LS Conference Award: Computer Science and Law Workshop

随着复杂的计算在人类奋进的越来越多的领域中变得至关重要，跨学科研究的重要性和价值也在增长。计算机科学和法律的跨学科研究领域在过去两年中已经崭露头角。为了取得进展，研究人员必须共同开发计算技术和法律的原则，利用每种方法的优势来弥补另一种方法的弱点。要做到这一点，需要建立共同的理解、方法和词汇，以改善沟通，促进两个学科的研究。2021年11月，DIMACS离散数学和理论计算机科学中心将举办第二次研讨会，主题是计算机科学和法律的共同发展，继2020年11月成功举办的第一次在线研讨会之后。第二个研讨会将强调技术平台内容的适度性，这是两个学科的交界处，必须解决媒体中言论自由和真相之间的基本紧张关系。内容审核带来了巨大的技术挑战，这些挑战来自于社交媒体内容的庞大数量、自动审核的不完善性以及手动审核的不切实际性。从法律的和宪法的角度来看，这个问题同样令人生畏，必须同时解决公民，公司，组织，执法部门和政府的权利和责任。计算机科学和法律研究的核心是以共同发展为重点取代片面的方法。理想情况下，计算机科学家和律师应该合作创建一致的立法语言和技术定义，并捕捉广泛认同的原则。例如，立法中的技术考虑和定义应反映技术上可行的内容，而不是强制执行模糊或不可能的要求，而这些要求的实施应提供足够的证据证明其行为符合规定的要求，因此符合法律。关于隐私、公平、表达自由、社区标准和其他基本社会价值的现有工作表明了共同发展的重要性，并提供了成功和失败的例子。这个DIMACS研讨会将继续发展计算机科学和法律研究社区，并将对广泛的社会问题产生影响，包括公民之间的沟通。该研讨会将支持一个人口和智力多样化的研究人员群体的参与，反映了广泛的兴趣：计算机科学家，统计学家，法律学者和研究社会技术组合及其治理的社会科学家。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

As sophisticated computation has become essential in more and more fields of human endeavor, interdisciplinary research has grown in importance and value. The interdisciplinary research area of computer science and law has risen to prominence in the last two years. To make progress, researchers must co-develop computational techniques and legal principles, using the strengths of each approach to compensate for weaknesses in the other. Doing this requires building shared understanding, methodology, and vocabulary to improve communication and catalyze research across the two disciplines. In November 2021, the DIMACS Center for Discrete Mathematics and Theoretical Computer Science will hold a second workshop on the topic of co-development of computer science and law, following a successful first online workshop held in November 2020. The second workshop will emphasize technology platform content moderation—a topic that sits squarely at the interface of the two disciplines and must address the fundamental tension between freedom of speech and truth in media. Content moderation poses massive technological challenges arising from the sheer volume of social media content, the imperfect nature of automated moderation, and the impracticalities of manual moderation. The problem is equally daunting from a legal and constitutional perspective that must simultaneously address the rights and responsibilities of citizens, companies, organizations, law enforcement, and government.Central to the study of computer science and law is the replacement of one-sided approaches with an emphasis on co-development. Ideally, computer scientists and lawyers should collaborate to create legislative language and technical definitions that are consistent and that capture broadly agreed-upon principles. For example, technical considerations and definitions embedded in legislation should reflect what is technically feasible and not mandate vague or impossible requirements, while implementations of such requirements should produce sufficient evidence that their behavior sits within stated requirements and thus complies with the law. Existing work on privacy, fairness, freedom of expression, community standards, and other essential social values demonstrates the importance of co-development and provides examples of both success and failure. This DIMACS workshop will continue the development of a research community in computer science and law and will have impact on a broad range of societal issues including communication among citizens. The workshop will support participation by a demographically and intellectually diverse group of researchers reflecting a broad range of interests: computer scientists, statisticians, law scholars, and social scientists studying sociotechnical assemblages and their governance. Enabling the co-development will support the creation of computing-oriented sociotechnical systems of societal importance including the online media platforms serving as the public squares of today.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.