Showing posts with label fairness. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fairness. Show all posts

Tuesday, May 29, 2018

Controversy Hides Within US Copyright Bill; Intellectual Property Watch, May 29, 2018

Steven Seidenberg, Intellectual Property Watch; Controversy Hides Within US Copyright Bill

"In a time when partisanship runs wild in the USA and the country’s political parties can’t seem to agree on anything, the Music Modernization Act is exceptional. The MMA passed the House of Representatives on 25 April with unanimous support. And for good reason. Almost all the major stakeholders back this legislation, which will bring some badly needed changes to copyright law’s treatment of music streaming. But wrapped in the MMA is a previously separate bill – the CLASSICS Act – that has been attacked by many copyright law experts, is opposed by many librarians and archivists, and runs counter to policy previously endorsed by the US Copyright Office."

Monday, June 26, 2017

Patents can stifle, as well as protect, stifle innovation; Albuquerque Journal, June 26, 2017

Joel Jacobsen, Albuquerque Journal; 

Patents can stifle, as well as protect, stifle innovation


"The absence of patent protection would make it difficult if not impossible for many inventors to profit from their ingenuity. But when a second inventor vastly improves on an original idea, as Curtiss did, isn’t he equally entitled to reap the rewards of his own ingenuity? Even apart from questions of fairness, society benefits from both the original invention and its subsequent improvement. Both types of progress deserve legal protection."

Tuesday, June 13, 2017

When a Computer Program Keeps You in Jail; New York Times, June 13, 2017

Rebecca Wexler, New York Times; When a Computer Program Keeps You in Jail

"The criminal justice system is becoming automated. At every stage — from policing and investigations to bail, evidence, sentencing and parole — computer systems play a role. Artificial intelligence deploys cops on the beat. Audio sensors generate gunshot alerts. Forensic analysts use probabilistic software programs to evaluate fingerprints, faces and DNA. Risk-assessment instruments help to determine who is incarcerated and for how long.

Technological advancement is, in theory, a welcome development. But in practice, aspects of automation are making the justice system less fair for criminal defendants.

The root of the problem is that automated criminal justice technologies are largely privately owned and sold for profit. The developers tend to view their technologies as trade secrets. As a result, they often refuse to disclose details about how their tools work, even to criminal defendants and their attorneys, even under a protective order, even in the controlled context of a criminal proceeding or parole hearing."