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posted by martyb on Thursday June 05 2014, @06:50PM   Printer-friendly
from the while-(true)-{spawn()} dept.

Samir Chopra at The Nation proposes that we treat algorithms as agents of the companies that deploy them. In effect, treat computer programs as people, too.

From the article:

I suggest we fit artificial agents like smart programs into a specific area of law, one a little different from that which makes corporations people, but in a similar spirit of rational regulation. We should consider programs to be legal agents--capable of information and knowledge acquisition like humans--of their corporate or governmental principals. The Google defense--your privacy was not violated because humans didn't read your e-mail--would be especially untenable if Google's and NSA's programs were regarded as their legal agents: by agency law and its central doctrine of respondeat superior (let the master answer), their agents' activities and knowledge would become those of their legal principal, and could not be disowned; the artificial automation shield between the government (the principal) and the agent (the program) would be removed.

If such a position were adopted, there could be a significant impact on the permissibility of scanning of emails for targeted advertisements or on ISP's ability to perform deep packet inspection.

 
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  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by bucc5062 on Thursday June 05 2014, @08:02PM

    by bucc5062 (699) on Thursday June 05 2014, @08:02PM (#51879)

    WHen its a program, whom do you then hold accountable...

    The Original programmer(s)
    The maintenance programmers
    The operators who may run/set up program operations
    The Project Manager
    The CEO

    With a car you have one actor in control
    With a gun your have one brain pulling the trigger

    With a program you have a chorus which is why it is hard to criminally charge a company/corporation for negligence since the blame can be diluted to the point of being worthless. I get where the author is coming from, but I would think this woudl open up a can of worms, not help make a tasty meal.

    --
    The more things change, the more they look the same
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  • (Score: 2) by maxwell demon on Thursday June 05 2014, @11:14PM

    by maxwell demon (1608) on Thursday June 05 2014, @11:14PM (#51960) Journal

    When in doubt, the one who decided that the program is ready to be applied.

    --
    The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.