Congratulations to Co-Conspirator Ilya on his Senate testimony on drone warfare yesterday – I had a chance to read and offer some comments on his written submission and it is sensible and smart as Ilya always is. There’s stuff Ilya, I, and other should take up here; although I’m broadly in the same camp as […]
Author Archive | Kenneth Anderson
SCOTUS Affirms Second Circuit Dismissal of ATS Suit in Kiobel v Royal Dutch Petroleum
The US Supreme Court released its long-awaited Kiobel decision this morning, affirming the Second Circuit’s dismissal of the plaintiffs’ Alien Tort Statute claims. Chief Justice Roberts wrote the opinion, joined by Justices Scalia, Alito, Thomas, and Kennedy. Justice Kennedy wrote a separate concurrence; Justice Alito did likewise, joined by Justice Thomas. Justice Breyer concurred in the judgment, […]
The Debate About to Heat Up Over HRW’s Call to Ban “Killer Robots,” AKA Autonomous Weapon Systems
By Kenneth Anderson on April 13, 2013 7:13 pm in Human Rights Watch, International Law, National Security, Robotics, War and Armed Conflict
(And: thanks to Instapundit for linking to the new policy essay by Matthew Waxman and me from the Hoover Institution, referenced at the end of this post, Law and Ethics for Autonomous Weapon Systems – thanks Glenn!) Last November, two documents appeared within a few days of each other, each addressing the emerging legal and […]
How To Declare War (Anno Domini, 1429)
Jhesus-Maria, King of England, and you, Duke of Bedford, who call yourself regent of the Kingdom of France, you, Guillaume de la Poule, count of Suffort, Jean, sire of Talbot, and you, Thomas, sire of Scales, who call yourselves lieutenants of the Duke of Bedford, acknowledge the summons of the King of Heaven. Render to […]
Gas Laws, Flocking Behavior, and the Mosh Pit
This article has been making the rounds of social media (H/T Insta), but (while not pretending to fully understand the math) I found it cute and so bring it to your attention: “Collective Motion of Moshers at Heavy Metal Concerts.” Human collective behavior can vary from calm to panicked depending on social context … we […]
US Surveillance Drones Aid French Airstrikes in Mali
By Kenneth Anderson on March 4, 2013 1:01 pm in National Security, Robotics, Science Fiction/Fantasy, War and Armed Conflict
The Wall Street Journal national security reporting team has a new article in today’s Journal on how US surveillance drones are providing intelligence and targeting information to French forces in Mali, which then use the information to direct French (manned) airstrikes. The drone surveillance marks, according to the article, a widened role for the US […]
Whale Wars Update: Ninth Circuit Calls Sea Shepherd Actions “Piracy”
Here is the opening of Judge Kozinski’s opinion, reversing a lower court ruling and issuing a preliminary injunction in an Alien Tort Statute suit against the Sea Shepherd’s attempts to interfere with Japanese whaling vessels on the high seas: You don’t need a peg leg or an eye patch. When you ram ships; hurl glass […]
House Judiciary Committee Feb 27 Hearing on “Drones and the War on Terror”
The House Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing on Wednesday, February 27, 10:00 am, titled “Drones and the War on Terror.” Presumably video, a transcript, and the written submitted testimony will be posted at the committee website at some point. The witness list: John Bellinger, Arnold & Porter, and former Department of State Legal Adviser […]
C-SPAN Book TV Interview on ‘Living With the UN: American Responsibilities and International Interests’
If you’re interested, I’ll be on C-SPAN Book TV tomorrow, Sunday, February 24, at 1:20 pm, talking about my book, Living With the UN: American Responsibilities and International Order. It runs about half an hour, and though I have no idea whether I’m especially interesting on the program, I very much enjoyed doing it – […]
UN Invokes Absolute Legal Immunity in Haiti Cholera Victim Claims
As Kristen Boon reports over at Opinio Juris, the United Nations yesterday asserted complete legal immunity from any liability or claims arising from the Haiti cholera epidemic, which reportedly was the result of infected UN troops who were part of the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti. The United Nations benefits from a special treaty, […]
What (Legally) Happens to Our Social Media Accounts When We Die?
Not all legal scholarship is irrelevant twaddle; some of it addresses emerging legal questions that will indeed require answers in the real world. This student Comment, “What Happens to Our Facebook Accounts When We Die?: Probate Versus Policy and the Fate of Social-Media Assets Postmortem,” by Kristina Sherry, appears in the December 2012 Pepperdine Law Review […]
A Gradual Shift in Human Attitudes Toward Emotional Interaction with Robots?
Sherry Turkle is an MIT professor who studies human- robot psychological and social interactions. She has been documenting and studying the attitudes of humans toward having emotional relationships and affective interactions with robots over time, and notes a gradual shift toward seeing such interactions favorably. She recently presented at the annual American Association for the […]
When Everyone Wins … With a Zero
Inside Higher Ed has an amusing story of the unanticipated consequences of a professor’s grading system. (“Dangerous Curves,” Zack Budryk, 12 February 2013.) Johns Hopkins computer science professor Peter Frohlich used the following rule for his grading curve: [E]ach class’s highest grade on the final counts as an A, with all other scores adjusted […]
Arming a Hobbyist Drone with a Paintball Gun
In a Hoover Institution essay a few weeks ago, the Brookings Institution’s Benjamin Wittes asked, “How long do we really think it will take before a gun enthusiast arms a remotely-piloted robotic aircraft with his favorite handgun (very doable by a competent layperson with a few thousand dollars to burn)?” He points at Lawfare today […]
The Drone White Paper, Imminence, and “Active Self-Defense”
By Kenneth Anderson on February 7, 2013 12:53 pm in Targeted Killing, War and Armed Conflict, War on Terror
Co-Conspirator Jonathan mentioned posts at Lawfare blog discussing the Drone White Paper that has been much in the news along with notice that the Awlaki OLC memo will be shared with Congress, and all with the Brennan hearings for CIA director. I have added a post at Lawfare that Volokh readers might find interesting; it […]