Bracing for Impact Webinar Series Archives - IPOsgoode /osgoode/iposgoode/tag/bracing-for-impact-webinar-series/ An Authoritive Leader in IP Fri, 15 Oct 2021 16:00:55 +0000 en-CA hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 Happy 13th Birthday IP Osgoode! /osgoode/iposgoode/2021/10/15/happy-13th-birthday-ip-osgoode/ Fri, 15 Oct 2021 16:00:55 +0000 https://www.iposgoode.ca/?p=38423 The post Happy 13th Birthday IP Osgoode! appeared first on IPOsgoode.

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HeadshotAshley Moniz is the Managing Editor of the IPilogue and the Assistant Director of IP Osgoode.

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On October 15, 2008, at the Four Seasons Hotel in Toronto, IP Osgoode was officially launched. Known as Osgoode Hall Law School’s Intellectual Property Law and Technology Program, Prof. Pina D’Agostino set out to create a program that would lead IP law discourse, foster a vibrant community whose members are welcome to share broad perspectives, and diversify the IP innovation ecosystem. Now, 13 years later, IP Osgoode and the IP Innovation Clinic are still forging new paths and relationships in the IP community.

Here are a few noteworthy accomplishments from the past year:

IP Osgoode

  • Runners-Up at the Oxford IP Moot: in March 2021, for the first time. Under Prof. D’Agostino and Prof. David Vaver’s academic supervision and expert coaching from lawyers at Cassels Brock & Blackwell LLP and Deeth Williams Wall LLP, our team placed second after an incredible showing and very close competition, winning the Kirkland & Ellis Runner-Up Prize for Oral Proceedings in the process.
  • Leading Legal Disruption Published: in May 2021, . The book, titled Leading Legal Disruption: Artificial Intelligence and a Toolkit for Lawyers and the Law, was co-edited by Dr. Aviv Gaon of IDC Herzliya and Carole Piovesan of INQ Law.
  • Two Bracing for Impact Webinars: IP Osgoode collaborated with the Harry Radzyner Law School at the IDC Herzliya and Microsoft Canada to present two new webinars in our Bracing for Impact Event Series: “” in and “” in , the latter being also in collaboration with Alectra’s GRE&T Centre. The webinars featured speakers from around the world and drew in almost 250 spectators between them.
  • First Virtual Trademark Hearing: thanks to the Honourable Justice Michael Manson of the Federal Court of Canada, over 70 Osgoode students and faculty members virtually attended the .
  • IPilogue’s Return to Daily Publishing: under a new structure, the has returned to publishing daily blog articles written by our dedicated team of IPilogue Writers. Almost 270 articles have been published over the past year alone, more than 120 more than the previous year. We continue to receive and publish guest submissions from students, academics, lawyers, and members of our as well.

IP Innovation Clinic

  • IP Innovation ChatBot Launched: The IP Innovation Clinic officially launched its through a . Developed with assistance and support from Norton Rose Fulbright Canada LLP, CIPO, and ISED Canada, the AI-backed ChatBot provides accurate and reliable IP law information for free on our website. Thanks to further funding from ISED through the National IP Strategy, we look forward to continuing to expand the breadth of the ChatBot’s impact and better reach and assist members of underrepresented communities in the IP Innovation ecosystem.
  • Mitacs-funded Business Strategy Internships: in March 2021, . The IP Innovation Clinic placed 3 Clinic Fellows with businesses pivoting their operations in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Prof. D’Agostino was also featured in the marking the official launch of the program.
  • Clinic Clients Secured Millions in Funding: two IP Innovation Clinic clients leveraged IP information from our Clinic Fellows to massive expansions of their business. to develop their drone technology and for their sustainable clothing brand.
  • First LPP Candidate: during the Winter 2021 Term, under the supervision of IP Osgoode alumnus Reshika Dhir of Bereskin & Parr LLP, the IP Innovation Clinic . We look forward to welcoming two new LPP candidates in Winter 2022.
  • The IP Lunch Club Continues: for the second year in a row, and in collaboration with the City of Barrie Sandbox Centre, Prof. D’Agostino’s Directed Reading: IP Innovation Program students presented , educating local entrepreneurs and innovators about registering and commercializing IP rights. Many attendees from these webinars go on to engage the IP Innovation Clinic for IP and commercialization assistance.

