
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.
Robot Film Festival July 16-17, NYC
By Ryan Calo • May 21, 2011 at 5:09 pm
If you're in New York City this summer, you might want to check out the inaugural Robot Film Festival. The festival runs July 16 and 17. Entries welcome until June 5. I understand there will even be a red carpet.
Via Automaton. Read more » about Robot Film Festival July 16-17, NYC
Privacy's Broken Windows
By Ryan Calo • May 14, 2011 at 5:54 pm
Wake Forest Law Review asked me to respond to an interesting privacy article by Patricia Sánchez Abril for their new online supplement, The Forum. I was happy to do it. You can find my response Read more » about Privacy's Broken Windows
Nevada Bill Would Pave The Road To Autonomous Cars
By Ryan Calo • April 27, 2011 at 2:52 pm
Is it lawful for a car to drive itself? In the absence of any law to the contrary, it should well be. A new bill is working its way through the Nevada state legislature that would remove any doubt in that state. A.B. 511 directs the Nevada Department of Transportation to authorize autonomous vehicle testing in certain geographic areas of Nevada. Should vehicles meet Nevada DOT standards, they would be permitted to "operate on a highway." The bill defines not only autonomous vehicle, but artificial intelligence as well. AI is "the use of computers and related equipment to enable a machine to duplicate or mimic the behavior of human beings." An autonomous vehicle uses "artificial intelligence, sensors, and [GPS] coordinates to drive itself." To be clear: autonomous vehicles are not yet the law of the land in Nevada. This bill must pass through two committees and receive a hearing before it can be voted on and become law. Some preliminary thoughts on the bill in its present form follow. Read more » about Nevada Bill Would Pave The Road To Autonomous Cars
Against Notice Skepticsm In Privacy (And Elsewhere)
By Ryan Calo • March 19, 2011 at 11:04 am
Requiring notice is an extraordinarily popular way to regulate. In online privacy, for instance, giving notice about their practices is among the only affirmative obligations websites face. The strategy is also one of the most heavily criticized. Not only does no one read privacy policies, skeptics rightly point out, but many believe that their mere existence guarantees certain base level protections that may or may not exist.
Should we give up on notice? My recent draft paper argues: maybe not. We should explore two possibilities, at any rate, before we do. The first is that regulators may sometimes select the wrong form of notice for the job. Today most website “terms” say that the company “may disclose data pursuant to lawful requests.” That does very little to further user understanding or action. But maybe it could work to: Read more » about Against Notice Skepticsm In Privacy (And Elsewhere)
Facebook's New Privacy Tools As User Notice
By Ryan Calo • February 25, 2011 at 12:06 pm
Facebook previewed a new notice strategy today. Part of the proposed change is a simpler privacy policy. Meh. I, like many, am a privacy policy skeptic. I'm skeptical of layered notice, too. I'm even skeptical of privacy policy icons, tables, and nutrition-style labels. They all run into the same problem: written text cannot simultaneously be readable and exhaustive, thorough and yet concise.
As an alternative, I argue for a concept I've been calling "visceral" privacy notice. Rather than tell people at length what your privacy practices may be, you show them what they really are. Facebook took a step in this direction today, joining Google and Yahoo! in what I hope to be an emerging best practice.
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The Future of Drones In America: Law Enforcement and Privacy Considerations
United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary
“The Future of Drones In America: Law Enforcement and Privacy Considerations”
March 20, 2013
Full PDF available on the Judiciary website.
____________
WRITTEN STATEMENT OF RYAN CALO
ASSISTANT PROFESSOR
UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON SCHOOL OF LAW Read more » about The Future of Drones In America: Law Enforcement and Privacy Considerations
The Drone as Privacy Catalyst
The Drone as Privacy Catalyst, 64 STANFORD LAW REVIEW ONLINE 29 (2011) Read more » about The Drone as Privacy Catalyst
Against Notice Skepticism in Privacy
Against Notice Skepticism, 87 NOTRE DAME LAW REVIEW (forthcoming 2012) Read more » about Against Notice Skepticism in Privacy
Privacy's Broken Windows: An Invitation to Professor Abril
Privacy’s Broken Windows: An Invitation to Professor Abril, 1 WAKE FOREST LAW REVIEW ONLINE 69 (2011) Read more » about Privacy's Broken Windows: An Invitation to Professor Abril
Open Robotics
Open Robotics, 70 MARYLAND LAW REVIEW 571 (2011) Read more » about Open Robotics
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FTC's Ohlhausen: Privacy Regs Could Harm Startups
"Privacy scholar Ryan Calo has argued that creepiness in advertising can be problematic in itself. How so? He says that making people feel “creeped out” online creates harm." Read more » about FTC's Ohlhausen: Privacy Regs Could Harm Startups
Human rights experts, activists push for ban on 'killer robots'
"M. Ryan Calo, a University of Washington law professor with expertise in robotics and data security, notes that there are upsides to robotic warfare, like the speed at which computers can make decisions and their ability to approach problem-solving in ways that are beyond humans." Read more » about Human rights experts, activists push for ban on 'killer robots'
Self-Driving Cars for Testing Are Supported by U.S.
