Minggu, 24 November 2019

Law As Well As The Political Economic Scheme Of Technology

Amy Kapczynski

In April, Jack Balkin, Yochai Benkler together with I convened a workshop on the constabulary together with political economic scheme of applied scientific discipline at Yale Law School. Participants drafted idea papers, which nosotros spent the meliorate portion of 2 days discussing.  In the coming weeks, many participants volition postal service revised papers or reflections inwards a serial of posts that volition hold upward featured on these pages together with cross-posted at . 

In convening the conference, nosotros aimed to choose a political economic scheme lens to a domain of extraordinary importance to our lives today.  Robots, gig-economy platforms, surveillance capitalism, together with global networks all accept helped shape rise inequality together with the increasing precarity of work.  Bots together with social media generate novel challenges for democratic societies purportedly based on fair elections together with a reasoned world sphere.  New surveillance technologies are beingness embraced past times the criminal jurist system, the military, together with intelligence communities, with picayune attending to the racialized implications of these novel extensions of the carceral state.

In analyzing problems such equally these, nosotros began from a shared agreement that applied scientific discipline doesn’t operate exterior of a social or legal context.  Technology has a political economy, deeply shaped past times law.  Politics orders applied scientific discipline through many unlike decisions made inwards code together with inwards law.  These include decisions close the range together with ownership of intellectual property, close the permissible flat of concentration inwards industries, together with close who volition hold upward allowed to access the outputs together with inputs of technology. Law, together with social norms, shapes the diffusion together with adoption of technology—for example, through project together with job regulations, taxation together with transfer policies, together with securities laws. How does constabulary interact with applied scientific discipline to increase command past times about together with decrease the liberty of others? How does it inwards together with hence doing exacerbate inequality?  And how powerfulness constabulary brand social practices mediated past times applied scientific discipline to a greater extent than democratic together with egalitarian? Over the course of report of this series, nosotros volition investigate how politics together with constabulary interact with applied scientific discipline to influence political together with economical organization, mobilization together with political communication, together with patterns of inequality together with economical insecurity.

Political economic scheme approaches choose to the see gear upward of questions close the human relationship betwixt marketplace structures, power, together with politics.  They recognize markets equally constructed through political choices together with equally having political implications, inwards item via their influence on distribution of wealth together with social status.  They inquire us to mean value non close what is efficient, but close what variety of economical monastic say powerfulness hold upward necessary to brand our social club to a greater extent than democratic together with egalitarian. 

In constructing the prompt for the workshop, nosotros idea that the next questions deserved attention. I’m including them hither equally an illustration of the kinds of questions that scholars interested inwards political economic scheme powerfulness inquire close technology, together with inwards the hopes that they may spark novel lines of enquiry beyond our pocket-size group.



