Category «Human Rights»

AI has social consequences, but who pays the price? Tech companies’ problem with ‘ethical debt’

As a technology ethics educator and researcher, Carey Fiesler has thought about AI systems amplifying harmful biases and stereotypes, students using AI deceptively, privacy concerns, people being fooled by misinformation, and labor exploitation. Fiesler characterizes this not at technical debt but as accruing ethical debt. Just as technical debt can result from limited testing during the development process, ethical debt results from not considering possible negative consequences or societal harms. And with ethical debt in particular, the people who incur it are rarely the people who pay for it in the end.

Subjects: AI, Cyberlaw, Education, Ethics, Human Rights, KM, Legal Ethics, Technology Trends

The Disappeared: Indigenous Peoples and the international crime of enforced disappearance

Catherine Morris and Rebekah Smith of Peacemakers Trust Canada conducted extensive research on disproportionate violence against Indigenous persons in Canada that includes uncounted disappearances of Indigenous children, women, and men. Canada’s decades of failure to prevent and halt disappearances forms part of a long litany of grave international human rights violations against Indigenous Peoples. Continued reports of officially hushed-up violence lead to increasingly clarion allegations of genocide. The authors’ work on documenting enforced disappearance, failure to investigate and prosecute crimes against indigenous people has parallel application to the habitual failure of U.S. authorities to address crimes perpetrated against Native Americans.

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Comparative/Foreign Law, Human Rights, International Legal Research, KM, Legal Research

Policing Reimagined

The thesis of Albert Chang’s paper is the metaverse presents a unique opportunity for effective police reforms. Developers, data scientists, and legal sector experts working within the metaverse may be able to implement changes more efficiently than Congress as they are not subject to constitutional constraints. Chang advocates a position that the federal government should strongly consider the adoption of immersive technology to demonstrate that a more effective method of policing is possible. This paper is especially significant in light of the fact that last week Congress passed the CHIPS and Science Act which will bolster research with $290 billion in new funding.

Subjects: Blockchain, Constitutional Law, Criminal Law, Cryptocurrencies, Education, Health, Human Rights, Legal Research, Social Media, Technology Trends, United States Law

Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues, July 9, 2022

Privacy and cybersecurity issues impact every aspect of our lives – home, work, travel, education, health and medical records – to name but a few. On a weekly basis Pete Weiss highlights articles and information that focus on the increasingly complex and wide ranging ways technology is used to compromise and diminish our privacy and online security, often without our situational awareness. Four highlights from this week: Why more regulation of connected car technology is probably just up the road; Police sweep Google searches to find suspects. The tactic is facing its first legal challenge; Attackers are using deepfakes to snag remote IT jobs; and Free smartphone stalkerware detection tool gets dedicated hub.

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Cybercrime, Cybersecurity, Gadgets/Gizmos, Health, Human Rights, Legal Research, Privacy, Search Engines, Technology Trends

Roe overturned: What you need to know about the Supreme Court abortion decision

The ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization – handed down on June 24, 2022 – has far-reaching consequences. Nicole Huberfeld and Linda C. McClain, health law and constitutional law experts at Boston University, explain what just happened, and what happens next.

Subjects: Health, Healthcare, Human Rights, Legal Research, Privacy, United States Law

13 Ways Overturning Roe v. Wade Affects You (even if you think it doesn’t)

Kathy Biehl is a lawyer licensed in two states, as well as a prolific multidisciplinary author and writer. Roe v. Wade has been settled law during her entire career. In this article Biehl succinctly and expertly identifies how the upcoming Supreme Court decision in Dobbs V. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, a draft of which was “leaked” on May 2, 2022, will impact many facets of our society as well as our democracy.

Subjects: Congress, Constitutional Law, Ethics, Health, Human Rights, Legal Profession, Legal Research, Privacy

Putin’s claim to rid Ukraine of Nazis is especially absurd given its history

Jeffrey Veidlinger, a Holocaust historian at the University of Michigan, explains why Ukrainian history needs to be understood in terms of both past violence against Jews as well as the state’s pluralistic vision.

Subjects: Education, Human Rights, Military

Putting a Spotlight on Civics Education: How Law Librarians Are Helping to Bridge the Access to Justice Gap

Diane M. Rodriguez Assistant Director of the San Francisco Law Library in California, and 2021–22 president of the American Association of Law Libraries (AALL), where one of her many goals is to advocate for access to legal information that supports access to justice. She expertly articulates the work, and the role of law librarians, that comprise this mission.

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Education, Human Rights, KM, Law Librarians, Legal Research

Pete Recommends Weekly highlights on cyber security issues, January 9, 2022

Privacy and cybersecurity issues impact every aspect of our lives – home, work, travel, education, health and medical records – to name but a few. On a weekly basis Pete Weiss highlights articles and information that focus on the increasingly complex and wide ranging ways technology is used to compromise and diminish our privacy and online security, often without our situational awareness. Four highlights from this week: The Internet is Held Together With Spit & Baling Wire; To catch an insurrectionist: Facebook and Google are helping the FBI find January 6 rioters; China harvests masses of data on Western targets, documents show; and 6 Ways to Delete Yourself From the Internet.

Subjects: Big Data, Civil Liberties, Criminal Law, Cybercrime, Cybersecurity, Data Mining, Financial System, Human Rights, Legal Research, Privacy, Social Media

How not to fall for coronavirus BS: avoid the 7 deadly sins of thought

Luke Zaphir, Researcher for the University of Queensland Critical Thinking Project, posits that amid the panicked flurry of the pandemic, employing concepts from the field of critical thinking called vice epistemology can be demonstrably useful. This theory argues our thinking habits and intellectual character traits cause poor reasoning. Zaphr targets for discussion 7 “intellectual sins” of which we should be mindful in these challenging times.

Subjects: Ethics, Health, Human Rights, KM