Dinner Is Being Recorded, Whether You Know It or Not; The New York Times, February 16, 2026

  Luke Fortney , The New York Times; Dinner Is Being Recorded, Whether You Know It or Not

"To be in public is to risk being filmed. And these days, there’s a good chance it’s happening surreptitiously with smart glasses. Their wearers are filming in restaurants, cafes and bars, capturing warped, eye-level video of drive-through pranks, Michelin-starred meals and work shifts at Texas Roadhouse. Servers, owners and customers can end up as captive participants...

Filming in public spaces is broadly protected by the First Amendment. Some states, including California and Pennsylvania, have two-party consent laws that prohibit recording without express permission, but enforcing them hinges on whether someone has a “reasonable expectation of privacy” in a given setting, said Aaron Krowne, a New York City lawyer specializing in privacy and civil liberties. Restaurants fall in a legal gray area: They are privately owned, but open to anyone who walks in...

The responsibility of using these devices ethically falls largely on the wearer."

The ethics of AI, from policing to healthcare; KPBS; November 3, 2025

Jade Hindmon / KPBS Midday Edition Host,  Ashley Rusch / Producer, KPBS; The ethics of AI, from policing to healthcare

"Artificial intelligence is everywhere — from our office buildings, to schools and government agencies.

The Chula Vista Police Department is joining cities to use AI to write police reports. Several San Diego County police departments also use AI-powered drones to support their work. 

Civil liberties advocates are concerned about privacy, safety and surveillance. 

On Midday Edition, we sit down with an expert in AI ethics to discuss the philosophical questions of responsible AI.

Guest:

• David Danks, professor of data science, philosophy and policy at UC San Diego"

AI Ethics Lab Explores Impacts of the Technology’s Rapid Growth; Rutgers-Camden, March 17, 2025

 Christina Lynn, Rutgers-Camden; AI Ethics Lab Explores Impacts of the Technology’s Rapid Growth

"A global research initiative has emerged at Rutgers–Camden to tackle the pressing ethical challenges and opportunities posed by the rapid growth of artificial intelligence, or AI. 

Launched last fall, the AI Ethics Lab, housed in the Digital Studies Center under the Department of English and Communication, examines artificial intelligence’s ethical and legal implications across the AI life cycle, from what kind of data is collected to the monitoring of this emerging technology. 

Leading the charge is Lecturer of Philosophy and Religion Nathan C. Walker, a First Amendment and human-rights expert with an international AI research pedigree and experience working with one of the world’s leading AI platforms. 

“Studying civil liberties and human rights uniquely positions me to identify where AI can go wrong,” Walker said. “If we go back to the basics—our core principles and our core values—we can actually remind humanity that eight decades of human-rights law have prepared us for this moment."

NEH Awards $2.72 Million to Create Research Centers Examining the Cultural Implications of Artificial Intelligence; National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), August 27, 2024

 Press Release, National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH); NEH Awards $2.72 Million to Create Research Centers Examining the Cultural Implications of Artificial Intelligence

"The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) today announced grant awards totaling $2.72 million for five colleges and universities to create new humanities-led research centers that will serve as hubs for interdisciplinary collaborative research on the human and social impact of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies.

As part of NEH’s third and final round of grant awards for FY2024, the Endowment made its inaugural awards under the new Humanities Research Centers on Artificial Intelligence program, which aims to foster a more holistic understanding of AI in the modern world by creating scholarship and learning centers across the country that spearhead research exploring the societal, ethical, and legal implications of AI. 

Institutions in California, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, and Virginia were awarded NEH grants to establish the first AI research centers and pilot two or more collaborative research projects that examine AI through a multidisciplinary humanities lens. 

The new Humanities Research Centers on Artificial Intelligence grant program is part of NEH’s agencywide Humanities Perspectives on Artificial Intelligence initiative, which supports humanities projects that explore the impacts of AI-related technologies on truth, trust, and democracy; safety and security; and privacy, civil rights, and civil liberties. The initiative responds to President Biden’s Executive Order on Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Artificial Intelligence, which establishes new standards for AI safety and security, protects Americans’ privacy, and advances equity and civil rights."

Defenders of Patron Privacy; American Libraries, September 1, 2021

Sanhita SinhaRoy , American Libraries; Defenders of Patron Privacy

"When the FBI approached George Christian in 2005 with a national security letter (NSL) and lifetime gag order, the then–executive director of the Library Connection—a Connecticut library consortium—convened a meeting with the organization’s executive committee. The NSL would have forced them to turn over customer information without a judge’s order or a grand jury subpoena. They refused to comply and later came to be known as the Connecticut Four.

With the help of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), they challenged the climate of surveillance and government overreach that followed the September 11 attacks, showing the nation that librarians would stand by the rights of patrons and civil liberties.

Here, the four share their memories of the experience and its resonance today with American Libraries.They are Christian, retired executive director of Library Connection; Barbara Bailey, director of Welles-Turner Memorial Library in Glastonbury, Connecticut; Peter Chase, retired director of Plainville (Conn.) Public Library; and Janet Nocek, director of Portland (Conn.) Library."