Prof. dr. Mireille Hildebrandt (Co-director LSTS) has written a Technology Law JOTWELL review of LSTS researcher Hideyuki Matsumi's and George Washington University Prof. Daniel Solove's forthcoming publication entitled 'The Prediction Society: Algorithms and the Problems of Forecasting the Future' (GWU Legal Studies Research Paper, June 2023).
The research study by Matsumi and Solove addresses the rise of algorithmic prediction and the concerns around the shaping effect such predictions have on our collective and societal future. The rapidly increasing resort to such predictions, the authors holds, leads to a "prediction society" where human agency is diminished and those who wield instruments of algorithmic prediction hold ever-expanding power. The authors argue that privacy and data protection law, as well as individual rights and anti-discrimination law, do not adequately address the various problems arising out of this state of affairs. By examining pertinent use cases and the relevant laws, the authors argue in their study that "use of algorithmic predictions is a distinct issue warranting different treatment from other types of inference".
In her review, entitled 'Addressing the Modern Shamanism of Predictive Inferences', Hildebrandt notes i.a. the authors' lucid argumentation and clear categorisation of some of the different types of problems that pre-emptive predictions might pose to our legal systems and societies at large. According to Hildebrandt, the authors' contribution is particularly valuable because it highlights "the pernicious character of the manipulative choice architectures that build on machine learning, and [it shows] how the use of ‘dark patterns’ is more than merely the malicious deployment of an otherwise beneficial technology".
Hildebrandt discusses and applauds how, in the longstanding LSTS tradition of texts like 'Profiling the European Citizen', Matsumi's and Solove's arguments could be the start to a new approach in the US to the issues under discussion. As she concludes the review: "Matsumi & Solove’s paper holds great promise for an in-depth analysis of what is the key problem here and it should inform the development of well-argued and well-articulated legal frameworks".
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Hideyuki Matsumi is a doctoral researcher at the Research Group on Law Science, Technology and Society (LSTS) and a member of the Health and Ageing Law Lab (HALL), and works on EU H2020 project Hospital Smart development based on AI (HosmartAI). He holds LL.M. in Intellectual Property Law from the George Washington University Law School, LL.M. with Law and Technology (IP) Certificate from University of California, Berkeley, School of Law, and LL.M. in International and European Law with specialization in Data Law from the VUB/IES (Great Distinction). Prior to joining LSTS, he started his career as a web application programmer and information security consultant, and he has worked at the University of Tokyo and Toin University of Yokohama.
Daniel Justin Solove is Eugene L. and Barbara A. Bernard Professor of Intellectual Property and Technology Law at the George Washington University Law School. He is a global thought leader in privacy law and the author of i.a. such books as Breached! Why Data Security Law Fails and How to Improve It (Oxford 2022) (with Woodrow Hartzog), Nothing to Hide: The False Tradeoff Between Privacy and Security (Yale 2011), Understanding Privacy (Harvard 2008).