Case Study 1

• DueSundayby11:59pm
• Points75
• Submittinga file upload

This case study is your first study and requires you do 2 things:

1) read the case below and answer the questions there and,

2) read the 2 associated cases and after watching my video on reading and briefing legal cases and apply them to the case to determine if the outcome would be different than what you decided in part 1 applying ethical principles alone to determine the outcome.

Irina Raicu

^{Jct600Links to an external site./CC BY-SA 2.0Links to an external site.}

A large U.S. city that prides itself on its uptake of innovative technologies has deployed "smart" light posts with cameras at various locations within its boundaries. Representatives of a technology company contact city leaders and propose that they be granted access to video recordings captured by those cameras, in order to use emotion-recognition AI and generate reports that would give city administrators an ongoing real-time understanding of their constituents' sentiments and emotions. The underlying footage would not be shared with other entities, and city leaders would be presented with aggregated reports that don't identify any particular individuals from the videos.

In addition to "smart" light posts, the city wants to deploy a system called "Shotspotter" in 3 blocks of the community. The neighborhood has recently had a spike in gun related crime and some community members have requested the Police Chief look into deploying the software along with the "smart" lights which they think might help police identify when people's emotions are charged and they might be more likely to be aggressive. This allows police to do two (2) things: 1) get real time info about shootings as they occur and respond immediately, and 2) may allow police combining the "smart light" post data to identify and target likely shooters before they've acted.

However, community activists have found some alarming evidence that deployment of this software, especially with the "smart" lights may invade community privacy, result in more police intervention in a more aggressive way and result in dangerous and unnecessary intervention in people's everyday lives. They fear "living in a police state" after reviewing the "Shotspotter" history in other cities. The idea of adding "smart lights" to be used to prevent violence has created concern that the information could be misused, misinterpreted and later used in court for other alleged criminal cases by allowing evidence gathering without the required search warrants. Neighbors also fear an increase in more violent confrontations between police and regular citizens in the community because of mistaken data interpretation and use. One resident even raised the issue of system hacking and data tampering.

https://www.aclu.org/news/privacy-technology/four-problems-with-the-shotspotter-gunshot-detection-systeLinks to an external site.

Shotspotter RespondsLinks to an external site.

Part 1: Discussion Questions--Applying Ethics Principles to resolve (Be sure to think about each of the forms of tech use here-Shotspotter and smart lights. Are both an issue? Or is this one or the other?)

1. Who are the stakeholders involved? Would it be ok to just deploy one or the other of this software? Does the fact that it uses AI matter? How and why? Who should be consulted about such a project's goals and development?
2. How might this project be evaluated through theethical 'lenses' of rights, justice, utilitarianism, the common good, virtue ethics, and care ethicsLinks to an external site.?
3. What ethical challenges might arise in the interactions among city leaders, the technology company, and the city's residents based on your analysis in 2? How might those be addressed?

Part 2: Discussion Questions--Applying the Law to resolve

1. Are the stakeholders any different if we're applying law to this case? Should a different group be consulted? (It's common for there not to be any change here.)

2. Review the 2 cases and choose 1 that addresses a specific issue of law that you think is fundamental to solving this case (be sure you've watched the video on how to do this.) Brief the case and submit that separately. You want to first identify what, if any legal issues, you find most interesting and then choose 1 that is taken up in the case/briefs I provided. For example, could there be a 4th amendment issue with gathering data based on either or both of these technologies? If so, then describe what situation you can envision with this technology creating a legal issue and then apply the law according to what you've read in your case/brief reading.

2b. Write a short half page case brief as follows:

• short description of the relevant facts from either the Case Opinion or the Brief assigned for reading below.
• 1 sentence statement of the legal issue: Just summarize what the case said the legal issue was that you're using.
• 1-2 sentence statement about the ruling: what did the judge say the ruling or outcome was? It is not a violation of the 4th Amendment because...
• Brief para about rationale: why did the judge rule the way he/she ruled? What was the judge's core logic?

(Be sure to watch the video as I go over exactly how to do this.)

3. Write a short analysis based on the legal principle from your case (s) applying the logic from them to the scenario here and determine whether or not there is a legal problem with the city leaders taking this approach? What legal issues could arise do you think based on your reading of the law cases I gave you? Should the City go forward implementing one or the other of these systems? If they go forward are there actions they could take to mitigate the risks for community members and police? What are they?

State Cases

https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=3771470835746378255&q=People+v.+Tafoya,+494+P.3d+613&hl=en&as_sdt=6,34&as_vis=1Links to an external site.

https://case-law.vlex.com/vid/commonwealth-v-mora-sjc-894092653Links to an external site.

Federal Cases

https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=11867994348786096420&q=United+States+v.+Tuggle,+4+F.4th+505&hl=en&as_sdt=6,34&as_vis=1Links to an external site.

filed-Brief-Amici-Curiae-of-the-ACLU-et-al.-United-States-v.-Hay-10th-Cir.-No.-22-3276.pdfDownload filed-Brief-Amici-Curiae-of-the-ACLU-et-al.-United-States-v.-Hay-10th-Cir.-No.-22-3276.pdf

Privacy_CourtAppeals.pdf