851-0732-06L  Law & Tech

SemesterHerbstsemester 2020
DozierendeA. Stremitzer, J. Merane, A. Nielsen
Periodizitätjährlich wiederkehrende Veranstaltung
LehrspracheEnglisch
KommentarNumber of participants limited to 30.


KurzbeschreibungThis 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.
LernzielThe 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.
InhaltThe 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