October 3, 2018

Global Summit: Towards Culturally Responsive Artificial Intelligence

In August of 2018, the Tech Policy Lab held our second Global Summit on Grand Challenges for Tech Policy, focusing on culturally responsive artificial intelligence (AI). The Summit, convened at the University of Washington, brought together a global network of experts in ethics, political science, art, policy, and technology from the continents of Africa, Asia, Europe, and North and South America.

June 22, 2018

What Pushes Back From Considering Materiality In IT?

An interdisciplinary team of computer scientists, information scientists, and planners explores the invisible environmental impacts of digital technologies in What Pushes Back from Considering Materiality in IT?  There are significant negative impacts from extracting, processing, maintaining, and ultimately disposing of the materials used to support information technology, as well as of producing the energy it uses, […]

December 11, 2017

Robust Physical-World Attacks on Machine Learning Modules

Could graffiti convey a hidden message to your car? Or cause a robot to do something unexpected? Cars and robots, as well as other devices, are more frequently relying on images of their surroundings to make decisions. New research explores the possibility that malicious alterations to real world objects, like the road sign above, could […]

November 21, 2017

Privacy in Online Dating

How do you manage your privacy in online dating? Chances are that if you use online dating or have considered using it, this is an issue you’ve given some thought. And you wouldn’t be alone, as privacy issues in online dating have appeared in the media—two summers ago, during the Rio Olympics, privacy in online […]

October 19, 2017

Tech Policy Lab Joins Partnership on Artificial Intelligence

TPL News

The Tech Policy Lab is delighted to be joining the Partnership on AI to Benefit People and Society, a non-profit organization charged with exploring and developing best practices for AI. The Lab, which aims to position policymakers, broadly defined, to make wiser and more inclusive tech policy, joins a diverse range of voices from academia, industry […]

October 18, 2017

Exploring ADINT: Using Ad Targeting for Surveillance on a Budget

New research by former CSE Ph.D. student Paul Vines, Lab Faculty Associate Franzi Roesner, and Faculty Co-Director Yoshi Kohno demonstrates how targeted advertising can be used for personal surveillance. From “Exploring ADINT: Using Ad Targeting for Surveillance on a Budget – or – How Alice Can Buy Ads to Track Bob” The online advertising ecosystem […]

September 15, 2017

Securing Augmented Reality Output

A year ago, Pokemon Go became immensely popular as players explored their surroundings for Pokemon in the smartphone-based augmented reality (AR) app. This hyper-popular game, which barely scratched the surface of AR’s potential, led to increased interest in the technology. The AR industry is expected to grow to $100 billion by 2020, and with increasing interest in AR automotive windshields and head-mounted displays (HMDs), we could soon be able to experience immersive AR environments like the one depicted by designer and film-maker Keiichi Matsuda in Hyper Reality.

August 10, 2017

DNA Sequencing Tools Lack Robust Protections Against Cybersecurity Risks

In first, UW team infects computer using synthetic DNA molecules Rapid improvement in DNA sequencing has sparked a proliferation of medical and genetic tests that promise to reveal everything from one’s ancestry to fitness levels to microorganisms that live in your gut. A new study from University of Washington researchers that analyzed the security hygiene […]

August 4, 2017

Diverse Voices: A How-To Guide for Creating More Inclusive Tech Policy Documents

All too often, policy development for emerging technology neglects under-represented populations. In response to this challenge, the UW Tech Policy Lab developed the Diverse Voices method in 2015. The method uses short, targeted conversations about emerging technology with “experiential experts” from under-represented groups to provide feedback on draft tech policy documents.

March 1, 2017

Driverless Seattle: How Cities Can Prepare For Automated Vehicles | Key Findings and Recommendations

“Driverless Seattle: How Cities Can Plan for Automated Vehicles,” is a new report from the Tech Policy Lab at the University of Washington, put together in partnership with Challenge Seattle, a private sector initiative led by regional CEOs, and the Mobility Innovation Center at the University of Washington. The advent of automated vehicles (AVs)—also known […]