16×9 On The Robot Revolution

October 26, 2012 CLTS

Ian Kerr talks about robots and ethics on Global News

Imagine a future where a robot could tend to you in old age. A humanoid machine equal parts caregiver and companion who’d live in your home, prepare your meals, and even help you out of bed. At night, your robot gently holds your hand as you drift asleep; changing the temperature of its appendage to match your own.

It might seem like science fiction, but the race to produce robots for the consumer market is very real. And there’s more than one tech company believing in domestic robotics as the next phase in computing technology.

But robot ethicist Ian Kerr is still sceptical of a society where machine works alongside man. “What are the ethical pitfalls? What are some of the legal things we should be thinking about as well? And maybe in some of those cases, we’ll reflect and say, you know what? That application might be powerful, but we ought not to go there.”

View the newscast and article, here.

The Magic Of Metamorphosis

July 10, 2012 CLTS

During last fall’s Orientation Week, I was delighted to welcome the Class of 2014 to the Faculty of Law with a lecture about the way that law school changes people: The Magic of Metamorphosis.

Looks like I am going to do a similar lecture for the Class of 2015.

For those who are interested, here is last year’s lecture.

Digital Locks And The Automation Of Virtue

July 10, 2012 CLTS

"Digital Locks and the Automation of Virtue" in Michael Geist ed, From "Radical Extremism" to "Balanced Copyright": Canadian Copyright and the Digital Agenda (Toronto: Irwin Law, 2010).

This chapter examines the social and moral cost of digital locks. I trace the concept and construct of a lock all the way back to the mythical Gordian knot, revealing two essential features of locks. First, I argue that locks are important not only for what they restrict, but for what they permit. I develop this idea in the context of digital locks using the concept of automated permissions. Second, I argue that the restrictions imposed by locks come with a social and moral cost; namely, that the adoption of a universal digital lock strategy could undermine the cultivation of moral virtue.

My Appearance Before The ETHI

June 18, 2012 CLTS

On June 12th, I was called to appear before the Standing Committee on Ethics, Accountability & Privacy in a hearing on privacy and social media. I told the Committee that ‘big data’ is the ‘new sugar’ and that we stand at the precipice of what one might call the ‘late onset diabetes’ of the information age.

I made a number of recommendations and will submit a detailed brief to the Committee later this summer.

Cross Country Checkup On Lawful Access

February 20, 2012 CLTS

Ian Kerr talks with CBC's Rex Murphy about Bill C-30

Surveillance is, and always has been, a topic that makes people uneasy. The explosion over the past decade of public and private activity online has meant that many people have had to re-think their attitude towards privacy, and define exactly what should be public and what should be private.

What do you think? Is the internet a wide open place that should be free from authority and surveillance? Or must there be an update of police powers to keep up with the evolution of crime and criminals in an Internet age? What about the proposed law …do Canadians need to give the police powers that are better tuned to the electronic realities of today? Or, should Canadians be more vigilant than ever about protecting their privacy in a time when it can be compromised with the click of a mouse?

Our question today: “Does the proposed law to allow police easier identification of Internet users go too far?”

Listen to the show on CBC Cross Country Checkup.

Privacy, Identity And Anonymity

September 1, 2011 CLTS

'Privacy, Identity and Anonymity' in International Handbook of Surveillance Studies, eds. Kristie Ball, Kevin Haggerty and David Lyon (London: Routledge) forthcoming 2011 [co-authored in equal proportion with Jennifer Barrigar].

'This chapter was written in collaboration with one of my favourite readers and writers, Jennifer Barrigar. Together, we consider the complex interrelationship between privacy, identity and anonymity in an increasingly networked society through an exploration of the evolution of network technologies and its consequent shifts in social and technological architectures. The rise of ubiquitous computing from CCTV cameras and handheld devices to digital rights management systems (DRM) and radio frequency identification (RFID) tags has precipitated a shift in the network architecture from one in which anonymity was the default to one in which nearly every online transaction is subject to monitoring and the possibility of identity authentication. We argue that this invariably affects the relationship between privacy, identity and anonymity