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.
Publications
Facebook is finally learning to love privacy laws
Nine years ago, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg claimed that people do not care about privacy. Things have changed. Last week, he called for the US and other countries to adopt comprehensive privacy protection in line with the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation, shortly after he had promised to rebuild Facebook around an encrypted privacy-focused platform. Read more about Facebook is finally learning to love privacy laws
A Consumer DNA Testing Company’s Alarming New Marketing Pivot
Sometimes a marketing pivot serves a truth-telling function. Read more about A Consumer DNA Testing Company’s Alarming New Marketing Pivot
President Trump and the Myth of American AI
On February 11, 2019, the President of the United States signed an Executive Order (EO) directing the federal government to promote artificial intelligence (AI). President Trump’s EO aims to stimulate basic research in AI, reduce barriers to innovation, train AI technologists, and protect America’s advantage in AI such as it is. Read more about President Trump and the Myth of American AI
Europe just hit Google with a 10-figure fine. Again.
The European Commission has just fined Google nearly $1.7 billion for abusing its dominance of search ads to make life difficult for its competitors. This is the third massive fine in the past two years. In June 2017, the commission fined Google about $2.7 billion. Read more about Europe just hit Google with a 10-figure fine. Again.
The Christchurch shooting suspect comes from an extreme online culture
Details are still emerging about the attack in Christchurch, New Zealand, in which at least 49 people were killed at two mosques. However, it appears that one person with advance knowledge of the planned attack is an active participant in a radicalized online right-wing media culture. Before the massacre, a man posted a long manifesto, police said, which was full of inside references to online memes and ideas that are commonly circulated among the radical right. Read more about The Christchurch shooting suspect comes from an extreme online culture
‘Deepfakes’: A New Challenge for Trial Courts
The following was excerpted from an article that will appear in a future issue of NWLawyer. The author was also recently interviewed for the “What’s Next” newsletter on LAW.COM, which you can read here. Read more about ‘Deepfakes’: A New Challenge for Trial Courts
US takes tentative steps toward opening up government data
At the beginning of this year, President Trump signed into law the Open, Public, Electronic and Necessary Government Data Act, requiring that nonsensitive government data be made available in machine-readable, open formats by default. Read more about US takes tentative steps toward opening up government data
Zuckerberg’s announcement changes everything for Facebook
In a post on Facebook’s website, Mark Zuckerberg has announced profound changes to Facebook’s approach to privacy and, by implication, its business model. Facebook is going to change so that it becomes much more like WhatsApp, a Facebook-owned entity that allows people to communicate privately with one another. Read more about Zuckerberg’s announcement changes everything for Facebook
Theranos: How a broken patent system sustained its decade-long deception
When Patent Office Director Michelle Lee gave that speech, Theranos appeared to be one of the most impressive companies in Silicon Valley. But later that year, the public learned that Holmes hadn’t “proven” anything. Whistleblowers told The Wall Street Journal that Theranos wasn’t even using its own devices for most of its blood testing. Holmes had apparently spent more than a decade building a company based on unrealistic or outright false claims about its revolutionary technology. Read more about Theranos: How a broken patent system sustained its decade-long deception