Check out this zine which captures the key moments from "Resisting Technofascism" - a panel discussion moderated by our senior fellow @cyn-k.bsky.social at U of Windsor's #WeRobot2025 conference last month.

See it here👇 www.uwindsor.ca/law/sites/uw...

Maybe one of the coolest things that's happened to me—being illustrated in a zine! (Not that that's the important part 😅) Much thanks to @kristenthomasen.bsky.social, awesome panelists, & @marcngui.bsky.social for capturing our discussion so well. Check it out here: tinyurl.com/rtfzine #WeRobot2025

How did I miss @cyn-k.bsky.social's magnificent live skeeting of #WeRobot2025? Everyone should read Cynthia's threadand then pick out the papers you want to read (available at www.werobot2025.ca/conference-a...)

Predatory inclusion The recent past is a foreign country; they view the world differently there. At last week's We Robot conference on technology, policy, and law, the indefatiga

This week's net.wars, "Predatory inclusion", goes to #WeRobot2025, where understanding how robots and law interact takes a distinctly Canadian flavor: netwars.pelicancrossing.net/2025/04/11/p...

#WeRobot2025 Final post to shout out whoever did the graphic design for this conference. It was SO adorable and aesthetically pleasing and friendly/ welcoming! Further helped set the tone @windsorlaw.bsky.social. Thanks to all who followed along! [I reserve the right to tack on addenda later] ☺️

#WeRobot2025 Final announcement and also an incredibly exciting one. Where will #WeRobot2026 be?? To quote Michael (missed last name, apologies) as next year's host... WELCOME TO BERLIN. !!!!! First transcontinental We Robot! (Insert joke about further reorienting of geopolitical poles away from US)

Robot Law: Volume II ‘Robot Law: Volume II assembles cutting-edge scholarship from leading experts, many of whom are regular contributors to the prestigious We Robot Conferences. This timely volume offers incisive analysi...

#WeRobot2025 So many exciting announcements in this closing!! Robot Law: Volume II, an anthology of greatest hits across years of We Robot conferences, is being published and now available for pre-order!! www.e-elgar.com/shop/usd/rob...

#WeRobot2025 @suegl.bsky.social announces tied winners of the Ian R Kerr Memorial Conference Paper Award: @clarehuntington.bsky.social's "AI Companions and Family Law" and... @katieszi.bsky.social's & Marina Pavlović's "Consensus ad artificialis"!! "Ian would be proud." GPOY of us all: 🥹😭🥹

#WeRobot2025 @kristenthomasen.bsky.social explains how Ian Kerr's spirit, as one of the original 3 co-founders of We Robot, has run through this conference and is why it tends to feel more collegial and public interest-minded, hopes attendees who didn't know Ian felt that ethos ❤️

#WeRobot2025 @katieszi.bsky.social makes exciting announcement that this summer will see inaugural hopefully-annual natl Canadian law & tech conference, happening at @schulichlaw.bsky.social, organized by @karanicolas.bsky.social @suziedunn.bsky.social & team of other tech law profs across country!

...oh. welp. #WeRobot2025

#WeRobot2025 Closing remarks by @kristenthomasen.bsky.social (our incredible conference chair who, at times from an outside observer perspective, seemed to be practically single-handedly pulling this all together!). KT thanks student RAs, discussants, authors, & attendees for making it all happen ❤️🎉

#WeRobot2025 @kristenthomasen.bsky.social brings up interesting issues around how this may implicate private sector vs public sector issues, and additionally (reason for fans question) could violative use of FRT at these venues somehow become a matter of freedom of assembly & association?

#WeRobot2025 @kristenthomasen.bsky.social: "Would a venue use FRT on sports fans one night, and then on Taylor Swift fans the next?" This speaks to my admittedly dubious reform strategy of—based on how things shook out with streaming & deepfakes—"deploy bad tech on Taylor Swift & watch it disappear"

The Inconsentability of Facial Surveillance Governments and companies often use consent to justify the use of facial recognition technologies for surveillance. Many proposals for regulating facial recognition technology incorporate consent rule...

#WeRobot2025 @suegl.bsky.social notes she is no longer at "Meowcrosoft", and now works full-time for her cat, Tatters. Tatters has feedback for Senthe. Specifically, reading "The Inconsentability of Facial Surveillance" by @evanselinger.bsky.social & @hartzog.bsky.social:

Obfuscation With Obfuscation, Finn Brunton and Helen Nissenbaum mean to start a revolution. They are calling us not to the barricades but to our computers, offering us w...