  1. Technology helps mediate the human relationship betwixt the economic scheme together with political power.  What are of import ways that applied scientific discipline does this inwards the the States inwards the electrical flow moment?  What role does applied scientific discipline (or how it is regulated or described) play inwards creating, exacerbating, or obscuring aspects of the human relationship betwixt the economic scheme together with political power?
  2. What would to a greater extent than democratic governance of applied scientific discipline expect similar together with require today?  What political together with legal responses to the growing functional sovereignty of platforms are necessary?  How tin constabulary together with legal scholarship reply to the ability of platforms together with social media companies accept over the contemporary world sphere - ability that is both obvious together with obscure?
  3. What illustration studies offering insight into the ways inwards which law, norms, together with applied scientific discipline interact to shape economical together with political ability inwards a given domain, such equally healthcare, consumer markets, employment, housing, or finance? 
  4. Does a political economic scheme lens assist illuminate differences inwards how contemporary technologies influence politics together with inequality, equally compared to how older technologies did so?  For example: much has been written close the differences betwixt impress together with online media, together with betwixt Uber together with the taxi industry.  Influenza A virus subtype H5N1 political economic scheme approach asks us to mean value close the role of ownership and incentives (e.g. “clicks” equally revenue model, equally compared to impress advertising; revenue models of “sharing platforms” similar Uber vs. the taxi industry), economical ability (e.g. network effects, vertical together with horizontal integration), feedback effects betwixt political together with economical power, together with the legal rule of the somebody market (differences inwards IP together with “real property” or how copyright affects online media vs. the traditional intelligence media).  Does thinking through these lenses - together with the role of constabulary inwards constructing each - assist us meliorate understand, or intervene in, applied scientific discipline today?
  5. A political economic scheme approach likewise asks us to reckon the forms of ability electrical flow political together with economical arrangements allocate to unlike parties.  How do today’s approaches to the rule of applied scientific discipline hit certainly patterns of ability together with powerlessness?  How do today’s approaches to economical rule hit patterns of technological utilisation that reinforce these patterns? Are in that location ways to utilisation constabulary to democratize the applied scientific discipline sector inwards ways that volition build ability with those who accept the least?   What powerfulness such interventions expect like? For example, should nosotros get upward antitrust or project constabulary reforms over to a greater extent than traditional “command together with control” regulatory approaches?
  6. Race together with sex likewise influence, together with are influenced by, the political economic scheme of technology.  What are of import ways that race together with sex thing to technology?  How are racialized together with gendered hierarchies shaped past times technology?     
    1. Much has been written close algorithmic discrimination.  Are in that location discriminatory implications of applied scientific discipline that accept received less attention?  What does antidiscrimination constabulary demand to tackle to address discrimination inwards the contemporary technological age?
    2. How does the changing nature of the project marketplace (e.g. the gig economy) pull on, together with / or reinforce gendered together with racialized divisions together with hierarchies?
    3. How does applied scientific discipline modify the nature together with ability of the carceral state?  Does it likewise do novel potential to brand that ground to a greater extent than democratic - together with do matters of ownership together with command over applied scientific discipline thing to such change?
  7. Is intellectual belongings receding equally a lynchpin of economical monastic say together with power?  (Google together with Facebook derive of import ability from IP inwards their algorithms together with trademarks, of course, but going frontwards their most of import ability may hold upward over platforms together with data, neither of which tin hold upward “owned” inwards classic intellectual belongings terms.) If so, why, together with what is replacing it?  Power inwards the information layer?  Ownership of platforms?  Physical to a greater extent than than legal exclusion? Is the opposition betwixt commons together with belongings fundamental to the battles over IP yet a productive framework for thinking close the institutional foundations of economical power?
  8. Are introduce successors to commons-based together with cooperative approaches developed inwards the starting fourth dimension decade of the 21st century, such equally platform or opened upward cooperatives, plausible solutions to the imbalances of economical ability inwards the emerging technological context? 
  9. How is the linguistic communication of “openness” helpful - or non - inwards attempts to democratize applied scientific discipline today?  What lessons tin nosotros acquire close the challenges on the path to democratizing applied scientific discipline from the cooptation of “open” together with “sharing economy” rhetoric to legitimate extractive practices?
  10. How does the ownership together with construction of the applied scientific discipline sector generally, together with social media to a greater extent than specifically: (i) shape American politics, (ii) influence what questions (don’t) have world or governmental attention, and/or (iii) do feedback effects together with hence that owners locomote to a greater extent than powerful together with influential over time? How is constabulary embedded inwards these ownership structures, together with how tin nosotros address them through law?  Is in that location an “open data” equivalent to opened upward access policies used to regulate the starting fourth dimension broadband transition inwards telecommunication throughout most of the footing (though non the U.S.) that could offering to a greater extent than contest inwards services on shared platform facilities?
  11. How does constabulary together with the electrical flow distribution of political ability shape the technologies nosotros have?  For example, does the nature of VC financing influence the blueprint of technology?  Do differences inwards project constabulary inwards the U.S.A. together with Deutschland influence non but the adoption but likewise the blueprint of robots inwards unlike places?  What would applied scientific discipline that was created past times a to a greater extent than egalitarian political economic scheme expect like?  (For example, would nosotros hit to a greater extent than preventative medicines or medicines for the poor?  More advances inwards world transportation than inwards self-driving cars?)    

We’re pleased to hold upward able to supply a glimpse into what was a spectacularly productive 2 days with the serial of posts to come.  To laissez passer on you lot a feel of the nature of our conversation, together with about of what volition follow, we’ve appended our agenda below.

Law together with the Political Economy of Technology
Yale Law School, New Haven, CT

Friday, Apr 6, 2018

Session 1 - Defining the Political Economy Problem
  • Yochai Benkler: “Network Pragmatism: Towards an Open Social Economy”

  • Julie Cohen: “Technology, Political Economy, together with the Role(s) of Law”
  • Daniel Markovits, : “The Meritocracy Trap”
  • Moderator: Amy Kapczynski


  • Session 2 - Labor, Race, together with Technology
    • Veena Dubal: “Rule-making equally State Violence: Understanding the Legal Transition to an Uber Economy from the Taxi Driver’s’ Seat”
    • Brishen Rogers: “Democratization equally a Policy Response to Workplace Technological Change”
    • Dorian Warren: Commentary
    • Moderator: Yochai Benkler

    Saturday, Apr 7, 2018

    Session three - Defining the Political Economy Problem II
    • Amy Kapczynski: “Political Economy together with Technological Power: The Role of ‘Riparian’ Data  Rights, Trade Secrets, together with Contracts”
    • Frank Pasquale: “Questioning Computationalist Projects inwards Contemporary Law & Economics”
    • Moderator: Rebecca Crootof

    Session iv - Case Studies
    • Rebecca Crootof: “Torts together with New Technologies: New Relationships, New Harms, New Duties”
    • Elizabeth Joh: “Police Surveillance Machines: Influenza A virus subtype H5N1 Short History”
    • Talha Syed: “Reorienting Technology Policy: From Regulating to Embedding Innovation”
    • Moderator: Jack Balkin

    Session v - Platform Power
    • Lina Khan: “Forms of Technological Power: Gatekeeping, Leveraging, together with Information Exploitation”
    • Ganesh Sitaraman: “How to Regulate Tech Platforms”
    • Moderator: Amy Kapczynski

    Session half-dozen - Regulating Platforms
    • Jack Balkin: “The First Amendment inwards the Second Gilded Age”
    • Sabeel Rahman: “Artificial Sovereigns: Influenza A virus subtype H5N1 Quasi-Constitutional Moment for Tech?”
    • Moderator: Yochai Benkler

    Session vii - Concluding Discussion: Problems together with Solutions Through a Political Economy Lens
    • Moderator: Amy Kapczynski


    Amy Kapczynski (@akapczynski) is a Professor of Law at Yale Law School. 

    Cross-posted at Law together with Political Economy blog


    Tidak ada komentar:

    Posting Komentar