Alexander Stremitzer: Catalogue data in Autumn Semester 2020

Name	Prof. Dr. Alexander Stremitzer
Field	Law, Economics und Business
Address	Professur für Recht und Ökonomie ETH Zürich, IFW E 49 Haldeneggsteig 4 8092 Zürich SWITZERLAND
Telephone	+41 44 632 40 08
E-mail	astremitzer@ethz.ch
URL	https://lawecon.ethz.ch/group/professors/stremitzer.html
Department	Humanities, Social and Political Sciences
Relationship	Full Professor

Number	Title	ECTS	Hours	Lecturers
851-0732-06L	Law & Tech Number of participants limited to 30.	3 credits	3S	A. Stremitzer, J. Merane, A. Nielsen
Abstract	This course introduces students to legal, economic, and social perspectives on the increasing economic and social importance of technology. We focus particularly on the challenges to current law posed by the increasing rate of tech innovation and adoption generally and also by case-specific features of prominent near-future technologies.
Learning objective	The course is intended for a wide range of engineering students, from machine learning to bioengineering to human computer interaction, as well as for law students interested in acquiring a better understanding of state-of-the-art technology. The course will combine both an overview of major areas of law that affect the regulation of technology and also guest lectures on the state-of-the art in a variety of important technologies, ranging from autonomous vehicles to fair artificial intelligence to consumer-facing DNA technologies. The course is open to ETH students through the Science in Perspective program of the Department of Humanities, Social and Political Sciences.
Content	The planned course outline is below 1. Overview of science, law, and technology a. Studies of law and technology b. Should science be regulated, and if so, how? c. Technology as a social problem 2. Designing technology for humans a. Attention fiduciaries and the digital environment b. Does technology weaponize known problems of bounded human rationality? c. Should technology be regulated as a psychotropic substance? An addictive substance? d. Can technology make life easier? e. Psychological effects of surveillance 3. Governing tech a. Can small governments regulate big tech? b. National and supranational legislation c. Enforcing the law with technology d. Can enforcement be baked into technology? 4. AI and fairness a. Discrimination b. Privacy c. Opacity d. AI and due process 5. Trade secret and technological litigation a. Trade secret is a long-standing tool for litigation but does it enjoy too much deference? b. Trade secrets and the rights of employes 6. Enforcement against tech a. Big tech and antitrust b. Consumer protection 7. The Digital Battlefield a. Technology for spying b. Spying on technology companies c. Race to be AI superpower d. Immigration policy 8. Contract law a. Smart contracts b. Modernizing contract law and practice c. Regulating cryptocurrencies 9. Tort law a. Applying existing tort law to new autonomous technologies b. Personhood and personal responsibility c. Victim entitlements 10. Self-driving cars and other autonomous robotics a. Legal regimes b. Diversity in morality judgements related to autonomous vehicles 11. Biometrics a. Widespread use of facial recognition b. Law enforcement c. Connecting biometrics to social data d. Solving crimes with biometrics 12. New Biology and Medicine a. Unregulated science (biohackers) b. Promising technology before it can be delivered c. Connecting medicine to social data d. Using technology to circumvent medical regulations
851-0742-00L	Contract Design Particularly suitable for students of D-ARCH, D-BAUG, D-CHAB, DMATH, D-MTEC, D-INFK, D-MAVT Number of participants limited to 30.	2 credits	2G	A. Stremitzer, N. Atkinson
Abstract	This course takes an engineering approach to contracting. It aims to bridge the gap between economic contract theory, contract law scholarship and the drafting of real world contracts. Students will apply insights from mechanism design and law to the design of incentive compatible contracts.
