Law and Policy

STS.012/STS.008 Science in Action: Technologies and Controversies in Everyday Life

Author: Dwai Banerjee

Lecture Module: "Big Data and Personal Privacy"

Keywords: privacy; AI; surveillance; data ethics

Module Goals:

  • To find overlaps and differences in the experience of students learning about their right to privacy
  • To discuss whether they believe existing rights to be adequate
  • To examine whether current ethical standards (such as those instituted by the GDPR) sufficiently protect their rights (as they exist or as they believe should exist).

MIT Case Studies in Social and Ethical Responsibilities of Computing

Brief, specially commissioned and peer-reviewed cases intended to be effective for undergraduate instruction across a range of classes and fields of study.

Wrestling with Killer Robots: The Benefits and Challenges of Artificial Intelligence for National Security, by Erik Lin-Greenberg

Keywords: autonomous weapons, killer robots, military ethics, modern warfare

Public Debate on Facial Recognition Technologies in China, by Tristan G. Brown, Alexander Statman, and Celine Sui

Keywords: facial recognition, Chinese law, social media

The Case of the Nosy Neighbors, by Johanna Gunawan and Woodrow Hartzog (Northeastern University)

Keywords: user data privacy, technology in norm enforcement, facial recognition, mass surveillance, mass scraping of public data

Differential Privacy and the 2020 US Census, by Simson Garfinkel (George Washington University)

Keywords: differential privacy, disclosure avoidance, statistical disclosure limitation, US Census Bureau

Protections for Human Subjects in Research: Old Models, New Needs?, by Laura Stark (Vanderbilt University)

Keywords: human-subjects research, informed consent, institutional review boards, big data

The Puzzle of the MIssing Robots, by Suzanne Berger (MIT) and Benjamin Armstrong (MIT)

Keywords: robots, automation, manufacturing, workforce

Algorithmic Redistricting and Black Representation in US Elections, by Zachary Schutzman (MIT)

Keywords: redistricting, algorithms, race, politics, elections

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