This is the week when the movement to reform Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act got serious. The Justice Department released a substantive report suggesting multiple reforms. I was positive about many of them (my views here). Meanwhile, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) has proposed a somewhat similar set of changes in his
Webinar: CCPA Enforcement Is About to Begin: Are You Ready?
On July 1, 2020, the California attorney general is expected to begin enforcing the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), California’s groundbreaking new privacy law which has been in effect since January 1, 2020. In addition, the attorney general is also finalizing regulations that interpret and build upon the CCPA. To minimize the risk of potentially
Episode 291: Ethical Algorithms with Michael Kearns and Aaron Roth
Algorithms are at the heart of the Big Data/machine learning/AI changes that are propelling computerized decision-making. In their book, The Ethical Algorithm, Michael Kearns and Aaron Roth, two Computer Science professors at Penn, flag some of the social and ethical choices these changes are forcing upon us. My interview with them touches on many of the hot-button issues surrounding algorithmic decision-making. I disclose my views early: I suspect that much of the fuss over bias in machine learning is a way of smuggling racial and gender quotas and other academic social values into the algorithmic outputs. Michael and Aaron may not agree with that formulation, but the conversation provides a framework for testing it – and leaves me more skeptical about “bias hacking” of algorithmic outputs.
Continue Reading Episode 291: Ethical Algorithms with Michael Kearns and Aaron Roth
Episode 248: Tomayto, Tomahto: Right to be Forgotten Meets Right to Die
If the surgeon about to operate on you has been disciplined for neglecting patients, wouldn’t you like to know? Well, the mandarins of the European Union privacy lobby beg to differ. Google has been told by a Dutch court not to index that story, and there seems to have been a six-month lag in disclosing even the court ruling. That’s part of this week’s News Roundup. Gus Hurwitz and I are appalled. I tout my long-standing view that in the end, privacy law just protects the privileged. Gus agrees.
The interview is with John Carlin, author of Dawn of the Code War. It’s a great inside story of how we came to indict China’s hacker-spies for attacking US companies.
Continue Reading Episode 248: Tomayto, Tomahto: Right to be Forgotten Meets Right to Die
Episode 231: Ah, September, when Europe unleashes a summer’s worth of crazy
Our interview this week is with Hon. Michael Chertoff, my former boss at Homeland Security and newly minted author of Exploding Data: Reclaiming Our Cyber Security in the Digital Age. The conversation – and the book – is wide ranging and shows how much his views on privacy, data, and government have evolved in the decade since he left government. He’s a little friendlier to European notions of data protection, a little more cautious about government authority to access data, and even a bit more open to the idea of letting the victims of cyberattacks leave their networks to find their attackers (under government supervision, that is). It’s a thoughtful, practical meditation on where the digital revolution is taking us and how we should try to steer it.
Continue Reading Episode 231: Ah, September, when Europe unleashes a summer’s worth of crazy
Episode 224 with Duncan Hollis: Do we need an international “potluck” cyber coalition?
I interview Duncan Hollis, another Steptoe alumnus patrolling the intersection of international law and cybersecurity. With Matt Waxman, Duncan has written an essay on why the US should make the Proliferation Security Initiative a model for international rulemaking for cybersecurity. Since “coalition of the willing” was already taken, we settle on “potluck policy” as shorthand for the proposal. To no one’s surprise, Duncan and I disagree about the value of international law in the field, but we agree on the value of informal, agile, and “potluck” actions on the world stage. In support, I introduce Baker’s Law of International Institutions: “The secretariat always sees the United States as its natural enemy.”
At the end, Duncan mentions in passing his work with Microsoft on international rulemaking, and I throw down on “Brad Smith’s godforsaken proposal.” Brad, if you are willing to come on the podcast to defend that proposal, I’ve promised Duncan a highly coveted Cyberlaw Podcast mug.
Belgium Publishes Draft Law Implementing GDPR
On June 12, Belgium’s Parliament published a draft law on the “protection of natural persons with regard to processing of personal data.”
The draft – comprising 280 Articles – has three objectives:
- Legislate so-called “open clauses” of the General Data Protection Regulation, i. e. those clauses in the Regulation where EU Member States are free
The Cyberlaw Podcast — News Roundup
214: Dumbest privacy issue of the decade?
This episode features a new technology-and-privacy flap. The police finally catch a sadistic serial killer, and the press can’t stop whining about DNA privacy. I argue that DNA privacy is in the running for Dumbest Privacy Issue of the Decade. Because privacy is all about making sure
The Cyberlaw Podcast – Interview with Pete Chronis
Episode 208: Washington’s one-minute hate for Silicon Valley
All of Washington is mad at Silicon Valley these days, as our news roundup reveals. Dems and the media have moved on from blaming Hillary Clinton’s loss on Vladimir Putin; now they’re blaming Facebook and Cambridge Analytica. Gus Hurwitz and I have doubts about the claims
The Cyberlaw Podcast – Interview with Glenn Gerstell
Episode 203: Interview with Glenn Gerstell
This episode consists of Jamil Jaffer and I interviewing Glenn Gerstell, the General Counsel of the National Security Agency. Glenn explains what it was like on the inside of the effort to reauthorize section 702 of FISA. Jamil and I ask him whether the FISA court has the