Spring 2021: Law and Algorithms

This cross-cutting and interdisciplinary course investigates several aspects of algorithms and their impact on society and law. Specifically, the course connects concepts of proof, verifiability, privacy, security, trust, and randomness in computer science with legal concepts of autonomy, consent, governance, and liability, and examines interests at the evolving intersection of technology and the law.

Syllabus [link]

Readings
Class 1: Intro to Law and Algorithms (January 21)

Required

Optional

Resources

Class 2: Tensions in Approach, Tensions in Terminology (January 28)

Required

Optional

Class 3: The COMPAS Algorithm (February 4)

Required

Optional

Class 4: The Optimization Paradox (February 11)

Required

Optional

Class 5: Is There a “Right” Way to Use Algorithms in Criminal Sentencing? (February 18)

Required

Optional

Class 6: Artificial Intelligence and Anti-Discrimination Laws (February 25)

Required

Introduction to Machine Learning and Data Mining:

Algorithms and the Fair Housing Act

Optional

Introduction to ML

Other Machine Learning Readings

Fair Housing Act, Disparate Impact, and HUD:

Other legal responses:

Class 7: Using and Regulating Artificial Intelligence (March 4)

Required

Advanced techniques, advanced concerns

The limits of AI

Responses to bias concerns

Effective AI Regulation

Other

Adversarial apps

  • https://adversarial.io/
  • https://github.com/BillDietrich/fake_contacts

Other readings

Class 8: Privacy vs. Security vs. Encryption (March 18)

Required

Legal Concepts of Privacy

  • Daniel Solove, Understanding Privacy (2008) – read chapter entitled “Privacy: A Concept in Disarray”

Encryption

Limiting Encryption

Empowering Encryption

Optional

Concepts of Privacy

  • Danielle Keats Citron & Daniel Solove, Privacy Harms, B.U. L. Rev. (forthcoming 2021) 

Non-technical intro to encryption:

Technical introduction to cryptography

Encryption and surveillance:

The policy dimensions of cryptography

Class 9: Differential Privacy and the Census (March 25)

Required

Intro to Differential Privacy

  • Wood et al. “Differential Privacy: A Primer for a Non-Technical Audience.” Read Executive Summary and Section II (pp 211-214, 221-225). [link]
  • Dwork and Roth, “Algorithmic Foundations of Differential Privacy.” Read Chapter 1 (pp 5-10). [link]

Intro to the Census

Differential Privacy and the Census

A Legal Challenge to Differential Privacy

  • Complaint, Alabama v. Dep’t of Commerce, No. 21-cv-211 (M.D. Ala. filed March 10, 2021) – read the following:
    • ¶¶ 1–11 (Introduction);
    • ¶¶ 50–63 (Section I(C));
    • ¶¶ 79–91 (intro to Section III);
    • ¶¶ 103–121 (Section III(B));
    • ¶¶ 122–132 (Section III(C));
    • ¶¶ 133–158 (Section IV(A))
Class 10: Conducting Analysis over Secret Data (April 1)

Required

Intro to MPC

Case Studies

“Use” vs. “Disclosure” in privacy regulation

  • Neil Richards, Reconciling Data Privacy and the First Amendment, 52 U.C.L.A. L. Rev. 1149 (2005) – read pp. 1190–97 (all of Section III(B) and the start of section III(C), stopping at “The contemporary First Amendment critique…”)

Optional

Class 11: Vote by Paper, Vote by Mail, Vote by Smartphone (April 8)

Required

The Evolution of Voter Security

Ken Thomson, Reflections on Trusting Trust — read to understand the overall ideas even if you don’t understand the code snippets

Software in elections

US Vote Foundation, The Future of Voting — Read Section 4.2

Optional

Michael A. Specter, James Koppel, Daniel Weitzner, The Ballot is Busted Before the Blockchain: A Security Analysis of Voatz, the First Internet Voting Application Used in U.S. Federal Elections, USENIX Security (2020)

Jill Lapore, Rock, Paper, Scissors, New Yorker (Oct. 6, 2008)

 

Class 12: How Do We Trust the Vote (April 15)

Required

Trusting Elections

Risk Limiting Audits

Zero-Knowledge Proofs

Optional

Trust and Media

Risk limiting audits

Legal Challenges to Elections

Class 13: Law and Algorithms (April 22)

Required

Actors, Actions, and Understanding Behavior:

  • Maranke Wieringa, What to Account for When Accounting for Algorithms, FAT* (2020) – read Section 2 and Subsections 3.2 and 3.4
  • Margaret Mitchell, Simone Wu, Andrew Saldivar, Parker Barnes, Lucy Vasserman, Ben Hutchinson, Elena Spitzer, Inioluwa Deborah Raji, & Timnit Gebru, Model Cards for Model Reporting, FAT* (2019) – read Section 2, Section 3, and the introduction to Section 4 through the end of Section 4.2, as well as the example model cards

Impact Assessment Frameworks:

Changes in Governance:

Changes in Design:

Optional