Document Type
Article
Publication Date
5-19-2023
ISSN
2330-1295
Publisher
JOTWELL
Language
en-US
Abstract
The field of law and technology has come a long way since we last heard the unmistakable squeal of a modem connecting to cyberspace. Most of us that remember that sound now probably have more grey hair than we used to. We’ve covered a lot of ground since “Lex Informatica” and “Code is Law,” so you’d think our field would have a deeply sophisticated method for understanding the relationship between law, society, and technology, right?
Professor Ryan Calo thinks the field can do better. In this concise and accessible unpublished article that is part of a new book project, Calo highlights how Science and Technology Studies, or STS, has been overlooked and could contribute to the field of law and technology. To Calo, law and tech took decades to wind up where STS would have started. It’s not that law and tech is redundant of STS, rather, the problem is that “law and technology has been sounding similar notes to STS for years without listening to its music.” As a result, our field “does not benefit from the wisdom of scholars who have covered roughly the same ground.” Calo looks to showcase critical STS ideas and debates “for the unfamiliar law and technology reader,” so that we no longer have an excuse to claim ignorance of the field. He accomplishes this in spades with a clear and deeply informed article that is a must read for anyone writing in the field of law and technology.
Recommended Citation
Woodrow Hartzog,
What STS Can (and Can’t) Do for Law and Technology
,
in
JOTWELL
(2023).
Available at:
https://scholarship.law.bu.edu/faculty_scholarship/3665
