2020–2021 Past Events
- ISP
- Events
- Past Events
- 2020–2021 Past Events
Tracking Hacking: The disturbing proliferation of commercial spyware; Ronald Deibert
12:00PM to 1:30PM
Zoom
Political struggles in and through the global Internet and related technologies are entering into a particularly dangerous phase for openness, security, and human rights. A growing number of governments and private companies have turned to "offensive" operations, with means ranging from sophisticated and expensive to home-grown and cheap. A large and largely unregulated market for commercial surveillance technology is finding willing clientele among the world's least accountable regimes.
The Output-Welfare Fallacy; John Newman
12:00PM to 1:30PM
Online
With each passing day, Silicon Valley tech giants face increasingly intense antitrust scrutiny. Private-enforcement actions have been filed, agency investigations are ongoing, and Congress has entered the fray. Looming over any attempt to enforce antitrust laws in digital markets is the Supreme Court’s recent Ohio v.
Constitution Day 2020; Jack Balkin
12:00PM to 1:30PM
Zoom
Join the Northeastern School of Law, department of Political Science, and the Yale Information Society Project on September 17th at Noon for a Constitution Day lecture by Professor Jack Balkin, Knight Professor of Constitutional Law and the First Amendment at Yale Law School. Additional remarks will be given by William Mayer, Professor of Political Science, Northeastern University; Jeremy Paul, Professor of Law, Northeastern University and Patricia Williams, University Distinguished Professor of Law and Humanities, Northeastern University.
The Role of Corporate Accountability in the Digital Age; Jessica Dheere, Ranking Digital Rights
12:00PM to 1:30PM
Online
More than half the world’s population now connects to the internet via private-sector technology platforms and telecom operators, giving these companies unprecedented power to shape how people access and participate in the digital public sphere. The power asymmetry between these companies and their users approximates that between states and their citizens, but historically has not been subject to the same degree of regulation or accountability.
Challenges of Making Unbiased Decisions in a World of Data and Algorithms; Nisheeth Vishnoi, Professor of Computer Science, Yale
12:00PM to 1:30PM
Online
A combination of biased data and decontextualized models has led to a host of “intelligent” algorithms that are capable of reflecting and exacerbating human biases. As the use of such algorithms in societal contexts proliferates, the question arises: How can we redesign them to mitigate bias?
Nisheeth Vishnoi's research spans several areas of theoretical computer science: from approximability of NP-hard problems, to combinatorial, convex and non-convex optimization, to tackling algorithmic questions involving dynamical systems, stochastic processes, and polynomials.
Big Tech & Antitrust Conference
8:30AM to 3:30PM
Zoom
This conference aims to explore the role of antitrust and competition law in shaping the future of the digital economy.
Boundless Data, Artificial Intelligence, and the Future of Deep Phenotyping in Psychiatry: Can Law and Ethics Keep Up?, Francis Shen, Visiting Professor
12:00PM to 1:30PM
Online
“The deeper you go, the more you know.” This headline captures the tantalizing promise of deep phenotyping in psychiatric research.
Competition Policy in Digital Markets Could Lean on Financial Market Regulation; Dina Srinivasan
12:00PM to 1:30PM
Zoom
Approximately 86% of online display advertising in the U.S. is bought and sold in real-time on electronic trading venues, which the industry calls "advertising exchanges." With intermediaries that route buy and sell orders, the structure of the ad market is similar to the structure of electronically traded financial markets. Alphabet (“Google”) has monopoly power in the exchange market, on the sell-side, and on the buy-side because it engages in conduct that lawmakers prohibit in financial markets.
Defending Reproductive Rights in the Trump era and the meaning of June Medical Services v. Russo (2020); Julie Rikelman
12:00PM to 1:00PM
Online
Julie Rikelman is the Senior Director of the U.S. Litigation Program at the Center for Reproductive Rights. She successfully argued June Medical Services v. Russo in the Supreme Court, the Court's most recent case concerning abortion rights. She has challenged numerous regulations on abortion providers, from unnecessary physical plant and admitting privileges requirements, invasive ultrasound laws, and restrictions on medication abortion.
AAC 2020: What the Current Moment has Taught about Transparency
8:30AM to 2:30PM
Online
Friday, October 23
8:45 Welcome by Floyd Abrams: What the Current Moment Has Taught About Transparency
9:00 FOIA Successes and Failures
How has our existing regime of FOI laws served us in the multiple current crises, what reforms are needed, and how can they be brought about?
Moderator: Charles Crain (MFIA)
Panelists: