Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-skm99 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-28T04:32:32.963Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Visual Data and the Law

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 December 2018

Sarah Brayne ,
Karen Levy  and
Bryce Clayton Newell
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Visual data are transforming the documentation of activities across many legal domains. Visual data can incriminate or exonerate; they can shape and reshape public opinion. Visual evidence can legitimize certain accounts of events while calling others into question. The proliferation of visual data creates challenges for the law at multiple points of entry: recording, distribution or disclosure, redaction or deletion, or use as evidence. This symposium outlines and analyzes legal challenges posed by recent developments in visual data technologies and practices. This introductory essay and the articles that follow highlight legal issues that arise when state actors collect visual data and when visual data are used in legal disputes. Technological development is outpacing empirical research on, and legal regulation of, visual data within society and inside the courtroom. This symposium provides a much-needed opportunity to highlight new legal and empirical research at the intersection of visual data and law.

Type
Articles
Information
Law & Social Inquiry , Volume 43 , Issue 4 , Fall 2018 , pp. 1149 - 1163
Copyright
Copyright © American Bar Foundation, 2018 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

References

Aguera y Arcas, Blaise, Mitchell, Margaret, and Todorov, Alexander. “Physiognomy's New Clothes.” Medium, May 6, 2017. https://medium.com/@blaisea/physiognomys-new-clothes-f2d4b59fdd6a Google Scholar
Ariel, Barak, Farrar, William A., and Sutherland, Alex. “The Effect of Police Body-Worn Cameras on Use of Force and Citizens' Complaints Against the Police: A Randomized Controlled Trial.” Journal of Quantitative Criminology 31, no. 3 (2015): 509–35.Google Scholar
Aronson, Jay D. “Computer Vision and Machine Learning for Human Rights Video Analysis: Case Studies, Possibilities, Concerns, and Limitations.” Law and Social Inquiry 43, no. 4 (2018): 1188–1209.Google Scholar
Banchik, Anna V. “Too Dangerous to Disclose? FOIA, Courtroom ‘Visual Theory,’ and the Legal Battles Over Detainee Abuse Photographs.” Law and Social Inquiry 43, no. 4 (2018): 1164–1187.Google Scholar
Bergstrom, Carl, and West, Jevin. “Case Study: Machine Learning About Sexual Orientation?” Calling Bullshit, September 19, 2017. http://callingbullshit.org/case_studies/case_study_ml_sexual_orientation.html Google Scholar
Bosman, Julie, Smith, Mitch, and Wines, Michael. “Jurors Find Video Isn't Providing 20/20 Vision in Police Shootings.” New York Times, June 25, 2017. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/25/us/police-shootings-trials-video-body-cam.html Google Scholar
Braman, Sandra. Change of State: Information, Policy, and Power. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2009.Google Scholar
Brayne, Sarah. “Big Data Surveillance: The Case of Policing.” American Sociological Review 82, no. 5 (2017): 977–1008.Google Scholar
Brayne, Sarah. Policed: Surveillance and Prediction in the Age of Big Data. Book manuscript under contract with Oxford University Press, forthcoming.Google Scholar
Brooks, Catherine F. “Faked Video Will Complicate Justice by Twitter Mob.” WIRED, June 18, 2018. https://www.wired.com/story/faked-video-could-end-justice-by-twitter-mob/ Google Scholar
Brown, Gregory R. “The Blue Line on Thin Ice: Police Use of Force Modifications in the Era of Cameraphones and YouTube.” British Journal of Criminology 56, no. 2 (2016): 293–312.Google Scholar
