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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: 2) by Ken_g6 on Thursday June 05 2014, @10:50PM

    by Ken_g6 (3706) on Thursday June 05 2014, @10:50PM (#51949)

    If computer programs are my agents, then am I legally liable for my bugs? I don't like this plan.

    But wait! If computer programs are like slaves, then if I sold a program - rather than licensing it - would that absolve me of liability? Then could this could get rid of all those awful license agreements? I'm starting to like this plan.

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  • (Score: 1) by khedoros on Friday June 06 2014, @01:16AM

    by khedoros (2921) on Friday June 06 2014, @01:16AM (#52002)
    I'd take it that programs are the agents of whomever is operating them, not the original programmer. Take the case where the NSA buys a product off the shelf that they didn't write or cause to be written. We'd *still* want them to be liable for their use of the program, instead of the poor schmucks that made the "weapon" used in the crime.