Tech-Law Clinic Students Help Design Autonomous Vehicle Policy
Students help legislators identify, write and implement policy for rapidly advancing technology
Technology Law and Public Policy Clinic
The work is rewarding, challenging and relevant to my chosen career path. I am confident that being a part of the Clinic has given me opportunities and perspectives that would not have been available otherwise.
About the Technology Law and Public Policy Clinic
The Technology Law and Public Policy Clinic (Tech-Law Clinic) works at the intersection of public policy and technology. Students have the opportunity to write laws, compose policy papers, meet with stakeholders and provide legislative testimony. In the last few years, Tech-Law Clinicians wrote legislation establishing Washington state's Office of Privacy and Data Security, composed materials leading to the passage of Washington House Bill 1788, which outlawed non-consensual pornography (also known as "revenge porn") and assisted in the successful passage of Washington House Bill 2970 establishing a working group which will assist the state in crafting policies governing the testing and use of autonomous vehicles. Locally, the Tech-Law Clinic assisted in updating and amending the City of Seattle’s Surveillance Ordinance. Students in the Tech-Law Clinic have written and shared policy papers on topics such as algorithmic discrimination; distributed energy; TOR exit nodes; three dimensional printers and police use of body cameras. Tech-Law clinicians learn about the policy making process, work with a project team and select and address a current issue where high tech and public policy cross. The Tech-Law Clinic is a unique opportunity to learn about and influence the policy making process.
Projects
2017-2018 student initiatives
- Writing and submitting a bill allowing the testing of autonomous vehicles on Washington state’s roads and highways;
- Composing a white paper exploring how Blockchain technology can be used by state and local government;
- Assisting Washington state’s working group on autonomous vehicle policy through the provision of briefing materials;
- Examining and writing about the genomics and privacy; specifically who owns the results from such testing and what can be done with this information;
- Writing about data brokers and how they might best be regulated;
- Composing a white paper on the use of artificial intelligence by private entities and how that use may impact civil liberties;
- Briefing a large local corporation’s legal team on the workings of Blockchain and how that company might employ this technology; and
- Drafting guidelines on the use of personal communications devices by state employees.
Related Publications
- Algorithmic Discrimination White Paper
- Automated Vehicles
- Autonomous Vehicle Law Report and Recommendations to the ULC Based on Existing State AV Laws, the ULC's Final Report, and Our Own Conclusions about What Constitutes a Complete Law
- Broadband and Economic Development
- Copyright and 3D Printing
- Cryptocurrencies An Introduction for Policy Makers
- Domestic Drones Technical and Policy Issues
- Employer Liability and Bring Your Own Device: Do Existing Regulations Support Employer Liability for a Compromised Personal Device?
- Gigabit Internet in Seattle
- Growing Washington’s Clean Energy Economy
- Growing Washington's Clean Energy Economy A Report to the Washington State Legislature
- Regulating the Internet of Things: Protecting the "Smart" Home
- Seattle Surveillance Ordinance Memo
- Sexual Exploitation in the Digital Age: Non-consensual Pornography and What Washington Can Do to Stop It
- Tor Exit Nodes: Legal and Policy Considerations