Eighteenth International Conference on Technology, Knowledge, and Society

Abstract

This paper analyzes the issue of “foreign influence” in technology and innovation from multiple descriptive, legal, and normative perspectives. Our motivation—and the paper’s central theme—is the tension between, on one hand, preventing improper foreign infiltration of scientific research and development and, on the other hand, preventing invidious domestic discrimination against individuals and groups. Descriptively, we bring taxonomical rigor to foreign influence as a concept that deserves more nuance than it often receives. First, we describe a public/private spectrum that ranges from espionage by foreign governmental actors to theft by foreign nongovernmental actors. Second, we categorize the many domestic activities that could potentially constitute foreign influence. Third, we classify the ways in which domestic researchers allegedly facilitate foreign influence. Legally, we critically analyze the range of mechanisms designed to check this influence. Normatively, we discuss how to manage the risks of these efforts. Policing foreign influence in innovation raises at least four issues. First, it entails legal determinations of foreignness. Second, it invites policies, procedures, and informal practices that may cross these legal lines, particularly given the troubling-yet-common treatment of Asian Americans as “perpetual foreigners” in the United States. Third, it risks disparate impacts that, even if legally justified by business necessity, nonetheless cause serious harm. Finally, it imposes substantial burdens that can impede or even deter scientific research and development. We present specific case studies, share multiple perspectives, and propose a path forward that better accounts for the critical interests at stake.

Presenters

Bryant Walker Smith
Associate Professor, School of Law and College of Engineering and Computing, University of South Carolina, South Carolina, United States