News 2017: Spencer presents at Ohio State on surveillance law

At Ohio State University, Professor Shaun Spencer examines mass surveillance and Fourth Amendment rights

Professor Shaun Spencer presented on the legal implications of using predictive analytics as a surveillance tool at the Ohio State University (OSU) symposium, "Predictive Analytics, Law, and Policy: Mapping the Terrain."

In his presentation, "Predictive Surveillance and the Threat to Fourth Amendment Jurisprudence," Professor Spencer illustrated technical challenges facing the use of predictive analytics in the surveillance space. He described how the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA)—a government intelligence agency modeled after the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)—is trying to solve some of those technical challenges. He then described how post-9/11 bulk surveillance practices led courts to twist statutory language to support the government’s anti-terrorism efforts. Finally, he detailed the risk that a true predictive surveillance program would spur dramatic rollbacks of Fourth Amendment protection.

The OSU symposium convened leading scholars to discuss legal and policy questions raised by predictive analytics in such fields as surveillance, education, sentencing, marketing, health, and employment. The symposium was co-sponsored by the OSU Moritz College of Law Program on Data and Governance and by I/S: The Journal of Law and Policy for the Information Society.