#WeRobot2025 @suegl.bsky.social: Recommends Senthe look to FRT research & legal work in other jurisdictions, as well as Finn Brunton & Helen Nissenbaum's _Obfuscation: A User's Guide for Privacy and Protest_: mitpress.mit.edu/978026252986...

Madison Square Garden Uses Facial Recognition to Ban Its Owner’s Enemies (Published 2022) MSG Entertainment, the owner of the arena and Radio City Music Hall, has put lawyers who represent people suing it on an “exclusion list” to keep them out of concerts and sporting events.

2) "Madison Square Garden Uses Facial Recognition to Ban Its Owner’s Enemies" www.nytimes.com/2022/12/22/n... — The wild thing is the lawyer wasn't even attached to any cases against MSG owners! She just worked at the same law firm that represented a client against them! #WeRobot2025

1) Wrongful arrests of Black people from faulty use of FRT: "How Wrongful Arrests Based on AI Derailed 3 Men's Lives" www.wired.com/story/wrongf... and "Eight Months Pregnant and Arrested After False Facial Recognition Match" www.nytimes.com/2023/08/06/b... #WeRobot2025

#WeRobot2025 Senthe's paper opens with an imaginary scenario where a woman brings her father to an NFL game; they are both Black and he is mistakenly ID'd by FRT while trying to enter the stadium, and wrongfully arrested. This fact pattern combines two very real stories:

#WeRobot2025 Senthe notes this paper is an early draft and is an extension of her core work looking at biometrics data collection of athletes. Has struggled with people in sports/business world asking "who cares? people can just leave the game" — breaks down along racial lines

Tom Morello, Zack de la Rocha, and Boots Riley Boycotting Venues That Use Face-Scanning Technology Rage Against the Machine founders Tom Morello and Zack de la Rocha are among more than 100 artists boycotting venues using face-scanning technology.

#WeRobot2025 Can't discuss facial recognition in entertainment venues without mentioning this brilliant campaign by @fightforthefuture.org: "Over 100 artists including Rage Against the Machine co-founders Tom Morello and Zack de la Rocha...are boycotting any concert venue that uses [FRT]..."

#WeRobot2025 @lukestark.bsky.social: Would support strong proscription of FRT use. He once wrote a piece calling FRT "the plutonium of AI":

#WeRobot2025 @lukestark.bsky.social: One thread from this is securitization of sports. (@drvv.bsky.social's paper discussed the securitization of food and global food availability. Thinking someone could write a book titled sthg like, "Is Securitization Eating the World" if doesn't exist already)

Zotero | Groups > werobot2025 Zotero is a free, easy-to-use tool to help you collect, organize, cite, and share research.

Day two of live-biblio-graphing #werobot2025
www.zotero.org/groups/59400...

For the current talk, may I recommend 1) www.travelandleisure.com/best-clear-s... and www.theverge.com/news/637228/...

#WeRobot2025 @lukestark.bsky.social: Paper raises questions about use of FRT not just by NFL, but what about other professional leagues? What about in venues that are used by multiple sports leagues? What about college football players? (Are we setting up for NCAA copyright cases redux but for FRT?)

#WeRobot2025 @lukestark.bsky.social: Question of if responsibility lies with e.g. stadium owner, or NFL, or if it's municipal property? And sets out different categories of facial recognition tech: 1:many as opposed to 1:1

#WeRobot2025 Everyone back from coffee break for last paper of the conference! "Game Face: Legal Tackle on Facial Recognition and Privacy Rights in the NFL" by (sports law & business law prof!) Shanthi Senthe @windsorlaw.bsky.social w/ @lukestark.bsky.social as discussant. This will be fun.

#WeRobot2025 Went up to ask a question /suggest a point (also gave comments at the first session this morning, and was the discussant for @drvv.bsky.social's paper yesterday morning), and realized: Who livetweets the livetweeter? 🥺 :p

#WeRobot2025 @caryscraig.bsky.social to @aselbst.bsky.social: So speaking of US-centric paper on discrimination law... has anything... changed for you in your country... lately? Andrew: You may have noticed Part 4 seemed more hastily written than the other parts...

Bots Are Terrible at Recognizing Black Faces. Let's Keep it That Way. Color photography was optimized for light skin. Facial recognition technologies are just carrying on color film’s historical non-registry of black people.

#WeRobot2025 @ricksva.bsky.social references this article (with a great, pointed title) to question whether accuracy is even desirable let alone at the expense of fairness. // A classic example of predatory inclusion (cf journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1...)