As always, we are grateful to all of the students, faculty, partners, and our Advisory Board for making this past year as great a success as it was. None of the above accomplishments would have happened if not for their passion, dedication, and hard work. As we welcome new students and continue to seek out more involvement, we look forward to another wonderful year and welcome new students and partnerships who can help us grow to even greater heights.

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Welcome Back to IP Osgoode: Here's a Sneak Peek at what's to come this year /osgoode/iposgoode/2021/09/03/welcome-back-to-ip-osgoode-heres-a-sneak-peek-at-whats-to-come-this-year/ Fri, 03 Sep 2021 14:04:24 +0000 https://www.iposgoode.ca/?p=38158 The post Welcome Back to IP Osgoode: Here's a Sneak Peek at what's to come this year appeared first on IPOsgoode.

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We hope you enjoyed your summer and would like to welcome you back to another exciting academic year at IP Osgoode! As we navigate these challenging times and hope to see many of you in person again in the coming months, our commitment to your learning and growth remains stronger than ever.

It is our great pleasure to provide you all with a sneak preview of what we have planned for the 2021-2022 academic year and encourage you to participate.

IPilogue

Our is one of Canada’s leading IP Blogs with an enthusiastic international following. To date, we have published over 2,600 original posts and 1,400 comments.

The number of visitors to our website and our weekly newsletter () readership continue to grow exponentially and span the globe. Our diverse continued to blog throughout the summer and constitutes to be an important part of IP Osgoode’s team and vision of fostering diverse views on intellectual property and technology matters. In order to keep abreast of the latest in IP and technology in Canada and around the world, and to learn more about IP Osgoode’s events and activities, please to the IPIGRAM and follow us on , , and .

We are for this academic year. If you are interested in joining the IPilogue Team, please send your cover letter, CV, law school transcripts, and a writing sample to iposgoode@osgoode.yorku.ca by the end of the day today.

We will also continue to accept submissions on a guest basis. For more information about submitting articles to the IPilogue, click .

IP Innovation Clinic

Now in its eleventh year of operation, the IP Innovation Clinic continues to complement Osgoode’s rich history of clinical offerings by providing students with an opportunity to gain hands-on, practical experience while learning about some common early-stage IP and business-related issues facing under-resourced inventors, entrepreneurs, and start-up companies.

To this end, we our AI-powered , a free online service offering IP law information to users and further empowering creators with the tools to protect their IP. We look forward to continuing to develop the IP Innovation ChatBot by expanding its knowledge base and making it more accessible, but in the meantime, we encourage you to ask our as many questions as possible. The more questions it receives, the better it becomes at answering them. You can learn more about it by watching the recording of our launch event .

The continues to expand our client base and provide our students with a valuable and unique experiential learning opportunity. We are currently for the 2021-2022 academic term. If you are interested, please send your completed application to iposgoode@osgoode.yorku.ca by the end of the day today.

Open Research Assistant Positions

Prof. Pina D’Agostino and Prof. David Vaver are hiring , primarily for assistance in copyright law. If you are interested, please send a completed application to iposgoode@osgoode.yorku.ca by September 10, 2021.

Oxford International Intellectual Property Law Moot & USPTO National Patent Application Drafting Competition

Following from the momentum of our , we will soon host tryouts for this year’s competition, as well as the USPTO National Patent Application Drafting Competition. Look out for our emails and social media posts to learn about how you can get involved in either competition.

IP Intensive

The IP Intensive is a unique program that gives students practical, experiential education in a workplace setting for an entire term in lieu of being in the classroom. Our students gain valuable practical experience which will assist them in obtaining employment after law school, and some of our students’ research in the program has been published in the Intellectual Property Journal (IPJ).

Each year we build upon what we accomplished in previous years in the and offer our students an even more enriched and engaging experience. For the Fall 2021 term, we are proud to have partnered with two new placement organizations: Canadian Heritage (International Trade Branch) and Xanadu Quantum Technologies. We are pleased to welcome our returning placement organizations: Alectra Utilities, AstraZeneca Canada Inc., the Bergeron Entrepreneurs & Science and Technology (BEST) Lab, Canadian Heritage (Broadcast, Copyright and Creative Marketplace Branch), CBC, Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO), SOCAN, The Globe and Mail, TEVA Canada Limited, TVO, and ventureLAB.

