Critical Perspectives on Law, Technology & Society Reading Group: 'Politics and the Public Sphere'

The reading list is available online.

If you have yet to attend one of these groups, all newcomers are encouraged to join.

Last week the group looked at the Internet of Things and smart cities, discussing the role of law in protecting privacy and mitigating the potential for exploitation and abuse.

This week they will be discussing the (very timely) issue of Politics and the Public Sphere. We will explore the impact social media, Big Data, AI, and the usual suspects are having on political discourse and public opinion.

A few questions to orient our discussion this week:

1. Can political parties’ right to campaign freely online be reconciled with the need to protect the electoral process from algorithmic manipulation?
2. After the Citizens United v FEC decision in the US, money is a protected form of speech under the 1st amendment. Given the influence and reach of major tech companies what protection might be necessary to prevent a similar outcome in the UK/EU?

Conveners: Dr Christopher Markou (Faculty of Law) and Dr Jennifer Cobbe (Department of Computer Science and Technology)