Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2023
ISSN
0897-3393
Publisher
Harvard Law School
Language
en-US
Abstract
The Federal Trade Commission can only do so much to hold tech companies accountable. Enforcement agencies and the people they protect need help. One problem is that the inner workings of large organizations and complex algorithmically driven systems remain obscure and opaque while their privacy representations are voluminous and vague. In this Essay, we propose a scientific approach to tech accountability, where academic researchers can play a larger role in privacy policy. This approach involves surfacing a company’s privacy representations and statements, as well as measuring the actual behavior of their systems with respect to algorithms, user interfaces, and data processing.
We build upon our experience as a multi-disciplinary group of researchers trained in computer science, engineering, and law to explore how researchers can support the movement for tech accountability. In addition to detailing how researchers can surface a company’s privacy representations and measure the behavior of tech systems, we explore how to use scientific results for greater accountability, such as going public, working with regulators, filing Unfair, Deceptive, or Abusive Acts or Practice (“UDAAP”) complaints and lawsuits, and taking advantage of data subject rights. We draw from our own research to demonstrate how this approach can be helpful, such as in uncovering significant discrepancies between privacy representations of tech companies and the actual behavior of their systems and devices. We conclude by calling for a more robust and long-term collaboration between researchers and regulators.
Recommended Citation
David Choffnes, Woodrow Hartzog, Scott Jordan, Athina Markopoulou & Zubair Shafiq,
A Scientific Approach to Tech Accountability
,
37
Harvard Journal of Law & Technology
1201
(2023).
Available at:
https://scholarship.law.bu.edu/faculty_scholarship/3916