Professor will be the Director of the IP Intensive program this year. Throughout the term, he will meet with the students to discuss topics relating to intellectual property law, to share their experiences in the work environment, and to participate in a cross-pollination of ideas. The students will also blog on the IPilogue and maintain a reflective journal about their internship experiences. The students will be responsible for leading seminar presentations during the last week of November, and ultimately submitting a major research paper.

The IP Intensive Program kicks off with two weeks of class seminars featuring experts from the IP community. The seminars cover a wide variety of topics, from “Collective Copyright Administration” to “Intellectual Property Reform Process”, and from “IP Litigation & Remedies” to “Digital Content Platforms & Broadcasting Industry”, just to name a few. Some of our experts speaking include members of the judiciary, officials from the Government of Canada, Canadian and U.S. IP litigation experts, in-house counsel, top executives from a broad range of industries, and practitioners from major Canadian law firms.

Olha Senyshyn’s Departure and Ashley Moniz’s Welcome

This Fall, we bid a bittersweet farewell to IP Osgoode’s Assistant Director, Olha Senyshyn. Olha has been a valuable member of the IP Osgoode team for the past two years. We will miss her very much and wish her all the best in her future endeavours.

We are pleased to share that Ashley Moniz, who joined us this past January, will continue in his role as Assistant Director and succeed Olha. We look forward to continue to work with Ashley as he has already proven to be wonderful addition to our team.

“Bracing for Impact: Webinar Series” continues & “IP Osgoode Speaks Series” Returns

Building on the success of our signature and in our webinar series over the past year, we plan to continue to use our Bracing for Impact: Webinar Series to maintain the dialogue among academic scholars, practitioners, and industry leaders from Canada and around the world, including Israel and the EU. The series of events explores critical issues in emerging technologies, data policy and governance strategies, with a focus on AI, blockchain, privacy, disruptive technology and tech innovation and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In collaboration with the Harry Radzyner Law School at the IDC Herzliya in Israel and Microsoft Canada, we have so far hosted 3 events in our Bracing for Impact Webinar Series: “” (22 June 2020), “” (1 December 2020), and “” (28 June 2021), the latter webinar was also hosted in collaboration with Alectra Inc.’s GRE&T Centre and featured the newly-minted Ontario Minister of the Environment, Conservation & Parks, David Piccini. Each webinar took place virtually over Microsoft Teams in the format of a panel discussion featuring scholars from across North America, Europe, and Israel.

You can read more about each of our past events and watch recordings of each webinar on our . We look forward to launching our new Bracing for Impact website very soon, so stay tuned for that!

We also plan to revive our IP Osgoode Speaks Series. Since 2008, we’ve hosted 29 IP Osgoode Speaks lectures with guests from industry, academia, and the judiciary (including the Supreme Court of Canada) from Canada and around the world. We hope to have even more distinguished speakers join us this year.

Please stay tuned for more details on upcoming events by visiting our Ěýand subscribing to our weekly e-Newsletter, the .Ěý

Our Writing Competitions

Gowling WLG Best Blog in IP Law & Technology Prize

Each year, through the sponsorship of Gowling WLG, four prizes are awarded to full-time Osgoode students. The recipients for the 2020-2021 academic year were on the IP Osgoode website. Eligibility for the opens today. All submissions by Osgoode JD students between now and the end of the Winter term will be considered for the prize.

Canada’s IP Writing Challenge

IP Osgoode, together with the Intellectual Property Institute of Canada (IPIC), runs to further enhance intellectual property public policy research and discussion. This competition is open to three categories of entrants: JD students, LLM and PhD students, and practitioners.

The submission deadline is July 1 every year. This year, we received a wide range of entries from a broad spectrum of backgrounds and institutions across Canada.Ěý We thank all those who participated in the Writing Challenge. We are grateful to Dan Bereskin, Professor Ikechi Mgbeoji and Justice Roger Hughes for agreeing to judge the articles again this year. Stay tuned, as we will announce the Challenge winners in late October and open our next competition early next year, among various other initiatives.

