What impact does automated law enforcement have on fundamental rights— and does it influence how people exercise those rights?
Automated law enforcement is any system of legal action where a computer handles surveillance, data processing, and enforcement.
Copyright content moderation bots have pioneered this approach for over a decade. In this collaboration with legal scholars, CAT Lab has designed software to monitor the causal impact of these copyright content moderation bots on freedom of expression.
Update: In December 2021, the US Copyright Office requested comments in advance of public consultations on changes to automated copyright enforcement. CAT Lab submitted a comment and evidence to this process.
- First-Round Results
- Blog post: Matias, J.N., Penney, J., Mou, M.E., Klein, M. (2020) Do Law Enforcement Bots Reduce Freedom of Expression?
- Matias, J. N., Mou, M. E., Penney, J., & Klein, M. (2020). Do Automated Legal Threats Reduce Freedom of Expression Online? Preliminary Results from a Natural Experiment. https://osf.io/nc7e2/
- Peer-reviewed presentation at the International Communication Association, 2021 (see below)
- Comments Submitted to the US Copyright Office
- Matias, J.N., Penney, J., Wright, L. (2022) Comments responding to US Copyright Office Notice of Inquiry Docket No. 2021-10. https://osf.io/498ja/