Technology
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The Connection Between Oil Prices, Stock Volatility, and Green Investments
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Amid increasing social attention on sustainability, green investments are drawing interest. Green investments inject money into firms producing and supporting eco-friendly goods and services. For instance, the MSCI Global Environment Index, a stock price index of firms that generate at least half of their revenues from eco-friendly products and services,…
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To Protect Privacy Rights on the Internet, Common Law Needs a Reboot
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Since 1986, the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, which prohibits unauthorized access to a computer, has been the primary legal proscription against hacking and computer fraud. However, several recent cases surrounding social media and publicly accessible information underscore new concerns around private companies and their violations of the data privacy…
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Are We Better Off with Less Social Media? Evidence Says Yes
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Whether social media is good or bad for us remains a widely contested topic. Research shows that the same social media networks that can increase voter turnout can also leave us feeling lonely and depressed. So how do we really know if social media’s benefits justify its costs? The results of…
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Breaking Facebook and Twitter’s Legal Immunity from Toxic Content
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On May 28, 2020 President Trump signed an executive order to break the immunity shield behind Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (CDA). Described as “the twenty-six words that created the internet,” Section 230 of the CDA protects social media giants such as Twitter and Facebook from liability for…
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Hate the Player and the Game? How Hate Speech Spreads in Online Gaming Communities
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Since its inception, social media has been a vital tool for democracy, serving as an indispensable platform for people to exercise their rights to speech, expression, and assembly. However, with the recent insurgence of hate crimes like the 2017 Charlottesville attack, policymakers and stakeholders seek to prevent the exploitation of…
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Re-Examining Body-Worn Cameras
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Sparked by the police killing of unarmed teenager Mike Brown, the 2014 Ferguson protests ignited a nation-wide conversation about police reform in the United States. To increase safety and accountability for officers and civilians, many lawmakers responded by requiring officers to wear body-worn cameras. A 2016 survey of police departments…
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The Privacy Concerns of Contact Tracing
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Social distancing. What about digital distancing? How private are digital handshakes? The spread of coronavirus has prompted government officials across the world to use technology to monitor infected individuals’ contacts. The result: digital contact tracing using a smartphone app. The costs: privacy, identity, and possibly more. Nations throughout the world…
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Pandemic Misinformation Spreads Fast. Can Machine Learning Help?
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As information on the COVID-19 pandemic spreads at a rate rivaling that of the virus itself, separating trustworthy information from sensational and false news is paramount. While the pandemic illuminates the dangers of misleading health stories, researchers have been investigating methods to detect misinformation long before the outbreak. They hope…
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Should a Computer Decide Your Sentence?
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Amid the election of progressive district attorneys and passage of historic sentencing reforms, many U.S. cities are making strides toward decarceration. In an effort to reduce their prison populations while addressing sentencing bias, at least 20 states employ predictive risk assessment technology during judicial decision making. Through a tailored, statistics-based…
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Digital Tutoring Could Deliver a Tailored Education for Every Child
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In India, despite primary school enrollment rates over 95 percent, over half of students in the 5th grade cannot read at a 2nd grade level. A lagging student will likely absorb little material when she is in a classroom covering material more advanced than her knowledge and skill. This problem…
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What is the Net Benefit of Net Neutrality?
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An individual with internet service can access more information than she could ever consume. “Net neutrality” seeks to maintain information access by preventing pricing schemes that discriminate based on source and content. In recent years, internet service providers (ISPs) have begun monetizing traditionally free internet services, placing the principals of…