Browne, Malachy. “YouTube Removes Videos Showing Atrocities in Syria.” New York Times, August 22, 2017. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/22/world/middleeast/syria-youtube-videos-isis.html Google Scholar
Brucato, Ben. “The New Transparency: Police Violence in the Context of Ubiquitous Surveillance.” Media and Communication 3, no. 3 (2015a): 39–55.Google Scholar
Brucato, Ben. “Policing Made Visible: Mobile Technologies and the Importance of Point of View.” Surveillance & Society 13, no. 3/4 (2015b): 455–73.Google Scholar
Caruso, Eugene M., Burns, Zachary C., and Converse, Benjamin A. “Slow Motion Increases Perceived Intent.” PNAS 113, no. 33 (2016): 9250–55.Google Scholar
Cassell, Paul. “A Legislative Fix for Paroline?” Washington Post, The Volokh Conspiracy blog, April 24, 2014. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2014/04/24/a-legislative-fix-for-paroline/ Google Scholar
Chesney, Bobby, and Citron, Danielle Keats. “Deep Fakes: A Looming Crisis for National Security, Democracy, and Privacy?” Lawfare blog, February 21, 2018. https://www.lawfareblog.com/deep-fakes-looming-crisis-national-security-democracy-and-privacy Google Scholar
Citron, Danielle Keats, and Franks, Mary Anne. “Criminalizing Revenge Porn.” Wake Forest Law Review 49, no. 2 (2014): 345–91.Google Scholar
Dahir, Veronica Blas. “Digital Visual Evidence.” In The Future of Evidence: How Science & Technology Will Change the Practice of Law, edited by Henderson and, Carol E. Epstein, Jules, 77–112. Chicago, IL: American Bar Association, 2011.Google Scholar
Davis, Jade E. “Black Men Being Killed Is the New Girls Gone Wild.” Medium, April 10, 2015. https://medium.com/matter/black-men-being-killed-is-the-new-girls-gone-wild-da5c150b70c4 Google Scholar
Fadely, Kathlynn G. “Use of Computer-Generated Visual Evidence in Aviation Litigation: Interactive Video Comes to Court.” Journal of Air Law and Commerce 55, no. 4 (1990): 839–901.Google Scholar
Fan, Mary. 2018. “Body Cameras, Big Data, and Police Accountability.” Law and Social Inquiry 43, no. 4 (2018): 1236–1256.Google Scholar
Farmer, Ashley K. “Copwatchers: Citizen Journalism and the Changing Police-Community Dynamic.” PhD diss., University of Delaware, 2016.Google Scholar
Farmer, Ashley K., and Sun, Ivan Y. “Citizen Journalism and Police Legitimacy: Does Recording the Police Make a Difference?” In The Politics of Policing: Between Force and Legitimacy, edited by Deflem, Mathieu, 239–56. Bingley, UK: Emerald Group, 2016.Google Scholar
Garvie, Claire, Bedoya, Alvaro, and Frankle, Jonathan. “The Perpetual Line-Up: Unregulated Police Face Recognition in America.” Georgetown Law Center on Privacy and Technology (report), 2016. https://www.perpetuallineup.org/ Google Scholar
Goldsmith, Andrew John. “Policing's New Visibility.” British Journal of Criminology 50, no. 5 (2010): 914–34.Google Scholar
Goodwin, Charles. “Professional Vision.” American Anthropologist 96, no. 3 (1994): 606–33.Google Scholar
Hargreaves, Stuart. “‘I'm a Creep, I'm a Weirdo’: Street Photography in the Service of the Male Gaze.” In Surveillance, Privacy and Public Space, edited by Newell, Bryce Clayton, Timan, Tjerk, and Koops, Bert-Jaaps, 179–98. Abingdon, UK: Routledge, 2018.Google Scholar
Harris, David A. “Picture This: Body-Worn Video Devices (Head Cams) as Tools for Ensuring Fourth Amendment Compliance by Police.” Texas Tech Law Review 43, no. 1 (2010): 357–71.Google Scholar
Innes, Martin. “Control Creep.” Sociological Research Online 6, no. 3 (2001): 1–10.Google Scholar
Jackson, Jasper. “Fake Brussels YouTube Videos Prove Ease of Digital Disinformation.” Guardian, March 23, 2016. https://www.theguardian.com/media/2016/mar/23/fake-youtube-videos-brussels-attacks-facebook-twitter Google Scholar
Jones, Kristyn A., Crozier, William E., and Strange, Deryn. “Believing Is Seeing: Biased Viewing of Body-Worn Camera Footage.” Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition 6, no. 4 (2017): 460–74.Google Scholar
Koops, Bert-Jaap, Newell, Bryce Clayton, Roberts, Andrew, Skorvánek, Ivan, and Galič, Maša. “The Reasonableness of Remaining Unobserved: A Comparative Analysis of Visual Surveillance and Voyeurism in Criminal Law.” Law and Social Inquiry 43, no. 4 (2018): 1210–1235.Google Scholar
Lageson, Sarah Esther. “Crime Data, the Internet, and Free Speech: An Evolving Legal Consciousness.” Law and Society Review 51, no 1 (2017): 8–41.Google Scholar
Lynch, Mona. “Pedophiles and Cyber-Predators as Contaminating Forces: The Language of Disgust, Pollution, and Boundary Invasions in Federal Debates on Sex Offender Legislation.” Law and Social Inquiry 27, no. 3 (2002): 529–57.Google Scholar
Madison, Benjamin V. III. “Seeing Can Be Deceiving: Photographic Evidence in a Visual Age—How Much Weight Does It Deserve?” William & Mary Law Review 25, no. 4 (1984): 705–42.Google Scholar
Mann, Steve, Nolan, Jason, and Wellman, Barry. “Sousveillance: Inventing and Using Wearable Computing Devices for Data Collection in Surveillance Environments.” Surveillance and Society 1, no. 3 (2003): 331–55.Google Scholar
Marwick, Alice E. “Scandal or Sex Crime? Gendered Privacy and the Celebrity Nude Photo Leaks.” Ethics and Information Technology 19, no. 3 (2017): 177–91.Google Scholar
Mateescu, Alexandra, Rosenblat, Alex, and boyd, danah. “Dreams of Accountability, Guaranteed Surveillance: The Promises and Costs of Body-Worn Cameras.” Surveillance and Society 14, no. 1 (2016): 122–27.Google Scholar
Mearian, Lucas. “As Police Move to Adopt Body Cams, Storage Costs Set to Skyrocket.” Computerworld, September 3, 2015. http://www.computerworld.com/article/2979627/cloud-storage/as-police-move-to-adopt-body-cams-storage-costs-set-to-skyrocket.html Google Scholar
Mensel, Robert E. “‘Kodakers Lying in Wait’: Amateur Photography and the Right of Privacy in New York, 1885–1915.” American Quarterly 43, no. 1 (1991): 24–45.Google Scholar
Moore, Kelli D. “Visualizing Violence: The Ethics of Photographic Evidence in the Domestic Violence Trial and Popular Culture.” PhD diss., University of California, San Diego, 2013.Google Scholar
National Public Radio. “Beheading Video Stirs Debate on Social Media Censorship.” NPR Morning Edition, August 26, 2014. https://www.npr.org/2014/08/26/343352103/beheading-video-stirs-debate-on-social-media-censorship Google Scholar
Negowetti, Nicole E. “Opening the Barnyard Door: Transparency and the Resurgence of Ag-Gag & Veggie Libel Laws.” Seattle University Law Review 38, no. 4 (2015): 1345–98.Google Scholar
Newell, Bryce Clayton. “Transparent Lives and the Surveillance State: Policing, New Visibility, and Information Policy.” PhD diss., University of Washington, 2015.Google Scholar
Newell, Bryce Clayton. “Collateral Visibility: A Socio-Legal Study of Police Body Camera Adoption, Privacy, and Public Disclosure in Washington State.” Indiana Law Journal 92, no. 4 (2017): 1329–99.Google Scholar
Newell, Bryce Clayton. “Context, Visibility, and Control: Police Work and the Contested Objectivity of Bystander Video.” New Media & Society forthcoming. doi:10.1177/1461444818786477Google Scholar
Newell, Bryce Clayton, and Greidanus, Ruben. “Officer Discretion and the Choice to Record: Officer Attitudes Towards Body-Worn Camera Activation.” North Carolina Law Review 96, no. 5 (2018): 1525–78.Google Scholar
Newton, Jim. “King Video Enhancement Blurs Reality, Experts Say: Trial: Jurors Who View Tape Will Think They Witnessed Beating, but Courtroom Replay May Alter Perceptions.” Los Angeles Times, February 14, 1993. http://articles.latimes.com/1993-02-14/news/mn-420_1_slow-motion-tape Google Scholar
