitted to practice in all state and federal courts in Florida, as well as the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta, Georgia, and the U.S. Claims Court in Washington, D.C. In addition he has been admitted pro hac vice to courts across the country.

larry@firstamendment.com