Ian R. Kerr

Seizing control?: The experience capture experiments of Ringley & Mann

Will the proliferation of devices that provide the continuous archival and retrieval of personal experiences (CARPE) improve control over, access to and the record of collective knowledge as Vannevar Bush once predicted with his futuristic memex? Or is it possible that their increasing ubiquity might pose fundamental risks to humanity, as Donald Norman contemplated in his investigation of an imaginary CARPE device he called the “Teddy”? Through an examination of the webcam experiment of Jenni Ringley and the EyeTap experiments of Steve Mann, this article explores some of the social implications of CARPE. The authors’ central claim is that focussing on notions of individual consent and control in assessing the privacy implications of CARPE while reflective of the individualistic conception of privacy that predominates western thinking, is nevertheless inadequate in terms of recognizing the effect of individual uptake of these kinds of technologies on the level of privacy we are all collectively entitled to expect. The authors urge that future analysis ought to take a broader approach that considers contextual factors affecting user groups and the possible limitations on our collective ability to control the social meanings associated with the subsequent distribution and use of personal images and experiences after they are captured and archived. The authors ultimately recommend an approach that takes into account the collective impact that CARPE technologies will have on privacy and identity formation and highlight aspects of that approach.

Ensuring the Success of Contract Formation in Agent-Mediated Electronic Commerce

This article examines a number of contractual issues generated by the advent of intelligent agent applications. The aim of the study is to provide legal guidelines for developers of intelligent agent software by addressing the contractual difficulties associated with automated electronic transactions. The author investigates whether the requirements for a legally enforceable contract are satisfied by agent applications that operate independent of human supervision. Given the relative novelty of the technology and the paucity of case law in the area, the authors observations and conclusions are based on an analysis of first principles in contract law. Additionally, the author provides an analysis of whether proposed and enacted electronic commerce legislation in various jurisdictions is sufficient to cure the inherent deficiencies of traditional contract doctrine. Given the trend towards automated electronic commerce, the author concludes by highlighting the legal requirements that must be met in order to ensure the success of agent technology in the formation of online contracts.

The Implications of Digital Rights Management for Privacy and Freedom of Expression

This paper aims to examine some of the broader social consequences of enabling digital rights management. The authors suggest that the current, mainstream orientation of digital rights management systems could have the effect of shifting certain public powers into the invisible hands of private control. Focusing on two central features of digital rights management ‐ their surveillance function and their ability to unbundle copyrights into discrete and custom‐made products ‐ the authors conclude that a promulgation of the current use of digital rights management has the potential to seriously undermine our fundamental public commitments to personal privacy and freedom of expression.

Policy recommendations for addressing privacy challenges associated with cell-based research and interventions

BackgroundThe increased use of human biological material for cell-based research and clinical interventions poses risks to the privacy of patients and donors, including the possibility of re-identification of individuals from anonymized cell lines and associated genetic data. These risks will increase as technologies and databases used for re-identification become affordable and more sophisticated. Policies that require ongoing linkage of cell lines to donors’ clinical information for research and regulatory purposes, and existing practices that limit research participants’ ability to control what is done with their genetic data, amplify the privacy concerns.DiscussionTo date, the privacy issues associated with cell-based research and interventions have not received much attention in the academic and policymaking contexts. This paper, arising out of a multi-disciplinary workshop, aims to rectify this by outlining the issues, proposing novel governance strategies and policy recommendations, and identifying areas where further evidence is required to make sound policy decisions. The authors of this paper take the position that existing rules and norms can be reasonably extended to address privacy risks in this context without compromising emerging developments in the research environment, and that exceptions from such rules should be justified using a case-by-case approach. In developing new policies, the broader framework of regulations governing cell-based research and related areas must be taken into account, as well as the views of impacted groups, including scientists, research participants and the general public.SummaryThis paper outlines deliberations at a policy development workshop focusing on privacy challenges associated with cell-based research and interventions. The paper provides an overview of these challenges, followed by a discussion of key themes and recommendations that emerged from discussions at the workshop. The paper concludes that privacy risks associated with cell-based research and interventions should be addressed through evidence-based policy reforms that account for both well-established legal and ethical norms and current knowledge about actual or anticipated harms. The authors also call for research studies that identify and address gaps in understanding of privacy risks.

Enhancing e-Commerce with Intelligent Agents in Collaborative e-Communities

In this paper, we present the design and implementation of and interdisciplinary research project involving an intelligent agent-based framework for collaborative e-commerce applications. A multi-agent system (MAS) architecture for large collaborative e-commerce environments is designed and developed, where a number of geographically dispersed users (customers/merchants) can participate. This architecture not only applies agent technologies in e-commerce system in novel manners, but also incorporates privacy law and legislation into its technical design, and in that respect it is different from other existing e-commerce systems

Evitable Conflicts, Inevitable Technologies? The Science and Fiction of Robotic Warfare and IHL:

This article contributes to a special symposium on science fiction and international law, examining the blurry lines between science and fiction in the policy discussions concerning the military use of lethal autonomous robots. In response to projects that attempt to build military robots that comport with international humanitarian law [IHL], we investigate whether and how the introduction of lethal autonomous robots might skew international humanitarian norms. Although IHL purports to be a technologically-neutral approach to calculating a proportionate, discriminate, and militarily necessary response, we contend that it permits a deterministic mode of thinking, expanding the scope of that which is perceived of as “necessary” once the technology is adopted. Consequently, we argue, even if lethal autonomous robots comport with IHL, they will operate as a force multiplier of military necessity, thus skewing the proportionality metric and amplifying new forms of destructive, lethal force.

Asleep at the switch? How killer robots become a force multiplier of military necessity

Given the tremendous military success of unmanned drones and other semiautonomous weapons, a number of states are investing heavily in the development of the next phase of robotic warfare. Their hope is to develop fully autonomous weapons.1 If deployed, these weapons – killer robots, as they have become known2 – would be able to select their own targets and fire on them, without human intervention. It is not difficult to see why some states are hard at work to develop killer robots while others seek to ban their use. In many ways, if they can be developed, killer robots would be better than human soldiers: “better, stronger, faster.”3 Killer robots would confer enormous military advantage to states with access to them, and a correspondingly destructive potential against the enemies of those states. For this reason, many people on either side of the argument see the development and deployment of killer robots as practically inevitable. Even those who recognize and fear the moral as well as physical dangers of killer robots feel compelled to consider their place in the next generation of battle. After all, “No nation wants to field people against faster, more accurate machines, and it is not entirely clear why they should have to.”4

Nymity, P2P & Isps

This chapter provides an exploration of the reasons why a Canadian Federal Court refused to compel five Internet service providers to disclose the identities of twenty nine ISP subscribers alleged to have been engaged in P2P file-sharing. The authors argue that there are important lessons to be learned from the decision, particularly in the area of online privacy, including the possibility that the decision may lead to powerful though unintended consequences. At the intersection of digital copyright enforcement and privacy, the Court’s decision could have the ironic effect of encouraging more powerful private-sector surveillance of our online activities, which would likely result in a technological backlash by some to ensure that Internet users have even more impenetrable anonymous places to roam. Consequently, the authors encourage the Court to further develop its analysis of how, when and why the compelled disclosure of identity by third party intermediaries should be ordered by including as an element in the analysis a broader-based public interest in privacy.