"Even though technology companies like Google generally fear that innovation far outpaces regulation and risks being stifled by it, it has a different approach with cars than with software or cellphones because cars have been heavily regulated for decades, said Ryan Calo, a law professor at the University of Washington who co-founded the Legal Aspects of Autonomous Driving center at Stanford." Read more » about Self-Driving Cars for Testing Are Supported by U.S.
Google's wearable Glass gadget: cool or creepy?
""The face is a really intimate place and to have a piece of technology on it is unsettling," Calo said. "Much as a drone is unsettling because we have some ideas of war."" Read more » about Google's wearable Glass gadget: cool or creepy?
Why Drones Make Us Nervous
"Ryan Calo, a law professor at the University of Washington, thinks that drones will give people the jolt they need to bring our privacy laws into the 21st century." Read more » about Why Drones Make Us Nervous
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Brain-Computer Privacy: A Discussion with Ryan Calo (Past Event)
Presented by the Center for Law and the Biosciences
Brain-computer interfaces are on the rise, but they may be vulnerable to hacking that reveals users' private information. Join us as Ryan Calo discusses the privacy risks of this emerging technology.
This event is free and open to the public, and will feature lunch from Net Appetit.
Related reading: Read more » about Brain-Computer Privacy: A Discussion with Ryan Calo
Robot Block Party 2013 (Past Event)
In celebration of National Robotics Week, the Silicon Valley Robot Block Party returns to the Volkswagen Automotive Innovation Lab @ Stanford on Wednesday, April 10 2013, from 1 to 6pm. Read more » about Robot Block Party 2013
We Robot: Getting Down to Business (Past Event)
The program committee for We Robot: Getting Down To Business invites you to join us for the second annual robotics and the law conference to take place April 8 and 9 at Stanford Law School. This year’s event is focused on the immediate commercial prospects of robotics and will include panels and papers on a wide variety of topics, including: Read more » about We Robot: Getting Down to Business
Weekend in Washington - What's The Big Idea? Technology & The Future of Privacy (Past Event)
Technology Reporter Steven Henn leads a conversation on new innovations in face recognition technology and the legal & ethical challenges they raise with two leading privacy experts: University of Washington Law's Ryan Calo and Carnegie Mellon University's Alessandro Acquisti
More Info Read more » about Weekend in Washington - What's The Big Idea? Technology & The Future of Privacy
Robots, Privacy & Society (Past Event)
It is not hard to imagine why robots raise privacy concerns. Practically by definition, robots are equipped with the ability to sense, process, and record the world around them. Robots can go places humans cannot go, see things humans cannot see. Robots are, first and foremost, a human instrument. And after industrial manufacturing, the principal use to which we’ve put that instrument has been surveillance. Read more » about Robots, Privacy & Society
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Artificial Intelligence - A Legal Perspective - Video
November 1, 2011
October 27, 2011
Stanford Center for Internet and Society
Speakers:
Ian Kerr
John O. McGinnis
Lawrence B. Solum
Mary-Anne Williams
Moderator:
Ryan Calo Read more » about Artificial Intelligence - A Legal Perspective - Video
Artificial Intelligence - A Legal Perspective - Audio
October 26, 2011
In the summer of 1956, several key figures in what would become known as the field of "artificial intelligence" met at Dartmouth College to brainstorm about the future of the synthetic mind. Artificial intelligence, broadly defined, has since become a part of everyday life. Although we are still waiting on promises of "strong AI" capable of approximating human thought, the widespread use of artificial intelligence has the potential to reshape medicine, finance, war, and other important aspects of society. Read more » about Artificial Intelligence - A Legal Perspective - Audio
Privacy and Robots
March 9, 2011
Ethics@Noon: M. Ryan Calo
Hosted by Bown H. McCoy Family Center for Ethics in Society
January 21, 2011 Read more » about Privacy and Robots
Stanford Throws a Robot Block Party
January 20, 2011
From robots that help perform delicate medical procedures to NASA's rovers, the latest high-tech machines were in the spotlight last week at Stanford's Robot Block Party. The event, sponsored by the Stanford Program in Law, Science, and Technology, was part of National Robotics Week. It was a "celebration of robotics" designed to get people interested in them, said Ryan Calo, a residential fellow at the Law School who helped organize the event. Read more » about Stanford Throws a Robot Block Party
Stanford Expert Considers Robots and the Law
January 20, 2011
M. Ryan Calo, a residential fellow at the Stanford Law School's Center for Internet and Society, is looking at the possible legal ramifications robots and robotics manufacturers might face.
Read more » about Stanford Expert Considers Robots and the Law