Learning objective	This course takes an engineering approach to contracting, bridging the gap between economic contract theory, contract law scholarship, and the drafting of real world contracts. It consists in discussing the economics underlying business transactions and applying those concepts to focused case studies. Students will apply insights from mechanism design and law to the design of incentive compatible contracts in business transactions. Transactions are agreements between two or more parties that work together to create and allocate value. They can take a range of forms that include: the sale of an asset; the formation and running of a business; initial public offerings (IPOs); debt financings; buyouts; sales out of bankruptcy; leases; construction contracts; oil & gas production contracts, movie financing deals, etc. Deals occur, and value is created, when deal professionals design structures that provide good incentives for all parties involved and constrain opportunities for future misbehavior. The class consists of three modules: Module 1: Contract Theory & Contract Design: The first part of the class consists in theoretical lectures aimed at equipping students with heuristic tools on how to write contracts. To this end, students learn about key concepts of economic and behavioral contract theory. Module 2: Drafting Contracts: The second part of the class initiates students to contract drafting, by analyzing and marking up real world contracts. Module 3: Structuring a Complex Contract for a (hypothetical) client organization: The third part of the class will subdivide the class into groups. Each group will be presented with a complex real world deal or case study. The students will then perform the following tasks: 1) Reconstruction of the economic and informational environment in which the contract was written. 2) Identification of the main economic, technical and legal challenges of the transaction. 3) Drafting of a strategic term sheet aimed at addressing those challenges. 4) Recommendations on how the actual contract can be improved.
Prerequisites / Notice	The course is open to ETH students through the Science in Perspective Program of the Department of Humanities, Social and Political Sciences. This course has technical aspects that ETH students will be prepared for. UZH students must send a CV and a short letter of motivation to ensure that they have sufficient preparation for the course. Please email these materials to Dr. Atkinson (natkinson@ethz.ch) with the subject line "Contract Design Course", before the course begins.
851-0743-00L	Approaches to Authentication and Security: Views from Law, Economics, and the Scientific Disciplines	1 credit	1S	A. Nielsen, A. Stremitzer
Abstract	This course examines disciplinary boundaries and synergies in the definition and treatment of authentication and security. We use the complementary lenses of law, empirical social science, and the engineering disciplines to see how authentication and security may be improved by a multi-disciplinary perspective, to see how law and policy can be more responsive to technical realities, and vice versa
Learning objective	Understand how defining terms “authentication” and “security” can impact the implementation of these values - Identify opportunities for enhanced inter-disciplinary work between law, social science, and the engineering disciplines - Identify potential future conflicts between legal and mathematical definitions related to verification, security, and enforcement
Content	As human behavior increasingly moves online, the use of widely different methodologies to control human behavior, namely law and digital systems, are increasingly likely to overlap in their areas of application and effect on human behavior. However, different relevant disciplinary approaches understanding, coordinating, and regulating human activities take drastically different approaches even as their domain of application overlaps. ● Law prescribes ● Social sciences describes ● Engineering disciplines explain, mechanize. and predict This four half-day online seminar will draw widely from texts treating topics related to authentication and security. We will explore how these topics are defined and treated quite differently in different disciplines. We will also look for convergence, feedback, or conceptual borrowing between these disciplines. We will particularly emphasize a search to find new opportunities for enhanced and more intentional interactions between law, empirical social science, and state-of-the-art applied machine learning use cases. The course will take place via Zoom on two successive weekends for half days on Friday and Saturday in November. The course will be a mix of seminar-style discussion of assigned readings and guest lectures from spekers who can address the current state of security scholarship in the three relevant disciplines. We expect to draw from a wide number of classic and state-of-the-art disciplinary texts. For this reason, students are expected to have a basic understanding of statistical and machine learning methods, basic sciences, and some familiarity with the state of the art in their respective fields of study. Various legal and social science research methods and concepts will be introduced as needed. Students are not expected to bring a social science or legal background into the course but will acquire a familiarity with core concepts as relevant during class discussion.
Literature	1. Defining authentication-appropriate objects and concepts ● Zimmerman, Deception Detection (2016) ● USCIS Refugee Processing and Security Screening Overview (2020) ● Zhang et al, Protecting Intellectual Property of Deep Neural Networks with Watermarking (2018) ● Tsankov et al, Securify: Practical Security Analysis of Smart Contracts (2018) 2. Authentication and security as entitlements ● Kesan and Hayes, Liability for Data Injuries (2019) 3. Security as a process ● The Federal Rules of Evidence (US) ● NIST Digital Identity Guidelines (2017) 4. Security as a system attribute ● Akerlof, The Market for Lemons (1970) & Magnusson-Moss Warranty Act (1975) ● Ho et al Smart Locks: Lessons for Securing Commodity Internet of Things Devices (2016)