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.
In February, a South Korean woman was sleeping on the floor when her robot vacuum ate her hair, forcing her to call for emergency help. It may not be the dystopian future that Stephen Hawking warned us about – where intelligent devices “spell the end of the human race” – but it does highlight one of the unexpected dangers of inviting robots into our home. Read more about The dangers of trusting robots
Over the last few weeks, the European Union has been torn apart by bitter disagreement over a new crisis: the huge numbers of refugees and migrants who are turning up at Europe’s doorstep. Last month, nearly 50,000 refugees arrived in Greece alone. Migrants wanting to get to the United Kingdom have formed an encampment around the port town of Calais, leading to scare-mongering statements by British politicians and alarmist headlines in tabloid newspapers. Read more about Europe is being torn by an angry argument. This time, it’s not the euro’s fault.
Last week the Future of Life Institute released a letter signed by some 1,500 artificial intelligence (AI), robotics and technology researchers. Among them were celebrities of science and the technology industry—Stephen Hawking, Elon Musk and Steve Wozniak—along with public intellectuals such as Noam Chomsky and Daniel Dennett. The letter called for an international ban on offensive autonomous weapons, which could target and fire weapons without meaningful human control. Read more about Ban Killer Robots before They Become Weapons of Mass Destruction
Abstract:
Privacy law scholars tend to be skeptical of markets. Markets “unravel” privacy by penalizing consumers who prefer it, degrade privacy by treating it as just another commodity to be traded, and otherwise interfere with the values or processes that privacy exists to preserve.
VIA EMAIL TO THE SPONSORS OF THE DEFEND TRADE SECRETS ACT
An open letter to the sponsors of the revised Defend Trade Secrets Act: Read more about Open Letter to the Sponsors of the Revised Defend Trade Secrets Act
This article first appeared on The Huffington Post. Read more about 'First We Pray, Then We Organize' The Unlikely Coalition for Net Neutrality
Ezra Klein and Paul Krugman are having a friendly argument about hipster topknots and tattoos (full disclosure: I played an indirect role in the prehistory of this debate). Read more about With your tattoos and topknots, who do you think you are?
George Washington University Law School
Woodrow Hartzog Read more about Should the FTC Kill the Password? The Case for Better Authentication
This essay analyzes the ability of everyday Americans to resist and alter the conditions of government surveillance. Americans appear to have several avenues of resistance or reform. We can vote for privacy-friendly politicians, challenge surveillance in court, adopt encryption or other technology, and put market pressure on companies not to cooperate with law enforcement. Read more about Can Americans Resist Surveillance?
The government’s approach at the edge of our nation, our southern border, mirrors the way we think of the edge of our own consciousness: a dark place to hide our most absurd and troublesome secrets.
Since December 2014, the government has paid millions of dollars to a private prison corporation to operate what may be the world’s largest internment camp for asylum-seeking women and children. Nearly 2,000 mothers and their young kids, fleeing persecution and seeking protection under international law, are currently caged and abused by our government in southern Texas. Read more about A jail for babies: Absurdity and abuse at the American border
