Computer Law Commons^™

Inside The Black Box Of Search Algorithms, Susan Nevelow Mart, Joe Breda, Ed Walters, Tito Sierra, Khalid Al-Kofahi

Publications

A behind-the-scenes look at the algorithms that rank results in Bloomberg Law, Fastcase, Lexis Advance, and Westlaw.

Creating A National Data Privacy Law For The United States, Shaun G. Jamison

Cybaris®

No abstract provided.

The Human Element: The Under-Theorized And Underutilized Component Vital To Fostering Blockchain Development, Joshua A.T. Fairfield

Cleveland State Law Review

Blockchain is about one-third math and two-thirds game theory. The math runs on silicon processors. The game theory runs on grey matter. Earlier in this symposium, the last panel essentially asked, "What's different about blockchain and its relationship to humans?" That will be our focus: What is the right relationship between technology and the community that builds it? And, why would we care?

Big Data And Artificial Intelligence: New Challenges For Workplace Equality, Pauline Kim

Scholarship@WashULaw

This essay contains remarks delivered in a keynote speech at the University of Louisville Brandeis School of Law’s 35th Annual Carl A. Warns and Edwin R. Render Labor and Employment Law Institute. Big data and artificial intelligence are increasingly being used by employers in their human resources processes in ways that control access to employment opportunities. This essay describes some of those developments and explains how practices like targeted online recruitment strategies and the use of hiring algorithms to screen applicants raise a significant risk of discriminating against protected groups such as women and racial minorities. It then considers some …

Facebook V. Sullivan: Public Figures And Newsworthiness In Online Speech, Thomas E. Kadri, Kate Klonick

Scholarly Works

In the United States, there are now two systems to adjudicate disputes about harmful speech. The first is older and more established: the legal system in which judges apply constitutional law to limit tort claims alleging injuries caused by speech. The second is newer and less familiar: the content-moderation system in which platforms like Facebook implement the rules that govern online speech. These platforms are not bound by the First Amendment. But, as it turns out, they rely on many of the tools used by courts to resolve tensions between regulating harmful speech and preserving free expression—particularly the entangled concepts …

The Right To Explanation, Explained, Margot E. Kaminski

Publications

Many have called for algorithmic accountability: laws governing decision-making by complex algorithms, or AI. The EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) now establishes exactly this. The recent debate over the right to explanation (a right to information about individual decisions made by algorithms) has obscured the significant algorithmic accountability regime established by the GDPR. The GDPR’s provisions on algorithmic accountability, which include a right to explanation, have the potential to be broader, stronger, and deeper than the preceding requirements of the Data Protection Directive. This Essay clarifies, largely for a U.S. audience, what the GDPR actually requires, incorporating recently released …

Artificial Intelligence And Law: An Overview, Harry Surden

Publications

Much has been written recently about artificial intelligence (AI) and law. But what is AI, and what is its relation to the practice and administration of law? This article addresses those questions by providing a high-level overview of AI and its use within law. The discussion aims to be nuanced but also understandable to those without a technical background. To that end, I first discuss AI generally. I then turn to AI and how it is being used by lawyers in the practice of law, people and companies who are governed by the law, and government officials who administer the …

Lessons From Literal Crashes For Code, Margot Kaminski

Publications

No abstract provided.

Binary Governance: Lessons From The Gdpr’S Approach To Algorithmic Accountability, Margot E. Kaminski

Publications

Algorithms are now used to make significant decisions about individuals, from credit determinations to hiring and firing. But they are largely unregulated under U.S. law. A quickly growing literature has split on how to address algorithmic decision-making, with individual rights and accountability to nonexpert stakeholders and to the public at the crux of the debate. In this Article, I make the case for why both individual rights and public- and stakeholder-facing accountability are not just goods in and of themselves but crucial components of effective governance. Only individual rights can fully address dignitary and justificatory concerns behind calls for regulating …

Neuroscience, Artificial Intelligence, And The Case Against Solitary Confinement, Francis X. Shen

Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law

Prolonged solitary confinement remains in widespread use in the United States despite many legal challenges. A difficulty when making the legal case against solitary confinement is proffering sufficiently systematic and precise evidence of the detrimental effects of the practice on inmates' mental health. Given this need for further evidence, this Article explores how neuroscience and artificial intelligence (AI) might provide new evidence of the effects of solitary confinement on the human brain.

This Article argues that both neuroscience and AI are promising in their potential ability to present courts with new types of evidence on the effects of solitary confinement …

Is It Reasonable To Block Unreasonable Advertisements? An Examination Of The Legality Of Ad-Blockers, Andrew Steele

Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Regulating Bot Speech, Madeline Lamo, Ryan Calo

Articles

We live in a world of artificial speakers with real impact. So-called “bots” foment political strife, skew online discourse, and manipulate the marketplace. Concerns over bot speech have led prominent figures in the world of technology to call for regulations in response to the unique threats bots pose. Recently, legislators have begun to heed these calls, drafting laws that would require online bots to clearly indicate that they are not human.

