April 14, 2022

Tech Policy Lab Plays Role in Last Week Tonight Episode on Data Brokers

On April 10th, Last Week Tonight aired an episode on Data Brokers. The Tech Policy Lab played a role in that episode with Co-Director Ryan Calo serving as a consultant. The show also used a method to explain concerns with data brokering, which appears to be a method that was developed by Co-Director Yoshi Kohno, […]

March 16, 2022

TPL Faculty Associate concerned about language models roles in AI

MIT Technology Review

With technology continuing to improve, tech companies have been analyzing what the future of search may pan out to me. Voice assistants like Siri, Alexa, and much more have called into question the possibility of chatbots and AI replacing search engines. Emily M. Bender, a UW professor studying studies computational linguistics and ethical issues in natural-language processing, […]

March 10, 2022

Co-Director named ACM Fellow

ACM

The Association for Computing Machinery has recently named its 71 fellows for this research that continues to shape technologies we use daily and accomplishments in the computing space. Batya Friedman, Co-Director of the Tech Policy Lab was recently highlighted in this list for contributions to human values in the technical design process.

February 25, 2022

TPL Research Assistant quoted in Salt Lake Tribune on Difference Between Descriptive Data and Prescriptive Data

The Salt Lake Tribune

TPL Research Assistant and UW School of Law PhD student María Angel was quoted by the Salt Lake Tribune in explaining the difference between how descriptive data is used, and the vulnerabilities that come along with it, versus prescriptive data. https://www.sltrib.com/news/2022/02/24/utah-based-qualtrics-made/

February 14, 2022

Co-Director on five things to know about robots

University of Washington Magazine

TPL Co-Director Ryan Calo was featured in a short video produced by University of Washington Magazine entitled 5 things to know about robots. View the video here: https://magazine.washington.edu/feature/robots-ryan-calo/.

January 27, 2022

Co-Director highlights arising security threats with increased used of AR and the metaverse

VentureBeat

TPL Co-Director Tadayoshi Kohno and TPL Faculty Associate Franziska Roesner were featured in VentureBeat’s new piece on the metaverse with regards to their paper that calls into question the new immersive nature of AR. Forthcoming AR technologies “may explicitly interface with the body and brain, with sophisticated body-sensing and brain-machine interface technologies”, they said, and “the immersive […]

January 24, 2022

Co-Director named ACM Fellow for groundbreaking research

UW iSchool

TPL Co-Director Batya Friedman, as well as professors,  Jacob O. Wobbrock and  Anind K. Dey were highlighted as ACM Fellows this past week. Fellows are seen as the “1% of members for their outstanding accomplishments in computing and information technology and/or outstanding service to ACM and the larger computing community”. The iSchool released an article detailing their individual research […]

January 20, 2022

Co-Director emphasizes lack of penalties on Facebook’s recent missteps

New York Times

From freezing accounts of Native people, to rejecting ads that were aimed at individuals with disabilities, Facebook has struggled with making equitable judgment calls with regards to free expression and speech. TPL Co-Director Ryan Calo pointed out that “most firms that make errors face critical penalties. Facebook hardly ever does.” Calo compared the actions of […]

January 19, 2022

Co-Director Calo on Driver Information Collected by Automakers

Newsweek

In Newsweek, Co-Director Calo highlighted that “Some [auto] companies have begun to experiment with your affect,” he explained. “Trying to figure out if you’re tired and beginning to close your eyes. Or you’re yawning. Where you’re actually looking. Are you looking at the street? Are you looking at the console?”. He prompted a discussion regarding privacy […]

January 11, 2022

Tech Policy Lab Releases Biennial Report

The Tech Policy Lab is please to share our 2020-2021 Biennial Report. Highlights include the Lab’s work on privacy and COVID, mitigating bias in AI systems, using storytelling to explain tech policy, and technology’s relationship to food security. http://techpolicylab.uw.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Tech-Policy-Biennial-Report-2021-Final.pdf