ABOUT ME
A philosopher by training, I work at the intersection of technology, ethics, and policy, focusing especially on questions about privacy, transparency, and online influence. My research aims to highlight normative (i.e., social, ethical, and political) issues in the design, development, and use of information technology, and to help clarify conceptual issues that stand in the way of addressing them through law and policy.
I'm an Assistant Professor in the College of Information Sciences and Technology, a Research Associate at the Rock Ethics Institute, and affiliate faculty in the Philosophy Department at Penn State University.
From 2016-18, I was an Assistant Professor of Philosophy at San Jose State University. Before that, I was a Research Fellow at the Information Law Institute at New York University's School of Law, a member of the Institute's Privacy Research Group, and a Visiting Scholar in NYU's Department of Media, Culture, and Communication.
NEWS
Prospective students: Do you have a strong background in the humanities or social sciences? Do you want to pursue a PhD in informatics, with a focus on technology ethics or policy? Get in touch!
- My paper with Beate Roessler and Helen Nissenbaum, "Technology, autonomy, and manipulation"—a shorter, punchier version of our online manipulation work—was published in Internet Policy Review. [7/15/19]
- Paul Ohm reviewed our "Online Manipulation" paper in JOTWELL! [5/22/19]
- I wrote a piece for Slate arguing that tech ethics will better succeed if we're clearer about what ethics is and what it's for. [4/17/19]
- I was interviewed for this KQED story on the EU Commission's new AI ethics guidelines. [4/9/19]
- In March and April I presented at the "Targeting with Big Data" event at Ohio State's Center for Ethics and Human Values and the "Governing Machines: Defining and Enforcing Public Policy Values in AI Systems" symposium at the Berkeley Center for Law and Technology. [4/5/19]
- My paper "Notice After Notice-and-Consent: Why Privacy Disclosures Are Valuable Even If Consent Frameworks Aren’t" was published in the Journal of Information Policy. [3/3/2019]
- I presented "Invisible Influence: Artificial Intelligence and the Ethics of Adaptive Choice Architectures" at the AAAI/ACM Conference on AI, Ethics, and Society (AIES). [1/28/19]
- My paper with Beate Roessler and Helen Nissenbaum — "Online Manipulation: Hidden Influences in a Digital World" — is now up in draft form on SSRN. Feedback welcome! [1/8/19]
- In October I presented at the Amsterdam Privacy Conference, the Association of Internet Researchers (AoIR) Conference, and the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP) Privacy, Security, Risk Conference. [10/2018]
- Our "Online Manipulation" paper won a Best Paper Award at the 2018 Privacy Law Scholars Conference! [5/31/18]