This work is the first to consider how efforts to regulate bots might run afoul of the First Amendment. At first blush, requiring a bot to self-disclose raises little …

A Skeptical View Of Information Fiduciaries, Lina M. Khan, David E. Pozen

Faculty Scholarship

The concept of “information fiduciaries” has surged to the forefront of debates on online-platform regulation. Developed by Professor Jack Balkin, the concept is meant to rebalance the relationship between ordinary individuals and the digital companies that accumulate, analyze, and sell their personal data for profit. Just as the law imposes special duties of care, confidentiality, and loyalty on doctors, lawyers, and accountants vis-à-vis their patients and clients, Balkin argues, so too should it impose special duties on corporations such as Facebook, Google, and Twitter vis-à-vis their end users. Over the past several years, this argument has garnered remarkably broad support …

Will Artificial Intelligence Eat The Law? The Rise Of Hybrid Social-Ordering Systems, Tim Wu

Faculty Scholarship

Software has partially or fully displaced many former human activities, such as catching speeders or flying airplanes, and proven itself able to surpass humans in certain contests, like Chess and Jeopardy. What are the prospects for the displacement of human courts as the centerpiece of legal decision-making? Based on the case study of hate speech control on major tech platforms, particularly on Twitter and Facebook, this Essay suggests displacement of human courts remains a distant prospect, but suggests that hybrid machine – human systems are the predictable future of legal adjudication, and that there lies some hope in that combination, …

Full Transparency: A Case Against The Collection Of Internet Information In Trump-Era American Immigration, Thomas P. Campbell

FIU Law Review

No abstract provided.

Internet Of Infringing Things: The Effect Of Computer Interface Copyrights On Technology Standards, Charles Duan

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

You connect to the Internet via your Wi-Fi access point. You surf the Web using a browser and send emails through your email server. You probably use some USB peripherals-say a mouse, keyboard, or printer. Maybe you even watch cable or broadcast television.

Under current case law, each of those computer systems and devices may very well be copyright-infringing contraband. This is through no fault of your own-you need not be pirating music or streaming illegal movies to infringe a copyright. The infringement simply exists, hard-wired within each of those devices and many more that you use, a result of …

Cracking The Copyright Dilemma In Software Preservation: Protecting Digital Culture Through Fair Use Consensus, Peter Jaszi, Patricia Aufderheide, Brandon Butler, Krista L. Cox

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

Copyright problems may inhibit the crucially important work of preserving legacy software. Such software is worthy of study in its own right because it is critical to accessing digital culture and expression. Preservation work is essential for communicating across boundaries of the past and present in a digital era. Software preservationists in the United States have addressed their copyright problems by developing a code of best practices in employing fair use. Their work is an example of how collective action by users of law changes the norms and beliefs about law, which can in turn change the law itself insofar …

Data Generated By New Technologies And The Law: A Guide For Massachusetts Practitioners, Andrew Sellars

Faculty Scholarship

This brief paper, created as part of a training on new technologies and evidence for MCLE New England, outlines the standards used to compel disclosure of information under the Stored Communication Act, and reviews the types of data stored on various consumer devices and their likely custodians, as well as cases and notes relevant to each devices. The paper serves as a quick introduction and checklist for those considering gathering information from these devices in the course of investigations in Massachusetts. The devices outlined include cell phones, social media platforms, secure messaging services, fitness trackers, home assistant devices (or "smart …

What The Hack?! Reexamining The Duty Of Oversight In An Age Of Data Breaches, Amanda M. Payne

Georgia Law Review

Due to the proliferation of electronic data and
advancements in technology, data breaches have become
commonplace. Data breaches are a threat to
corporations of all sizes and can have devastating
impacts. Focusing solely on Delaware law, this Note
explores how doctrines such as the business judgment
rule, exculpation provisions, and heightened pleading
standards have left shareholders with limited recourse
in holding directors liable for the catastrophic
consequences of data breaches. Recognizing that
shareholders have been unsuccessful alleging
Caremark-type claims arising out of a data breach, this
Note argues that the expansion of bad faith in Walt
Disney provides alternative ground …

Right To Privacy, A Complicated Concept To Review, Ali Alibeigi, Abu Bakar Munir, Md Ershadul Karim

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

The Concept and definition of the privacy has been changed during the time affecting by different factors. At the same time, the boundaries of privacy may differ from one place to another affecting by the culture, religion, etc. Nonetheless, there is not a unique general accepted definition for the privacy. Privacy has been considered from different disciplines like sociology, psychology, law and philosophy. It is a multidisciplinary domain, having an easy concept but difficult to define. However, by reviewing all different viewpoints, it can be concluded that privacy is an individual tendency, wish and natural need to be away from …