The Center for Internet and Society at Stanford Law School is a leader in the study of the law and policy around the Internet and other emerging technologies.
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"But not everyone believes gender bias should be eliminated from the data sets. Arvind Narayanan, an assistant professor of computer science at Princeton, has also analyzed word embedding and found gender, racial, and other prejudices. But Narayanan cautions against removing bias automatically, arguing that it could skew a computer’s representation of the real world and make it less adept at making predictions or analyzing data.
"There are still no official plans for the public to test nuTonomy's vehicles in Boston. The cars will still be supervised by a "research driver," so they are far from "driverless," said Bryant Walker Smith, professor at the University of South Carolina, and an expert on the legal aspects of self-driving vehicles. And testing on public roads has been happening for years—Google has been doing it since 2009.
"Underpinning the moves by the social media companies is a law (section 230 of the Communications Decency Act) that that gives them “a modicum of legal protection for the content that exists on their platforms, as long as they don’t veer off too much into editorial functions,” said Andrea Matwyshyn, law professor at Northeastern University and affiliate scholar at the Center for Internet and Society at Stanford Law School.
"Such is the hype. But for every tech company with its head in the clouds, there are problems to bring them back down to earth. “There are big technical challenges,” says Ryan Calo, a law professor at the University of Washington. “There’s a bunch of PhD theses that need to be completed before you can build a drone to autonomously police an area, find intruders, and use facial recognition to know who is meant to be there. Plus, having these things stay aloft beyond a few minutes is non-trivial.”"
"Bryant Walker Smith, assistant professor at the University of South Carolina School of Law and (by courtesy) the School of Engineering, and Affiliate Scholar, Center of Internet and Society at Stanford Law School, argues that AVs and many other products are now connected to their manufacturers in ways that permit the manufacturers to maintain "information, access and control over the products, product users and product uses" in ways that can "expand the legal obligations and liabilities of automotive companies toward people harmed by their products."
"Facebook's highly personalized algorithmic curation of its users' newsfeeds falls in a legal gray area with respect to CDA 230. As you know, CDA 230 provides immunity for "interactive computer services," drawing a line between that category and "information content providers." But it's not entirely clear when the former becomes the latter; in other words, it's not clear when an intermediary engages in enough editing of third-party content that it becomes an "information content provider" and loses CDA 230 immunity.
"Daphne Keller at the Stanford Center for Internet and Society said internet companies doing business in countries with laws restricting speech know they will be expected to comply with the rules. One common means of doing so without deleting lawful speech elsewhere is to offer country-specific versions of services, like YouTube Thailand, said Keller.
"The company can then honor national law on the version of the service that is targeted to, and primarily used in, that country," she said."
"Danielle Citron, Professor of Law at the University of Maryland and member of the Task Force added, “The ADL Task Force lays out important suggestions for platforms that harmonize with their commitment to free expression. It wisely offers strategies for enhancing the transparency and fairness of the reporting process, expanding opportunities for bystanders to assist victims, and building anti-harassment tools into platforms.”"
"“These are decisions that need to be thought about or programmed in advance,” said Patrick Lin, director of the Ethics and Emerging Sciences Group at California Polytechnic State University. “Either way leads to problems.” In either case, you’re targeting a vehicle class through no fault of its own."
"“You could see Google as an operator of these networks, either directly owning and operating the vehicles, or closely partnered with another entity or entities that does,” said Stanford School of Law professor and autonomous-vehicle expert Bryant Walker Smith. For production of self-driving cars, Google would probably work with a carmaker, Smith said.
"Google Law Enforcement and Information Security Director Richard Salgado said the Department of Justice has made assurances about what it would do concerning the amended Rule 41 “and those are taken as sincere representations.”
"Secrecy is crucial because it enables more invasive and disruptive forms of surveillance, according to University of Washington Professor Ryan Calo, who has written extensively on the topic. As long as surveillance programs are secret, it’s nearly impossible to hold them in check — and without a steady stream of whistleblowers, any new programs are likely to stay secret. As Calo told The Verge, “It’s very difficult for the public to resist surveillance that they don’t know about.”"
"Stanford law professor Barbara van Schewick told CRTC commissioners they could “absolutely” set a precedent in other jurisdictions.
The CRTC must choose whether to deal with zero-rating complaints as it stands now on a case-by-case basis, ban it altogether or develop a set of guidelines on when it is acceptable.
“I do believe there is precedential value,” said van Schewick, whose warmly received presentation argued against zero-rating especially when service providers own the content, stating it could harm innovation and competition.
"“Everything we’ve accomplished over the last ten years is now in jeopardy,” said Malkia Cyril, co-founder and executive director of the Center for Media Justice, a nonprofit group that advocates for digital freedom and inclusion. “From net neutrality to broadband privacy to prison phone reform and the Lifeline expansion, that’s all at risk now.”"
"Appointing a data protection officer is just the beginning, said Omer Tene, vice-president of research and education at the IAPP. “Organisations will need to ensure DPOs are well qualified and trained in the growing body of knowledge of the privacy profession, including law, technology and data management best practices,” he said."
""Appointing a data protection officer is just the beginning," said IAPP VP of research and education Omer Tene, in a statement. "Organizations will need to ensure DPOs are well qualified and trained in the growing body of knowledge of the privacy profession, including law, technology and data management best practices.”"
"Ryan Calo, a technology law professor at the University of Washington who edited the new Roadmap for Robotics report, argues that the government should even consider creating a Federal Robotics Commission that could help inform policy with deep technical expertise and review computational systems to make sure they’re working within the bounds of the law.
"Similarly, Scott Shackelford, an associate professor of business law and ethics at the Indiana University Kelley School of Business and senior fellow at the IU Center for Applied Cybersecurity Research, has spent his sabbatical from IU this semester working as a cybersecurity research fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School and researching voter fraud methods in the U.S. and around the world.
Shackelford’s fellowship research has focused on five major ways to manipulate the outcome of an election electronically.
"Bryant Walker Smith, an automotive engineer and lawyer who specializes in autonomous driving, said he believes the trip is definitely possible, but that people need to understand the difference between fully autonomous driving and partial automation. In this case, partial automation means it’s not full-time self-driving, but rather a mode that can be switched on where the car can handle all the driving without the need for human input. This would classify as level 4 automation and anything under level 4 is basically advanced cruise control that can brake and steer.
""When you do hear about lawsuits with respect to photos on social media, it usually is in a civil action," Professor Jeffrey Vagle, executive director of the Center for Technology, Innovation & Competition at the University of Pennsylvania Law School, told NBC News. "This is a big deal because it is a criminal action.""