Online discrimination

By | November 1, 2016

In cyberspace, as in real life, it’s unlawful to discriminate against job candidates on the basis of age, race, nationality, disability, religion, or gender. But proving such bias is a challenge because the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, an anti-hacking law passed thirty years ago, makes it illegal to use some of the more common practices for detecting discrimination. Journalists and computer scientists from Northeastern University, the University of Illinois, and the University of Michigan are now challenging the broad sweep of that law in a lawsuit filed in late June by the American Civil Liberties Union.