Enhancing Cybersecurity in the Private Sector by Means of Civil Liability Lawsuits— The Connie Francis Effect
Jeffrey F. Addicott *
Change is an inevitable component of the human experience, both for individuals and the businesses that they operate within society. Sometimes changes in business standards and practices are brought about simply through the normal course of technical “evolution,” but in other cases changes are brought about as the result of new laws. While the Constitution most certainly envisions that laws should emanate from the legislative branch of government, legal mandates rooted in the rich heritage of common law can come from the workings of the judicial branch. Indeed, in the modern world, jurisprudence has been a vital component in shaping—or attempting to shape—normative behavior within society by pronouncing new legal obligations, sometimes even in opposition to the majority will of the people.
* Professor of Law and Director of the Center for Terrorism Law, St. Mary‘s University School of Law. B.A., University of Maryland; J.D., University of Alabama School of Law; LL.M., The Judge Advocate General‘s Legal Center and School; LL.M. (1992) and S.J.D. (1994), University of Virginia School of Law. This article was prepared under the auspices of the Center for Terrorism Law located at St. Mary‘s University School of Law, San Antonio, Texas. The author wishes to acknowledge with special thanks the superb efforts of Alec T. Dudley, a second-year law student at St. Mary‘s University School of Law, who supported this article with outstanding research and editing.