A community is only as vibrant as its contributors. Given the challenges of the ongoing pandemic, we continue to confront complex and challenging debates in intellectual property and related areas of technology.ĚýPlease share with us your ideas to enrich our program and to do our part to make a difference during these unprecedented times. Let us know if you would like to get more involved or if you would like to announce any IP & tech-related research projects or activities.

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IP Osgoode tackles AI and the Environment in "Bracing for Impact" Webinar /osgoode/iposgoode/2021/06/30/ip-osgoode-tackles-ai-and-the-environment-in-bracing-for-impact-webinar/ Wed, 30 Jun 2021 16:00:46 +0000 https://www.iposgoode.ca/?p=37761 The post IP Osgoode tackles AI and the Environment in "Bracing for Impact" Webinar appeared first on IPOsgoode.

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Full panel of speakers

Photo Credit: Ashley Moniz

Ali MesbahianAli Mesbahian is an IPilogue Writer and a 2L JD Candidate at Osgoode Hall Law School.

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On June 28, 2021, IP Osgoode hosted a panel discussion in their Bracing for Impact Webinar Series titled AI’s Dirty Footprint. Organized in collaboration with the Harry Radzyner Law School at IDC Herzliya in Israel, Microsoft Canada, and Alectra's GRE&T Centre, the central question of this webinar was: in what way can we use artificial intelligence (AI) to ensure that the negative impacts of its energy consumption do not exceed its beneficial effects for environmental sustainability?

IP Osgoode’s own Professor Giuseppina (Pina) D’Agostino opened the panel by setting the stage for the discussion and introducing the speakers.Ěý

In his opening remarks, Dr. Amir Asif, Vice President of Research and Innovation at 91ŃÇÉ«, noted that AI remains a “key strategic area” for research at 91ŃÇÉ«. Emphasizing the need for an interdisciplinary approach, Dr. Asif also stated that exploring AI’s ethical and legal implications will require collaboration between researchers in the AI community, social sciences, and the humanities.

Indeed, “collaboration” was one common thread among all the speakers. In his first formal address since he took office, the Hon. David Piccini—Ontario Minister of the Environment, Conservation and Parks—turned not only to universities for ideas in using AI to improve the climate situation, but also to youth as part of the government’s broader environmental policy plan. The youth, he noted, must be “unapologetically engaged”. Given the , the Minister’s words are welcome if they signal any change.

The panel then proceeded to a discussion moderated by Dr. Aviv Gaon, professor at IDC Herzliya. In his introduction, Gaon brought attention to that outlines 17 internationally-agreed-upon sustainable development goals for 2030, spread across 169 targets. With respect to the environment, the study shows that AI’s potential to enable the environmental targets of these 17 goals outweighs its inhibitory effects.

The first panelist was Andrea Roszell, Director of Energy, Sustainability and Infrastructure at Guidehouse. Her discussion was centred on AI’s capabilities to increase efficiency in the energy and utility sector. In particular, she pointed to the “energy cloud”, a concept developed at Guidehouse that moves away from a “one-way flow” of power from energy centers to consumers, to a more networked, interconnected “multi-flow” dynamic. This requires an infrastructure—a neural grid—that utilizes artificial intelligence in technology, such as sensors software and monitoring systems, to create large “data sets” for utilities to access. Despite requiring increased energy consumption, Roszell stated that these data sets are a net benefit to the environment due to the new efficiency gained in management of greenhouse gases and predictive maintenance models that ultimately lead to a more sustainable and reliant energy infrastructure.

The second panelist was Dr. Audrey Lee, Senior Director of Energy Strategy at Microsoft. She started by pointing to Among other goals, Dr. Lee highlighted Microsoft’s plan to offset all of its electricity usage with renewable energy by 2025 and to be carbon negative by 2050. Lee noted, however, that the first step in achieving any such goal is to establish a proficient “measurement infrastructure” that can enable us to quantify our environmental footprint with sufficient precision—for example, data analytics that detail how and to what extent a particular utility uses electricity at each hour.

