Twitter, Facial Recognition and the First Amendment
The Lawfare Podcast
The Lawfare Institute
4.7 • 6.4K Ratings
🗓️ 15 April 2021
⏱️ 56 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
This week on Arbiters of Truth, the Lawfare Podcast’s miniseries on our online information ecosystem, Evelyn Douek and Quinta Jurecic spoke with Jameel Jaffer and Ramya Krishnan of the Knight First Amendment Institute.
What do facial recognition software and President Trump’s erstwhile Twitter habits have in common? They both implicate the First Amendment—and hint at how old doctrines struggle to adapt to new technologies.
Evelyn and Quinta talked to Jameel and Ramya about the long-running lawsuit by the Knight Foundation over whether it violates the First Amendment for the president to block people on Twitter—a lawsuit that the Supreme Court just ended. They also asked Ramya and Jameel about the controversial facial recognition startup Clearview AI, in light of recent reporting showing just how much law enforcement uses that technology. Clearview is now confronting multiple lawsuits on the grounds that the company’s practices violate privacy laws, and its defense is that its activities are protected by the First Amendment. These cases don’t neatly fit into existing First Amendment categories, so Evelyn and Quinta asked Jameel and Ramya about the possible paths the law might take to adjust to the digital age.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The following podcast contains advertising. |
| 0:04.0 | To access an ad-free version of the LawFair podcast, |
| 0:08.0 | become a material supporter of LawFair at patreon.com slash law fair. |
| 0:14.0 | That's patreon.com slash law fair. |
| 0:18.0 | Also, check out LawFair's other podcast offerings, |
| 0:22.0 | rational security, chatter, law fair no bull, and the aftermath. |
| 0:29.0 | The Internet Service providers are arguing that a law that regulates what they can collect from their subscribers, |
| 0:41.0 | and how they can use that information, violates the First Amendment, violates their First Amendment rights. |
| 0:47.0 | And, you know, there too, if you accept the arguments that the Infinite Service providers are making, |
| 0:53.0 | it's difficult to see how legislatures are going to be able to protect privacy online, |
| 0:58.0 | again, is necessary to our enjoyment of the freedoms of speech and association. |
| 1:04.0 | I'm Quintur Geresick, and this is the LawFair podcast, April 15th, 2021. |
| 1:12.0 | Today, we're bringing you another episode of Arbordis of Truth, |
| 1:16.0 | the LawFair Podcasts mini-series on our online information ecosystem. |
| 1:20.0 | This week, Evelyn Duick and I spoke with Jamil Jaffer and Ramiya Krishnan |
| 1:25.0 | of the Night First Amendment Institute. |
| 1:28.0 | What two facial recognition software and President Trump's Urswild Twitter habits have in common? |
| 1:33.0 | They both implicate the First Amendment and hint at how old doctrines struggle to adapt to new technologies. |
| 1:40.0 | Now is the perfect time to talk to Jamil and Ramiya about these things. |
| 1:44.0 | The Supreme Court just ended a long-running lawsuit by the Night Institute |
| 1:48.0 | over whether it violates the First Amendment for the President to black people on Twitter. |
| 1:52.0 | We also asked Ramiya and Jamil about the controversial facial recognition startup Clearview AI |
... |
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