Ryan Calo

Ryan Calo is an assistant professor at the University of Washington School of Law and a former research director at CIS. A nationally recognized expert in law and emerging technology, Ryan's work has appeared in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, NPR, Wired Magazine, and other news outlets. Ryan serves on several advisory committees, including the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the Electronic Privacy Information Center, and the Future of Privacy Forum. He co-chairs the American Bar Association Committee on Robotics and Artificial Intelligence and serves on the program committee of National Robotics Week.

You can read Ryan's work on SSRN and follow him on Twitter.

ACLU of Northern California Launches dotRights

By Ryan Calo • November 18, 2009 at 1:42 pm

The ACLU of Northern California has officially launched dotRights, a comprehensive set of materials and tools to learn about, and act upon, privacy and free speech on the Internet. Complete with an interactive village covering topics from cloud computing to e-book privacy, this website and campaign represent a game-changing resource for anyone (company, activist, regulator, or consumer) who cares about privacy and free speech on the Internet. Congratulations and great work!

PS: You can follow the campaign on Facebook and Twitter. Read more » about ACLU of Northern California Launches dotRights

Legal Challenges In An Age Of Robotics

By Ryan Calo • October 28, 2009 at 3:30 pm

I'm moderating an upcoming panel on law and robotics, co-sponsored by the Arthur and Toni Rembe Rock Center for Corporate Governance and the Stanford Program in Law Science and Technology's Center for Computers and Law (CodeX). Details below. Register here.

November 12, 2009 from 5:30 pm - 8:00 pm
Stanford Law School, Room 190

5:30 p.m.- 6:30 p.m. Reception
6:30 p.m. - 7:45 p.m. Panel

Once relegated to factories and fiction, robots are rapidly entering the mainstream. Advances in artificial intelligence translate into ever-broadening functionality and autonomy. Recent years have seen an explosion in the use of robotics in warfare, medicine, and exploration. Industry analysts and UN statistics predict equally significant growth in the market for personal or service robotics over the next few years. What unique legal challenges will the widespread availability of sophisticated robots pose? Three panelists with deep and varied expertise discuss the present, near future, and far future of robotics and the law. Read more » about Legal Challenges In An Age Of Robotics

Pokes, Tweets, And Legally Significant Notice

By Ryan Calo • October 12, 2009 at 3:37 pm

An Australian court rules that a mortgage company can issue notice of a lien over Facebook. A court in the UK permits an injunction to be served via Twitter. A woman is arrested in Tennessee for “poking” someone over Facebook in violation of a protective order. Meanwhile, a 1978 provision of the Bankruptcy Code still provides that notice shall “be published at least once a week for three successive weeks in at least one newspaper of general circulation.” New forms (and norms) of communication are both expanding and contracting the avenues for legally meaningful notice. Just how do we know, in this uncharted new landscape, when notice is enough? Read more » about Pokes, Tweets, And Legally Significant Notice

People Can Be So Fake

By Ryan Calo • September 3, 2009 at 4:16 pm

I've blogged before about the impact of anthropomorphic interfaces and devices. I've recently written an article on the subject. In it I point out that we're using voice-driven and other human-like interfaces more and more. They grab our attention and free up our hands for others tasks. And they can help us accept machines---such as personal or service robots---for a whole new set of tasks.

Psychologists and communications scholars will tell you, however, that our brains are hardwired to treat these "fake" people as though they were real, including with respect to the feeling of being observed and evaluated. That means that we react to such technology, behaviorally and physiologically, as though a person were really present.

This could be bad for privacy. Privacy scholars will tell you that its not good for us to always feel like we're surrounded by others. We need "moments offstage," to use Alan Westin's famous formulation. It could also be good for privacy, particularly on the Internet. Using avatars instead of privacy policies that no one reads or understands could help shore up the failing regime of online notice.

You can view the article here. As of today, it's looking for a good home. Read more » about People Can Be So Fake

Facebook Quiz About Facebook Quizzes

By Ryan Calo • August 23, 2009 at 1:30 pm

The very clever folks at the ACLU of Northern California have put out a Facebook quiz that helps users understand what quiz app developers can find out about them. Hint: it's a lot. This work builds on a June report on the same topic. Congrats! Read more » about Facebook Quiz About Facebook Quizzes

Ryan Calo

Driverless Car Summit

Vehicle Automation: TRB @ Stanford

52nd Annual Workshop on Transportation Law

Big Data and Privacy: Making Ends Meet

Ryan Calo

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