Search: battlefield robots
27 Dec Foreign Policy: “The Top 10 Stories You Missed in 2007”
...the robo-warriors, FP brings you the Top Ten Stories You Missed in 2007. Here’s the list itself; go to Foreign Policy for the full-text explanations: 1. The Cyber Wars Begin 2. U.S.-Mexico Border Fence Gets Cut in Half 3. Dear Osama: We’re Breaking Up 4. Waiting on the Iraqi Navy 5. The Cubans Are Coming 6. The American Heartland Grows Crops—With Human Proteins 7. Thai Junta Gives Itself A Raise 8. Dengue Fever Runs High 9. American Jews Turn Away From Israel 10. Armed Robots Take the Field in Iraq...16 Jan Law and Robotics Conference Seeking Paper Proposals, and HRW’s Tom Malinowski Releases Video That I Will Always Treasure
...is the link if you’re interested. Meanwhile, over at Lawfare, Human Rights Watch’s Tom Malinowski, Benjamin Wittes, Matthew Waxman, and I have been debating the recent HRW report calling for a ban on “Killer Robots.” Tom’s latest response – though mostly a serious discussion, well worth reading, though I’m afraid it doesn’t finally manage to persuade me – has a video at the end that I will always, always fondly treasure. It’s great. (It’s in Hindi, and though I didn’t know Tom knew Hindi, I’m going to trust his subtitles.)...
31 Mar ‘Responsible AI’ in the Military Domain: Implications for Regulation
...vague in their proposals for global governance and regulation. It potentially risks undermining efforts for the setting of binding legal norms on the development, testing, and use of AI in the military domain. What is Responsible AI in the Military? Many portrayals of (anthropomorphic) AI in science-fiction feature humanoid robots and androids which are depicted as beings with their own conscience. This gives the wrong impression that AI applications can be legal subjects, and thus are legally, morally, and ethically responsible for their actions or thoughts. But as pointed out...22 Jul Sotomayor, International Law, Context, and the Confirmation Hearings Charade
...judges are akin to autonomous robots who mechanistically and abstractly apply inbred, dry legal principles to meticulously pruned fact patterns. To the contrary, good judging is an intensely human and dynamic experience. American Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes spoke of this eloquently last century and Judge Richard Posner has done so in this one. And, on a macro level, good judging requires growth of the entire judicial collective conscience. Being aware of what is going on in the wider world is certainly an integral part of that. And it is, I...01 Oct The Folly of Comparing Al-Awlaki to Admiral Yamamoto (Updated)
It appears the right-wing has settled on a shiny new historical comparison to justify the targeted killing of Anwar al-Awlaki. Here is Jack Goldsmith in the New York Times: An attack on an enemy soldier during war is not an assassination. During World War II, the United States targeted and killed Adm. Isoroku Yamamoto, the architect of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. And here is John Tobin in the American Spectator: Anwar al-Awlaki was actively recruiting terrorists to attack the U.S. He was, in effect, a battlefield commander, and...
19 Mar Cyber Warfare and the Limits of International Criminal Law: Can Digital Attacks Amount to War Crimes?
...conduct with precision. Still, uncertainty at the margins should not obscure the core case. Where a cyber operation foreseeably causes death, injury, or serious disruption to protected civilian objects, the argument for legal relevance becomes significantly stronger. Once the operation resembles traditional battlefield harm in its consequences, doctrinal hesitation begins to look less like caution and more like inertia. The Accountability Gap is Becoming Harder to Defend What is emerging, then, is not a legal vacuum but an accountability gap. The law recognizes civilian protection. Expert guidance explains how it...02 Dec Upcoming Events: December 2, 2012
Upcoming Events The next session of the Joint International Humanitarian Law Forum takes place on December 5, 2012 at the IDC Radzyner School of Law. Dr. Ben Clarke will discuss his new article “Beyond the Call of Duty: Integration of International Humanitarian Law in Video Games and Battlefield Training Simulators”. More information can be found here. Calls for Papers The International Community Law Review has issued a call for papers for a special issue of its 2013 volume, to be edited by Professor Duncan French (University of Lincoln) and Dr....03 Oct Is There a Limit to the Crimes Subject to the Jurisdiction of the Military Commission?
...war. Congress does not seem to have perceived any limit to the range of non-law of war offenses that may be subjected to trial by military commission. Considering the military commissions are creatures of the laws and customs of war, or as some commentators have labeled them, “war courts”, I have a hard time reconciling this view of jurisdiction. I do not dispute that some offenses may be subjected to trial by military commission by statute, but I think this is a limited category of customarily accepted “battlefield” crimes that...01 Aug Michael Lewis’ Response to Gabor Rona on Targeted Killing
...ever change it will fundamentally alter how IHL regulates the use of such weapons. But we are a long way from having “untethered” drones loosed on the battlefield and I have found no appetite for such a development amongst operational military commanders. However this “stupidity” does not change the fact that, as a weapons system, drones are capable of more accurately discriminating between civilians and legitimately targetable individuals than any other weapons system we currently possess. This is because drones allow for a dispassionate assessment of each weapon employment by...