Data and Democracy
A Knight Institute and Law and Political Economy Project essay series considering how big data is changing our system of self-government
In October 2020, the Knight First Amendment Institute convened a virtual symposium, titled “Data and Democracy,” to investigate how technological advances relating to the collection, analysis, and manipulation of data are affecting democratic processes, and how the law must adapt to ensure the conditions for self-government. The symposium was organized by the Institute’s 2019-2020 Senior Visiting Research Scholar, Yale Law Professor Amy Kapczynski, and co-sponsored by the Law and Political Economy Project at Yale Law School.
The essays in this series were originally presented and discussed at this two-day event. Written by scholars and experts in law, computer science, information studies, political science, and other disciplines, the essays focus on three areas that are both central to democratic governance and directly affected by advancing technologies and ever-increasing data collection: 1) public opinion formation and access to information; 2) the formation and exercise of public power; and 3) the political economy of data.
You can find more about the symposium, including the program, list of speakers, and videos of each panel here. And you can listen to the Data and Democracy podcast, featuring interviews with participants here.
Featured
Data and Democracy: An Introduction
Questions of data regulation are at the heart of democratic practice today, from issues of secrecy to the use of data to constitute democratic institutions themselves
By Amy KapczynskiEssays and Scholarship
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Voter Data, Democratic Inequality, and the Risk of Political Violence
How data is used to marginalize the poor during elections—and what can be done about it
By Bertrall Ross & Douglas Spencer -
Privacy, Autonomy, and the Dissolution of Markets
Pathways from platform capitalism
By Kiel Brennan-Marquez & Daniel Susser -
The CLOUD Act and the Accused
Privacy asymmetries limit access to evidence of innocence and are worsening in the global data economy. But the proper reading of a key statute could help reverse the inequity.
By Rebecca Wexler -
The Democratic Regulation of Artificial Intelligence
A case for focusing on forward-looking policy considerations rather than a rights framework in regulating “AI systems”
By Mariano-Florentino Cuéllar & Aziz Z. Huq -
Data and Democracy: An Introduction
Questions of data regulation are at the heart of democratic practice today, from issues of secrecy to the use of data to constitute democratic institutions themselves
By Amy Kapczynski -
Licensure as Data Governance
Moving toward an industrial policy for artificial intelligence
By Frank Pasquale -
The Keys to the Kingdom
Mathias Vermeulen on overcoming GDPR concerns to unlock access to platform data for independent researchers
By Mathias Vermeulen -
Transparency’s AI Problem
Artificial intelligence’s opaque processes and outcomes make it an incomplete tool for governing
By Hannah Bloch-Wehba -
Is the Administrative State Ready for Big Data?
Exploring the accountability challenges in environmental and public health regulation
By Wendy Wagner & Martin Murillo -
Platform Accountability Through Digital “Poison Cabinets”
Preserving records of what user content is taken down—and why—could make platforms more accountable and transparent
By John Bowers , Elaine Sedenberg & Jonathan Zittrain -
How (Not) to Write a Privacy Law
Disrupting surveillance-based business models requires government innovation
By Julie E. Cohen -
Institute Update
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Knight Institute to Convene Data and Democracy Symposium
Symposium to consider ways to ensure a robust democracy in the age of big data