Research articles on GOVERNANCE

Addressing gendered affordances of the platform economy: the case of UpWork

Elisabetta Stringhi, University of Milan
PUBLISHED ON: 22 Mar 2022 DOI: 10.14763/2022.1.1634

UpWork affordances are gendered affordances, since male users are allowed different conducts compared to female freelancers, who experience cyberviolence. UpWork serves as a case study to investigate the relationship between digital platform functioning and gender inequality in a platform economy context.

Artificial emotional intelligence beyond East and West

Daniel White, University of Cambridge
Hirofumi Katsuno, Doshisha University
PUBLISHED ON: 11 Feb 2022 DOI: 10.14763/2022.1.1618

Artificial emotional intelligence refers to technologies that perform, recognise, or record affective states. More than merely a technological function, however, it is also a social process whereby cultural assumptions about what emotions are and how they are made are translated into composites of code, software, and mechanical platforms. This essay illustrates how aspects of cultural difference are both incorporated and elided in projects that equip machines with emotional intelligence.

This paper process-traces how European policymakers have delegated regulatory responsibilities to private certification and monitoring bodies acting as regulatory intermediaries. It explores how regulators can constrain or incentivise self-regulation that exists in their shadow via intermediaries, instead of using direct modes of regulation.

Safeguarding European values with digital sovereignty: an analysis of statements and policies

Huw Roberts, University of Oxford
Josh Cowls, University of Oxford
Federico Casolari, University of Bologna
Jessica Morley, University of Oxford
Mariarosaria Taddeo, University of Oxford
Luciano Floridi, University of Oxford
PUBLISHED ON: 30 Sep 2021 DOI: 10.14763/2021.3.1575

This paper is part of Governing “European values” inside data flows, a special issue of Internet Policy Review guest-edited by Kristina Irion, Mira Burri, Ans Kolk, Stefania Milan. Introduction Governments’ interest in the “datafied society” (Hintz et al., 2018) as an object of policy and regulation is nothing new, with a long-held recognition that governance protocols (policies, ethics frameworks, and regulations) can be used to reshape the technological infrastructure underpinning society and hence its nature (Floridi, 2018; van Dijck & Poell, 2016). However, the widespread adoption of the term “sovereignty”—a concept loaded with legal and political connotations—to describe authority over …

Embedding European values in data governance: a case for public data commons

Jan J. Zygmuntowski, Kozminski University
Laura Zoboli, University of Warsaw
Paul F. Nemitz, European Commission
PUBLISHED ON: 30 Sep 2021 DOI: 10.14763/2021.3.1572

By analysing data governance models and inherent properties of data, we point towards public data commons as the model securing European values and increasing sharing.

Beyond the individual: governing AI’s societal harm

Nathalie A. Smuha, KU Leuven
PUBLISHED ON: 30 Sep 2021 DOI: 10.14763/2021.3.1574

In this article, I propose a distinction between individual harm, collective harm and societal harm caused by artificial intelligence (AI), and focus particularly on the latter. By listing examples and identifying concerns, I provide a conceptualisation of AI’s societal harm so as to better enable its identification and mitigation. Drawing on an analogy with environmental law, which also aims to protect an interest affecting society at large, I propose governance mechanisms that EU policymakers should consider to counter AI’s societal harm.