Policy Topics

Science and technology

Showing 31 - 60 of 93 results
Policy Brief

Regulating Drone Surveillance in Michigan

June 24, 2024
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Terry Nguyen
Law enforcement agencies in Michigan are increasingly using drones as a common tool for purposes including surveillance, crime prevention, and search and rescue operations. Privacy concerns loom large as drones capture images and videos of...
Policy Brief

Development of and Concerns Regarding Predictive Policing Practices

June 24, 2024
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Madison Cutler
Predictive policing is the application of analytical software to identify likely targets for police intervention and prevent crime. The last 8–10 years has brought the application of analytical tools and artificial intelligence to enable such...
Technology Assessment Project

Facial Recognition in Schools

September 2019 - August 2020
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Claire Galligan, Hannah Rosenfeld, Molly Kleinman, Shobita Parthasarathy
Facial recognition (FR) technology was long considered science fiction, but it is now part of everyday life for people all over the world. FR systems identify or verify an individual’s identity based on a digitized image alone, and are commonly used for identity verification, security, and surveillance in a variety of settings including law enforcement, commerce, and transportation. Schools have also begun to use it to track students and visitors for a range of uses, from automating attendance to school security. FR can be used to identify people in photos, videos, and in real time, and is...
Technology Assessment Project

Vaccine Hesitancy

September 2020 - May 2021
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Zixuan Wang, Margarita Maria Rodriguez Morales, Kseniya Husak, Molly Kleinman, Shobita Parthasarathy
In winter 2020, a novel coronavirus (SARSCoV-2) that caused COVID-19 started its spread across the globe, and by July 2020, over 500,000 people worldwide had died of the disease. By March 2021, there were over 120 million cases and over 2.8 million deaths. To combat the pandemic and return to “normalcy”, experts estimate that at least 80% of the world’s population needs to be resistant to the virus, and most of the world’s population will require vaccination. This will be a challenge. In addition to facilitating widespread distribution, governments will need to combat “vaccine hesitancy”: an...
Technology Assessment Project

What’s in the Chatterbox?

May 2021
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Johanna Okerlund, Evan Klasky, Aditya Middha, Sujin Kim, Hannah Rosenfeld, Molly Kleinman, Shobita Parthasarathy
Large language models (LLMs)—machine learning algorithms that can recognize, summarize, translate, predict, and generate human languages on the basis of very large text-based datasets—are likely to provide the most convincing computer-generated imitation of human language yet. Because language generated by LLMs will be more sophisticated and human-like than their predecessors, and because they perform better on tasks for which they have not been explicitly trained, we expect that they will be widely used. Policymakers might use them to assess public sentiment about pending legislation,...

Hill: Technology and privacy

Oct 7, 2024 1:05:08

New York Times technology reporter Kashmir Hill and Shobita Parthasarathy explore the intersection of technology and privacy, addressing some of today's most salient issues. October, 2024. 

Kumar Garg: Science for the people

Jan 26, 2022 1:01:38

Former assistant director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy Kumar Garg and director of the Science, Technology, and Public Policy program Shobita Parthasarathy discuss deploying science, technology, and data for the p

STPP Information Session

Oct 21, 2021 0:29:21

Do you want to learn how science and technology policy is made? Are you interested in the social and ethical implications of developments like facial recognition, gene editing, or autonomous vehicles?

Cybersecurity: Threats, policy, and responses panel

Sep 30, 2020 0:54:35

Paul Abbate, Associate Deputy Director of the FBI, and David Levy,  Vice President of Amazon Web Services, discuss current cybersecurity threats, formulating policy, and calibrating responses.