The panel then continued to its third speaker, Kapil Singhal, Co-Founder & CEO of Vyntelligence. At the very outset of his discussion, he too emphasized the need for collaboration. In particular, Singhal noted how Vyntelligence has made possible a new form collaboration between artificial intelligence and human brain power. Utilizing short videos of workflow in the field, artificial intelligence can augment workers’ awareness of a given project by revealing further areas of risk and benefit. This, when combined with human cognitive and decision-making power (which Singhal noted far exceeds what AI can learn), will yield more efficient outcomes. One such outcome is enhancing the infrastructure that allows for remote work (the importance of which is vividly felt in times of COVID-19), reducing thereby the carbon footprint of work-related travel.Ěý

Finally, the panel featured Neetika Sathe, Vice President of the GRE&T Centre at Alectra Inc. First, she noted that as more and more people gain access to the internet, global energy consumption is bound to increase. Thus, she emphasized the need for international collaboration beyond local efforts. She further mentioned that about half of the energy used at datacentres is used to cool their servers, which brings attention to the need for more efficient infrastructures.

In closing, it is important to address that, as the panelists mentioned, data centres account for only 1-2% of global energy consumption. However, as I mentioned in , AI’s “dirty footprint” is not confined to the energy it consumes, but extends to its ability to offer services for resource extraction which, for example, is enabled by the connection and collaboration between the tech and fossil fuel industries. Any meaningful policy directed at reducing AI’s negative environmental impacts must also account for this broader perspective.

A link to watch a recording of the event can be found on IP Osgoode's page.

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LAST CHANCE TO REGISTER - Bracing for Impact Webinar: AI's Dirty Footprint /osgoode/iposgoode/2021/06/28/last-chance-to-register-bracing-for-impact-webinar-ais-dirty-footprint/ Mon, 28 Jun 2021 11:45:34 +0000 https://www.iposgoode.ca/?p=37732 The post LAST CHANCE TO REGISTER - Bracing for Impact Webinar: AI's Dirty Footprint appeared first on IPOsgoode.

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The day has finally come! Our starts TODAY at 12:00 pm (EST)/7:00 pm (IST). Please join us as we discuss the delicate relationship between artificial intelligence and the environment, and how AI innovation can continue to thrive sustainably.Ěý

If you have not yet registered for our event, make sure you do so BEFORE 9:00 am (EST). You can also read about our esteemed lineup of speakers Ěýbefore the event begins.

We are grateful to both and the for their help in promoting our event.

If you cannot join us live, a recording of the webinar will be available after the broadcast through our website. We would like to thank everyone involved in helping us make this event a reality, including our collaborators at IDC Herzliya, Microsoft Canada, and Alectra's GRE&T Centre, and we look forward to presenting this fascinating event!

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Bracing for Impact - Cyber Challenges to Human Rights /osgoode/iposgoode/2021/01/19/bracing-for-impact-cyber-challenges-to-human-rights/ Tue, 19 Jan 2021 17:35:27 +0000 https://www.iposgoode.ca/?p=36332 The post Bracing for Impact - Cyber Challenges to Human Rights appeared first on IPOsgoode.

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On December 1, 2020, I had the pleasure of attending IP Osgoode's . Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, this episode of the series was held online in the form of a webinar. This year's theme was cyber challenges to human rights, which is increasingly becoming one of the critical issues the global legal community has been attempting to tackle. The conference started with opening remarks, which included the introduction of , followed by the introduction of the distinguished panel of expert speakers.

Professor D'Agostino established the purpose of this webinar was to shine the spotlight on leading global leaders in cyberspace in the areas of national security, law enforcement, and the war on terror as effectively tackling crime and terror requires advanced technological tools. As we address these challenges, complex issues relating to public policy and human rights protection arise.

91ŃÇÉ«'s Head of Research & Innovation Professor gave his opening remarks on 91ŃÇÉ«'s social and environmental impact and commitment. Professor Amir Asif mentioned that 91ŃÇÉ« had been recognized by the Times Higher Education (THE) in its Impact Rankings placing 33rd out of 767 universities for how it tackled its serious economic, social and health challenges at home and across the world. Professor Amir Asif declared cyber challenges to human rights as one of the key novel global concerns. He mentioned that some of the key goals for 91ŃÇÉ«'s future work include global digital connectivity and discovering all possibilities for collaboration and problem solving to enhance the way we think, learn and create. Professor Amir Asif then introduced Professor Irwin Cotler.

