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Normally, one considers these as two rather separate disciplines that have  little to do with each other. However, with increasing presence of computer and computer intelligence everywhere, issues such as Intellectual Property rights and Cybersecurity  began to connect these two disciplines. In particular, three trends involving

1. Computer intelligence  人工智能----人类本世纪的最大威胁?

http://blog.sciencenet.cn/blog-4398-867129.html  ;  AIvs. IA http://blog.sciencenet.cn/home.php?mod=space&uid=1565&do=blog&id=414924

2. Big Data and analytics  Big Data and Data Science (1-4)  http://blog.sciencenet.cn/blog-1565-783786.htmlhttp://blog.sciencenet.cn/blog-1565-782129.html  http://blog.sciencenet.cn/blog-1565-772512.htmlhttp://blog.sciencenet.cn/home.php?mod=space&uid=1565&do=blog&id=763330

3.Social issues, such as , social networks, and differential privacy  http://blog.sciencenet.cn/blog-1565-866637.html

seem to be converging and creating a host of legal issues. Thus it is with great  deal of interest and curiosity that I went to a talk by the foremost expert on the subject,  Prof. J. Zittrain of the Harvard Law School , on April 2, 2015 entitled

Love the Processor, Hate the Process: TheTemptations of Clever Algorithms and When to Resist Them

Go to https://cyber.law.harvard.edu/events/2015/04/Zittrain for abstracts and details.

The first issue Zittrain raised is the principle of “Net Neutrality”, i.e., anything  and everything should be treated equally and no censorship should be implemented.This  principle is often considered to be an article of faith and should not be violated. However,  Zittrain pointed out problems and evidences that most of us are not aware of.  For examples,

1.    Facebook posting have actually effected voter turnout in elections

2.    Mugshot.com is a website that publishes criminal records and embarrassing facts about individuals and exhorts money to have these information removed from their website.

3.    Racist, anti-semite and other toxic websites on the Internet

4.    Computers have written essentially gibberish papers and had them published  in various scientific journals

5.    The taxi website “Uber” actually rate passengers without their consent and knowledge

6.    Search engine are often biased by various factors such as finance and algorithmic  design

Should these sites and algorithms be allowed to exist without penalties and/or  censorship. Is the Internet merely a “tool” or should it be a “friend” of the  Society? What about accountability, transparency, and informational fiduciary duties.  While he does not offer complete solutions to these vexing issues, he certainly  raised our consciousness  and concern for these problems. They are “food for thought”  for the general public and society to address.