O'Neill, Kevin Lewis. “Caught on Camera.” Public Culture 29, no. 3 (2017): 493–514.Google Scholar
Paglen, Trevor. “Invisible Images (Your Pictures Are Looking at You).” New Inquiry, December 8, 2016. https://thenewinquiry.com/invisible-images-your-pictures-are-looking-at-you/ Google Scholar
Reyns, Bradford W., Burek, Melissa W., Henson, Billy, and Fisher, Bonnie S. “The Unintended Consequences of Digital Technology: Exploring the Relationship Between Sexting and Cybervictimization.” Journal of Crime and Justice 36, no. 1 (2013): 1–17.Google Scholar
Sandhu, Ajay. “Camera-Friendly Policing: How the Police Respond to Cameras and Photographers.” Surveillance & Society 14, no. 1 (2016): 78–89.Google Scholar
Sandhu, Ajay, and Haggerty, Kevin D. “Policing on Camera.” Theoretical Criminology 21, no. 1 (2017): 78–95.Google Scholar
Schermer, Bart W., Georgieva, Ilina, van derHof, Simone, and Koops, Bert-Jaap. “Legal Aspects of Sweetie 2.0.” Report, Leiden University and Tilburg University, October 3, 2016. https://openaccess.leidenuniv.nl/bitstream/handle/1887/45283/2016_10_03_sweetie_legal_aspects_report.pdf Google Scholar
Scott, Mark, and Isaac, Mike. “Facebook Restores Iconic Vietnam War Photo It Censored for Nudity.” New York Times, September 9, 2016. https://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/10/technology/facebook-vietnam-war-photo-nudity.html Google Scholar
Starr, Cindy. “Arctic Sea Ice Maximum.” NASA Scientific Visualization Studio, March 28, 2016. https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/4440 Google Scholar
Strossen, Nadine. “United States v. Stevens: Restricting Two Major Rationales for Content-Based Speech Restrictions: A Big Year for the First Amendment.” Cato Supreme Court Review 2009–2010 (2010): 67–104.Google Scholar
Taylor, Emmeline. “Lights, Camera, Redaction … Police Body-Worn Cameras; Autonomy, Discretion and Accountability.” Surveillance and Society 14, no. 1 (2016): 128–32.Google Scholar
Thomas, Dexter. “Are We Afraid to Watch White People Dying?” Los Angeles Times, August 26, 2015. http://www.latimes.com/nation/nationnow/la-na-are-we-afraid-to-watch-white-people-dying-20150826-story.html Google Scholar
Vanity, Fair. “Jennifer Lawrence Calls Photo Hacking a ‘Sex Crime.’” Vanity Fair, October 7, 2014. https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2014/10/jennifer-lawrence-cover Google Scholar
Vertesi, Janet. “The Problem with Police Body Cameras.” TIME, May 4, 2015a. http://time.com/3843157/the-problem-with-police-body-cameras/ Google Scholar
Vertesi, Janet. Seeing Like a Rover: How Robots, Teams, and Images Craft Knowledge of Mars. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 2015b.Google Scholar
Wang, Yilun, and Kosinski, Michal. “Deep Neural Networks Are More Accurate than Humans at Detecting Sexual Orientation from Facial Images.” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 114, no. 2 (2018): 246–57.Google Scholar
Warren, Samuel D., and Brandeis, Louis D. “The Right to Privacy.” Harvard Law Review 4, no. 5 (1890): 193–220.Google Scholar
Wasserman, Howard M. “Moral Panics and Body Cameras.” Washington University Law Review 92, no. 3 (2015): 831–43.Google Scholar
Yokum, David, Ravishankar, Anita, and Coppock, Alexander. “Evaluating the Effects of Police Body-Worn Cameras: A Randomized Controlled Trial.” DC Lab Working Paper, October 20, 2017. https://bwc.thelab.dc.gov/TheLabDC_MPD_BWC_Working_Paper_10.20.17.pdf Google Scholar

Cases Cited

Detroit Free Press, Inc. v. United States Dep't of Justice (Detroit Free Press II), 829 F.3d 478 (6th Cir. 2016).Google Scholar
Dhiab v. Trump, 852 F.3d 1087 (D.C. Cir. 2017).Google Scholar
Harris v. Coweta County, 433 F.3d 807 (11th Cir. 2005).Google Scholar
Paroline v. United States, 134 S. Ct. 1710 (2014).Google Scholar
Scott v. Harris, 550 U.S. 372 (2007).Google Scholar