Professor Irwin Cotler is of the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights and the former Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada. Professor Irwin Cotler talked about the global pandemic, global digital authoritarianism, global assault on media freedom, and dystopian use and abuse of cyber technologies, which threaten our democracy's values and fundamental freedoms. Professor Cotler mentioned article written by Samuel Warren and Louis Brandeis, which anticipated the violations of privacy rights that may arise due to the use of mechanical devices. This issue is especially concerning because the law struggles to catch up to the racing emerging technologies.

Furthermore, Professor Cotler elaborated on his concept of dystopian use of cyber technologies by explaining the proliferation of state-sponsored cyber warfare such as weaponization of cyber technologies to attack elections, power grids, healthcare institutions, and oilfields and increasing ransomware attacks targeting different democratic institutions. Besides, malicious actors have been to repress and silence dissents at home and spread disinformation to destabilize democracies and democratic institutions abroad. This is a significant issue because the disinformation spread by foreign agents is likely to destabilize the Canadian democracy and polarize Canadian society, which calls for an immediate and comprehensive response. Hence, complex questions regarding the regulation and liability of emerging technologies must be addressed. Professor Cotler also implied the importance of having non-ambiguous laws for effective compliance of laws and human rights protections.

After Professor Cotler's conclusions, introduced from Norton Rose Fulbright. Ms. Paszti talked about the ethical issues created by AI and whether the law can alleviate this tension. As the complexity of AI solutions create public mistrust, especially because AI systems are increasingly making more critical decisions that impact people's lives, such as , or . Moral questions regarding the input data's integrity or consent, where and how these technological solutions should be deployed, and what type of oversight we should have over these uses must be adequately addressed. Moreover, she has talked about the role of voluntary codes of conduct and best practices in addition to formal regulations. For instance, privacy by design requires companies to consider privacy impacts early in the design stage and could be used to design AI solutions.

After Ms. Paszti's insights, , the President and Co-founder of Cobwebs Technologies, talked about the human rights implications and AI-Powered web intelligence for national security and law enforcement purposes. Mr. Timianker emphasized the need for guidance on law and ethics in a world where a technology company might have to deal with clients in multiple jurisdictions with different regulations. These set of rules, if appropriately established, will allow tech companies to make ethical decisions. Ethics seal might be the right way to incentivize companies to self-regulate.

Lastly, , the Senior Director of Rule of Law & Responsible Tech and European Government Affairs at Microsoft, shared her insights about . Prioritizing people at the centre of these technologies' development at an early stage is a crucial factor in establishing a responsible approach to AI. Attending the Bracing for Impact webinar indeed enabled me to think about how emerging technologies impact rights and freedoms. The protection of human rights should be the international legal responsibility of all governmental and private parties.

Written by Elif Babaoglu. Elif is a contributing IPilogue editor and an avid privacy and tech-law enthusiast with a particular focus on artificial intelligence.

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Reflections on Bracing for Impact III - COVID-19 Contact Tracing: Legal and Ethical Challenges /osgoode/iposgoode/2020/06/23/summary-of-bracing-for-impact-iii-covid-19-contact-tracing-legal-and-ethical-challenges/ Tue, 23 Jun 2020 15:50:20 +0000 https://www.iposgoode.ca/?p=35611 The post Reflections on Bracing for Impact III - COVID-19 Contact Tracing: Legal and Ethical Challenges appeared first on IPOsgoode.

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In the rush to deliver technology-based solutions to the COVID-19 pandemic, we need to resist the inclination to “move fast and break things”.

Attendees were reminded of this by Professor Dov Greenbaum on Monday, June 22nd, 2020, when IP Osgoode hosted “Bracing for Impact III: Emerging Technologies”. The virtual conference was the third in a series of speaking engagements in partnership between IP Osgoode, Microsoft, and IDC Herzliya. The discussion centred around the legal and ethical challenges surrounding COVID-19 contact tracing and was moderated by Professor Pina D’Agostino and Doctor Aviv Gaon. The full list of speakers and their bios can be found . The following is a summary of the discussion that took place.

