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Algorithmic Fairness and Anti-Discrimination Law

November 2, 2020

We have previously discussed how algorithmic systems which are used in decision-making implicate different legal norms, from data protection to intellectual property. This post examines an important emerging area of interaction between legal systems and algorithms – discrimination and equality law.

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Privacy Theory 101: Must Reads

October 16, 2020

In the last few blogs, we discussed some fundamentals of privacy theory – spanning the historical origins of the ‘right to privacy’ in legal jurisprudence in the USA, to contemporary scholarship delving into the implications of data-driven and machine learning environments for our understandings of privacy. This week, we list out some critical scholarship on the theoretical foundations of privacy, and its relationship with regulatory practice in India (apart from the readings already listed).

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The Emergence of Algorithmic Bosses: Framing a Legal Response

September 28, 2020

A few months ago, two Uber drivers from the United Kingdom, Azeem Hanif and Alfie Wellcoat filed a case against Uber alleging discrimination by its algorithm. They brought the case in a District Court in Amsterdam, where Uber’s headquarters is located. One of their central claims is that Uber’s algorithmic interference determines the nature of their rides: which drivers get the short ride or the nice ride, and the other way round. The automated decision-making process lacks transparency and is based on arbitrary factors, they allege, and drivers are in the dark about how the AI decides these questions.

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Must-Reads: Algorithms and the Law

September 14, 2020

In the last few posts, we posed some questions for algorithms as an artefact for governance, including the implications of different forms of algorithms embedded in computing and information infrastructure, their relationships with governing and administration, and their relevance for specific legal domains. Here, we share some readings to critically study, understand and critique algorithmic systems are particularly relevant for lawyers. 

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Reflecting on the UK’s Algorithmic Grading System and Administrative Automated Decision Making

August 21, 2020

London in August 2020 saw scenes that would not be out of place in a science fiction fantasy. Protestors gathered outside of the country’s Department for Education and rallied to ‘dismantle the algorithm’. The algorithm in question was a statistical model designed to standardise grades for the country’s GCSE A-level examinations (the equivalent of 12th board exams in India).