I had the most wonderful time at #ILWIP! It was my first time attending, and it was truly such a supportive conference. Being lucky enough to have the Alex Roberts in the room and liveblogging my talk was the cherry on top!
More on the paper: arturpericles.art/publications...
just read a complaint accusing defendant of infringing plaintiff's "trademarks & trade dresses" & this sentence makes me feel strongly that the plural of "trade dress" is "trade dress"
is it...trademark homophobia?
www.edgemedianetwork.com/story/163930...
boy scouts of america sue queer scout, an arizona-based company offering LGBTQ+ travel experiences for adults, for trademark infringement, dilution, & unfair competition
fellas is it gay to be a trademark bully targeting gay businesses?
a woman from north carolina is suing the los angeles dodgers after she was hit in the shoulder by an alcoholic buzzball drink at a baseball game
that's it, that's the tweet. that's how the UK sees us (accurately)
www.independent.co.uk/news/world/a...
wickles pickles, which registered DIRTY DILL as a trademark for pickles & has a mascot named wicked willy, sues dirty dill over its use of "dirty dill" in connection w/ pickle-flavored alcohol & an “anthropomorphic pickle” allegedly similar to willy
www.bloomberglaw.com/document/X10...
tonight my kid said "i love you more than a pancake in a tummy" so i guess she read king lear while i was away?
they know my name down here!
what is to be done?
the system is crumbling. we have these cycles of decline & rebirth. but ultimately, we need law, not autarky, to answer weaponized interdependence. we need a rebuilding project.
this is hard to do & expensive to do, & we're misled by the metaphor
"the stack" as we use it in the AI discourse evokes the internet protocol stack, which is a v different design
"let's build our own stack!" that framing breaks down
if you want to be immune from the reach of foreign law, at a certain point you need to domesticate your sources of technological supply
eras tour of the discourse: from early idealism of internet beyond the state; champagne problems of conflicts of law; snowden & localizing data; move from acceptance of external supply to seeking immunity from it; you're on your own kid: AI sovereignty
"the sovereign AI myth," @vivekdotca.bsky.social at #ilwip
people are talking about sovereign AI: is this marketing fluff? nationalistic balderdash? or something new & different?
a huge shift--and it's bad
remedy: control power w/ power, a double security
platform federalism: user communities = states (set & enforce policies), & platforms = union (enumerated powers to enforce policies, provide resources, intervene as needed)
to get there, use section 230 as a regulatory subsidy
vs douek: the realist accepts there will be an irreducible zone of discretion for platforms to decide their content moderation policies & enforcement (douek)
platform responsibility accepts the fact of platform power (e.g. balkin): the goal of regulating is to create incentives for SM co's to be responsible & trustworthy
the dilemma: 2 opposing projects, platform neutrality (seeks to eliminate power) vs platform responsibility (seeks to tame power)
monteiro argues both approaches fail
8 in 10 respondents think social media companies have too much power & influence in politics (across party lines)
concerned w/: removals/restrictions; curation (which content gets amplified/the algorithm)
artur pericles monteiro: "countervailing platform power"
*avoids neutrality-responsibility dilemma
*answers platform power w/ collective user power
*draws on he structural constitution (federalism) for a prototype
#ilwip
miers argues current regulatory proposals collapse the distinction between category 1 (immediate risk) & category 2 (pre-crisis/distress)
they force chatbots to become category 1 interventions
protective factors incl. reduced access to lethal means & availability of interventions
in category 2 (pre-crisis/distress, not immediate risk): social media & chatbots can serve that layer
harm/escalation possible, but also shown to mitigate/de-escalate (connectedness, validation, judgment-free)
werther effect: some contagion research shoes sensationalized/glamorized portrayals of suicide might elevate risk (recent headlines are problematic)
papageo effect: actually, responsible discussions about suicide might reduce risk
suicide and moral panics--we've had this for a long time!
high-profile tragedies produce claims that the medium caused suicide, but population-level evidence rarely supports that theory
panic over novels, rock music, dungeons & dragos, video games, social media, & now chatbots
suicide is complex; we evaluate it not through causation but through risk & protective factors
miers IDs 15-20 factors but "no serious prevention model treats exposure to media as a primary causal driver (but lawmakers do)"
how do we contextualize suicide rates?
reflect the level of social integration/regulation
*egoistic (lack of integration)
*altruistic (excessive integration)
*anomic (breakdown of norms)
*fatalistic (excessive regulation)
globally, suicide is actually declining--35% decline
US is one of few countries where it's up, tho not historically unique (spikes during covid)
US rise linked to econ instability, anxiety/depression, isolation, social fragmentation, access to lethal means (firearms)
miers argues regulators are misunderstanding suicide and the role that chatbots play
durkheim: all societies experience suicide; but when cases increase, can be tired to something broken in social fabric
"crisis machines" by @jmiers230.bsky.social at #ilwip
chatbot suicides are making headlines. while tragic, coverage is sensationalization & misses important context
the regulatory impulse: we must do something! not about the suicide but about the technology "causing" it
cedarbaum: some courts are saying this is just another moment for legal innovation & we shouldn't be locked into that earlier definition
even if product liability has to be anchored to physical harms, some of these claims do allege that
products liability is a chattel-based notion about physical items causing physical injury
how do we get to intangible or virtual things being covered by the same law?
- @ericgoldman.bsky.social
