Issues

Usable and Useful Privacy Interfaces

Designing privacy interfaces for devices, software, and websites that are easy for people to understand and control is difficult. Designers should shift focus from information to people and their privacy needs.

You Might Be a Robot

Policymakers show increasing interest in regulating robots. However, a "robot" can be hard to define. The increasing pace of innovation makes it hard to apply the plain language of laws to new cases.

Privacy’s Constitutional Moment and the Limits of Data Protection

The United States Congress must decide whether to enact a national privacy law like Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). But GDPR-style rules fail to protect against many harms of data overuse.

Algorithmic Impact Assessments under the GDPR: Producing Multi-layered Explanations

The European Union's General Data Protection Direction (GDPR) addresses concerns with automated decision-making. Impact assessments support both individual privacy rights and oversight of the entire system.

Platforms, Power and the Antitrust Challenge: A Modest Proposal to Narrow the U.S.–Europe Divide

Tech platforms like Facebook and Google dominate the new economy. European Union (EU) authorities are more aggressive than those in the United States in using competition law against tech platforms.

Restricting Speech to Protect It

Attitudes to cyber harassment have changed. Lawmakers, law enforcement officers, and the public recognize that online stalking, threats, and “revenge porn” interferes with victim’s ability to speak and engage online.

Privacy, Algorithms, and Artificial Intelligence

Many economists assume that consumers understand how their data will be used and do not consider how one consumer’s decision to share data affects others. Some artificial intelligence (AI) systems seem to have learned discriminatory behavior, and simplistic models do not address this.

Sexual Privacy

Sexual privacy is based on social norms about access to information about the human body, gender identity, sexuality, and intimacy. Criminal and tort law do not fully address violations of sexual privacy. Digital technology magnifies the harm from violations of sexual privacy.

Deep Fakes: A Looming Challenge for Privacy, Democracy, and National Security

"Deep fake" technology makes it possible to create audio and video files of real people saying and doing things they never said or did. These technologies create policy and legal problems. Possible responses include technological solutions, criminal and civil liability, and regulation.

Born in the USA: The GDPR and the Case for Transatlantic Privacy Convergence

Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) imposes privacy rules that differ significantly from privacy policies in the United States. But the GDPR often draws on US sources, revealing that Europe and the US share privacy values.