
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.
One-Way Mirror Society
By Ryan Calo • February 10, 2010 at 11:49 am
Pam Dixon of World Privacy Forum has released an eye-opening new report (PDF) about offline consumer surveillance. Pam describes a quiet revolution in digital signage able to profile us as "users" of real space. I've written before about the danger of techniques developed on the Internet bleeding out into the real world. Well here is the proof. As Wired's Chris Anderson recently wrote in another context, "atoms are the new bits." Pam's report shows just why that matters. Read more » about One-Way Mirror Society
National Robotics Week
By Ryan Calo • February 3, 2010 at 9:46 am
I'm very happy to announce National Robotics Week, an effort by leading robotics companies, research universities, museums, and others to raise awareness of U.S. robotics. In this inaugural year, NRW will take place all over the country April 10 through 18, including three great events in the Bay Area.
The website is nationalroboticsweek.org. You can follow NRW on Twitter (#roboweek) and Facebook.
PS: The NRW logo is available under a Creative Commons license. Read more » about National Robotics Week
Audit Zittrain's "Difficult Problems In Cyberlaw"
By Ryan Calo • January 6, 2010 at 4:14 pm
Jonathan Zittrain and Elizabeth Stark invite you to follow along with "Difficult Problems in Cyberlaw," an innovative course at Stanford involving students from three leading schools. Details for the course---including a wiki and Twitter---below. I'm appearing as a guest on January 12.
"In the coming three weeks, students from Harvard, MIT, and Stanford will be tackling real-life problems of Internet commerce, governance, security, and information dissemination at Stanford Law School. This course, Difficult Problems in Cyberlaw, covers the Global Network Initiative, ubiquitous human computing, the future of Wikipedia, and cybersecurity, and is co-taught by Jonathan Zittrain and Elizabeth Stark." Read more » about Audit Zittrain's "Difficult Problems In Cyberlaw"
Audio/Video Of Robotics And The Law Panel
By Ryan Calo • December 5, 2009 at 11:02 am
You can now find both the audio and the video of our panel on robotics and the law on the Stanford Law School website. See also my recent blog post.
Here are some links to just a few of the people thinking about robotics and either law or ethics: Read more » about Audio/Video Of Robotics And The Law Panel
Robotics & The Law: Liability For Personal Robots
By Ryan Calo • November 25, 2009 at 3:41 pm
I’m in the middle of writing a paper on liability for harm caused by (or with) personal robots. The paper grows out of a panel that Dan Siciliano and I organized around the present, near future, and far future of robotics and the law. I’ve recently received some media coverage that, while welcome and accurate, presents a danger of oversimplifying my position. Specifically, a few people have understood my remarks to suggest that manufacturers should enjoy total immunity for the personal robots they build and sell, merely because doing otherwise would chill innovation.
This post develops my position in a little more detail. On my view, robotics manufacturers should be immune from certain theories of civil liability—particularly those premised on the range of a robot’s functionality. I don’t believe that the law should bar accountability for roboticists in all instances. Nor am I by any means certain that my suggestion represents the exact right way to handle liability. But I am convinced that we should talk about the issue. The alternative is to risk missing out on a massive global advance in technology capable of substantially better our world. Read more » about Robotics & The Law: Liability For Personal Robots
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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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Robot car enthusiasts worry about new threat: lawyers
""Is it appropriate to have a federal legislative response to the liability question?" said Bryant Smith, a resident fellow at the Stanford Center for Internet and Society. "At this point I'm fairly agnostic."" Read more » about Robot car enthusiasts worry about new threat: lawyers
Robot Wars: With The Technology In Place, Inventors Examine Legal Hurdles
"Ryan Calo of the University of Washington law school proposes that Congress allow the kind of selective immunity seen in firearm manufacturing - an immunity that would only apply when "it is clear that the robot was under the control of the consumer, a third party software, or otherwise the result of end-user modification." Read more » about Robot Wars: With The Technology In Place, Inventors Examine Legal Hurdles
Washington House Panel Rejects Push For Passwords
"University of Washington law professor Ryan Calo, who studies emerging technologies, said companies have federal, state and common laws that protect proprietary information. After reading the amendment, Calo said language such as “work-related misconduct” was broad." Read more » about Washington House Panel Rejects Push For Passwords
Critics Question Uncle Sam's Ammo Buying Spree
""There is a subjective element of harm to being, living in a society where you feel like you're under surveillance," Ryan Calo, an assistant professor at the University of Washington School of Law, said." Read more » about Critics Question Uncle Sam's Ammo Buying Spree
Supreme Court: Cops Need A Warrant To Use Drug Dogs Outside A Home
"There are very sophisticated chemical sensors or other sorts of sensor technology that permit you to do what the dog-sniffing cases pretty much allow, which is only detect contraband." Read more » about Supreme Court: Cops Need A Warrant To Use Drug Dogs Outside A Home
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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
