Document Type

Other

Publication Date

9-19-2014

Keywords

black box society, reputation, search, finance, banks, data brokers, search, internet, social network, social theory, interpretive social science, Twitter, Google, Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Goldman, JP Morgan, Citibank, agnotology, data brokers, inequality, political economy, methodology, philosophy of social science

Abstract

Hidden algorithms drive decisions at major Silicon Valley and Wall Street firms. Thanks to automation, those firms can approve credit, rank websites, and make myriad other decisions instantaneously. But what are the costs of their methods? And what exactly are they doing with their digital profiles of us?

Leaks, whistleblowers, and legal disputes have shed new light on corporate surveillance and the automated judgments it enables. Self-serving and reckless behavior is surprisingly common, and easy to hide in code protected by legal and real secrecy. Even after billions of dollars of fines have been levied, underfunded regulators may have only scratched the surface of troublingly monopolistic and exploitative practices.

Drawing on the work of social scientists, attorneys, and technologists, The Black Box Society offers a bold new account of the political economy of big data. Data-driven corporations play an ever larger role in determining opportunity and risk. But they depend on automated judgments that may be wrong, biased, or destructive. Their black boxes endanger all of us. Faulty data, invalid assumptions, and defective models can’t be corrected when they are hidden.

Frank Pasquale exposes how powerful interests abuse secrecy for profit and explains ways to rein them in. Demanding transparency is only the first step. An intelligible society would assure that key decisions of its most important firms are fair, nondiscriminatory, and open to criticism. Silicon Valley and Wall Street need to accept as much accountability as they impose on others.

In this interview with Lawrence Joseph, Frank Pasquale describes the aims and methods of the book.

Publication Citation

Balkinization

Disciplines

Law and Society | Privacy Law

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