What is Contact Tracing?

Contact tracing is a public health measure for reducing the spread of communicable diseases. It has been implemented for hundreds of years, and in essence, aims to temporarily remove carriers of a disease from society in order to reduce the disease’s spread. Manual contact tracing is initiated when an individual tests positive, and tracks only the infected individual and their known contacts.

However, in the time of COVID-19, during which John Weigelt, National Technology Officer for Microsoft Canada, says two years of innovation has occurred within two months, digital contact tracing is now possible. Applications for digital contact tracing differ from traditional contact tracing as tracing occurs constantly, creating a technological record of a person’s daily contacts, regardless of whether they ever test positive.

App Varieties

Professor Teresa Scassa enumerated three basic metrics that differentiate apps. These include the type of technology, the level of data centralization, and the voluntariness of use. You can read about examples of national apps that fall across the spectrum on each of these metrics and .

An example on the far end of the spectrum for each of these metrics is the early contact tracing effort in Israel. Professor Dov Greenbaum explained the early deployment of contact tracing in Israel, through Shabak (aka the Shin Bet), the country’s internal security department. Initial efforts saw Shabak analyzing information collected by cell phones and other sources, including records of purchases, to trace people’s movements and interactions. This was a centralized model as the information was accessible to Israel’s public health authority. Affected individuals would, without knowing they were being tracked, receive an instruction to self-quarantine.

Given its intrusive nature, this approach was the subject of domestically and internationally. As a result, the government has moved to a less intrusive approach, involving GPS-based contact tracing. However, Professor Greenbaum noted that Israel has a large population of people who do not use smartphones. As a recent discovered, at least 60% of the population must use contact tracing apps for them to be effective. Therefore, there is some concern that the new Israeli approach will not be effective, and that the government may shift back to the original, and far more intrusive, approach.

In contrast to Israel’s early approach, the has emerged as a dominant model off of which to build contact tracing apps. It leans towards the most privacy preserving of each metric, collecting only Bluetooth proximity data, storing personal information locally, and remaining voluntary. The Google-Apple API is what Canada’s national app is built upon. The app will be , beginning in July 2020.

Ethical Concerns and Trust

Currently, there is no legislation in place that specifically governs data collection from contact tracing apps. Doctor Ian Stedman advised that a robust governance framework is in fact needed before contact tracing apps can be implemented.

Without a clear statement of the purposes behind contact tracing, and without accountability measures in place to ensure transparency and purpose limitation, large sectors of the population will lack trust in these apps. Without widespread trust, contact tracing apps will not be able to attract enough users to make them effective. Therefore, governance framework must provide a backstop to data collection, retention, and use. Stakeholders, including those from the most , should be consulted in the drafting of this governance framework.

AI and Contact Tracing

Carole Piovesan, Partner and Co-founder of INQ Data Law, shone a spotlight on Toronto-based AI companies and their efforts before, during, and after the pandemic. For example, Toronto-based AI company BlueDot predicted the spread of COVID-19 as early as December 2018, and . You can hear about the early prediction from BlueDot founder and University of Toronto professor Kamran Khan .

Other important uses for AI during this time include drones for patient sample and medical supply transport, predictive modeling to ensure hospitals are prepared for the next influx of patients, as well as targeted communications and active filtering out of disinformation on social media sites.

Moving Forward

It appears that COVID-19 will be central to any decision making within the foreseeable future. While there should be efforts to develop and improve technological tools, these efforts should go hand in hand with improvements to manual solutions like COVID-19 testing.

As we move forward, there will be many more discussions, including those in the private sector, as companies start to move their workforce back into communal environments. While elements of these discussions have already been had, it has always been in the context of some far-off future. Now, all of a sudden, we have a pressing reason to dig into these complex topics and come to workable solutions that align with our values as a society as soon as possible.

If you found this event interesting, for the Bracing for Impact Webinar Series in the Fall.

Written by Rachel Marcus. Rachel is going into her third year at Osgoode Hall Law School. She is a Fellow with the IP Osgoode Innovation Clinic, and a student in the IP and Technology Law Intensive.

 

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