New Technologies for Human Rights Law and Practice

New technological innovations offer significant opportunities to promote and protect human rights. At the same time, they also pose undeniable risks. In some areas, they may even be changing what we mean by human rights. The fact that new technologies are often privately controlled raises further questions about accountability and transparency and the role of human rights in regulating these actors. This volume – edited by Molly K. Land and Jay D. Aronson – provides an essential roadmap for understanding the relationship between technology and human rights law and practice. It offers cutting-edge analysis and practical strategies in contexts as diverse as autonomous lethal weapons, climate change technology, the Internet and social media, and water meters. This title is also available as Open Access.

Author Biography

Molly K. Land is Professor of Law and Human Rights at the University of Connecticut School of Law and Associate Director of the University of Connecticut’s Human Rights Institute. Her research focuses on the intersection of human rights, science, technology, and innovation. Her most recent work considers the duties of Internet companies to promote and protect rights online as well as the effect of new technologies on human rights fact-finding, advocacy, and enforcement. Land has authored several human rights reports, including a report for the World Bank on the role of new technologies in promoting human rights. She is currently a member of the Committee on Scientific Freedom and Responsibility with the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Jay D. Aronson is the founder and director of the Center for Human Rights Science and an Associate Professor of science, technology, and society in the History Department at Carnegie Mellon University, Pennsylvania. His recent book, Who Owns the Dead?: The Science and Politics of Death at Ground Zero (2016), analyzes the recovery, identification, and memorialization of the victims of the 9/11 World Trade Center attacks. He also conducts research on the acquisition and analysis of video evidence in human rights investigations. Aronson received his Ph.D. in the history of science and technology from the University of Minnesota and was both a pre- and post-doctoral fellow at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government.