Tag: Technology
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An Algorithmic Failure Beneath the Secret Ballot
Authored by Max Springer The secret ballot is one of the load-bearing walls of democracy. In Georgia, as in most states, this allows you to know whether your neighbor voted, but never who they voted for. This simple guarantee allows for transparent elections while deterring voter intimidation. Yet, in multiple states including Georgia, that guarantee…
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Can AI reduce burdens on courts by automatically verifying citations?
Authored by : Patty Liu, Dominik Stammbach, Peter Henderson Fabricated case citations generated by AI are appearing in court filings at an accelerating rate. Combined with other tracking efforts, we have identified over 1,000 filings containing hallucinated citations from self-represented (pro se) litigants and lawyers alike. Fabricating citations, or misrepresenting the content of those citations,…
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AI “Born Secret”? The Atomic Energy Act, AI, and Federalism
Authored by: Kylie Zhang and Peter Henderson Tl;dr: Can states regulate AI risks of disclosing nuclear secrets? This post will explore the Atomic Energy Act, its applicability to AI, the potential impacts on state efforts, and potential policy recommendations for guiding AI safety evaluations and model releases. If an advanced AI system can figure out…
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A technological approach to better living, for D.C. and beyond
Washington, D.C., could be a leader in the United States — and worldwide — in using technology to improve the lives of its residents and visitors. As a rapidly growing city with a diverse and highly educated population, the District is a leader in law, education, tourism and, of course, government. With this mass of…
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Copyrights, Fundamental Rights, and the Constitution
There was a lot to take issue with in Scott Turow’s recent op-ed in The New York Times. Turow, who is currently President of the Authors Guild, took to The Times to criticize the Supreme Court’s decision in Kirtsaeng v. John Wiley & Sons, which brought physical books manufactured and sold abroad within the protective…
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Principles #4 and #5 for Fostering Civic Engagement Through Digital Technologies: Engage On-line and Off-line, and Prepare for the Future
As part of my continuing series, today I’ll discuss two more principles for fostering civic engagement and digital technologies. My earlier posts are: #1 Know Your Community #2 Keep it Simple #3 Leverage Entrepreneurial Intermediaries Principle #4: Utilize Creative Combinations of On-line and Off-line Communications Whether it’s a grass roots organization, national political campaign or…
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First Principles for Fostering Civic Engagement via Digital Technologies #2 and #3: Keep it Simple and Leverage Entrepreneurial Intermediaries
In my previous blog post, I set out the first of ten principles that local governments and communities should look to as they evaluate whether their community is using digital technology effectively to promote civic engagement and solve local problems. Today, I’m setting forth my second and third principles, “Simplicity – Bang for the Buck”…
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Now Available in Print and eBook: "Democracy’s Fourth Wave? Digital Media and the Arab Spring"
I am happy to announce that my new book, co-authored with Muzammil M. Hussain, is now available in print (Oxford University Press, Amazon, Google Books) and eBook (Kindle). In April of last year, I presented some of our initial findings and described the methodology in a presentation at the Center for Information Technology at Princeton.…
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First Principles for Fostering Civic Engagement via Digital Technologies: #1 Know Your Community
Over the first few months of my Fellowship at CITP, I have had the pleasure of meeting with a number of people from academia, non-profits, for-profit companies and government to discuss the role of digital technologies in fostering civic engagement. In a series of blog posts, I plan to set out ten principles that local…

