My research
I'm generally interested in critical, interdisciplinary work on questions of power, political economy, and the law around internet platforms and informational capitalism, technological supply chains and infrastructures, and AI and automated decision-making. I am particularly interested in law’s constitutive role in informational capitalism, how legal frameworks (such as data protection) intersect with complex technological systems and with tech industry business models, and how law can better address these questions to more effectively regulate digital technologies in future.
I am open to supervising PhDs on topics related to law and the political economy of informational capitalism, particularly around cloud computing, AI and automated decision-making, data and data governance, and platform governance. Emails from prospective students wanting to work on topics related to crypto, blockchain, IP, or AI in legal practice or the legal system will be ignored.
Books
Papers and chapters
- Shreya Chappidi, Jennifer Cobbe, Chris Norval, Anjali Mazumder, and Jatinder Singh, ‘Accountability Capture: How Record-Keeping (Re)shapes Algorithmic Oversight’ (2025) AAAI/ACM Conference on Artificial Intelligence, Ethics, and Society (AIES ‘25)
- Jennifer Cobbe, ‘Governance and Interdependence in Data-Driven Supply Chains’, in Fleur Johns, Gavin Sullivan & Dimitri Van Den Meerssche (eds), Global Governance by Data: Infrastructures of Algorithmic Rule (Cambridge University Press) [forthcoming]
- Jennifer Cobbe and Jatinder Singh, ‘Accounting for context in AI technologies’, in Regine Paul, Emma Carmel, and Jennifer Cobbe (eds), Research Handbook on AI and Public Policy (Elgar 2024)
- Jamie Hancock, Sarada Mahesh, Jennifer Cobbe, Jatinder Singh, and Anjali Mazumder, ‘The tensions of data sharing for human rights: A modern slavery case study’ (2024) ACM Conference on Fairness, Accountability, and Transparency (FAccT ’24)
- Jennifer Cobbe, Michael Veale, and Jatinder Singh, ‘Understanding accountability in algorithmic supply chains’ (2023) ACM Conference on Fairness, Accountability, and Transparency (FAccT ‘23)
- Kornel Lewicki, Michelle Seng Ah Lee, Jennifer Cobbe, and Jatinder Singh, ‘Out of Context: Algorithmic Fairness in “Artificial Intelligence as a Service”’ (2023) ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI ‘23)
- Michelle Seng Ah Lee, Jennifer Cobbe, Heleen Janssen, and Jatinder Singh, ‘Defining the scope of AI ADM system risk assessment’, in Eleni Kosta, Ronald Leenes, and Irene Kamara (eds), Research Handbook on EU Data Protection Law (Elgar 2022)
- Chris Norval, Jennifer Cobbe, Kristin Cornelius, and Jatinder Singh, ‘Disclosure by Design: Document engineering for meaningful data disclosures’ (2022) ACM Conference on Fairness, Accountability, and Transparency (FAccT ‘22)
- Rebecca Williams, Richard Cloete, Jennifer Cobbe, Caitlin Cottrill, Peter Edwards, Milan Markovic, Iman Naja, Frances Ryan, Jatinder Singh, and Pang Wei, ‘From Transparency to Accountability of Intelligent Systems – moving beyond aspirations’ (2022) Data and Policy
- Jennifer Cobbe, ‘Algorithmic Censorship by Social Platforms: Power and Resistance’ (2021) Philosophy & Technology
- Chris Norval, Jennifer Cobbe, and Jatinder Singh, ‘Towards an accountable Internet of Things: A call for ‘reviewability’’, in Andrew Crabtree, Richard Mortier, and Hamed Haddadi (eds), Privacy by Design for the Internet of Things: Building Accountability and Security (Institute of Engineering and Technology 2021)
- Jennifer Cobbe and Jatinder Singh, ‘Artificial Intelligence as a Service: Legal Responsibilities, Liabilities, and Policy Challenges’ (2021) Computer Law & Security Review
- Chris Norval, Heleen Janssen, Jennifer Cobbe, and Jatinder Singh, ‘Data Protection and Tech Startups: The Need for Attention, Support, and Scrutiny’ (2021) Policy & Internet
- Jatinder Singh, Jennifer Cobbe, Do Le Quoc, and Zahra Tarkhani, ‘Enclaves in the Clouds: Legal considerations and broader implications’ (2021) Communications of the ACM
- Chris Sandbrook, Doug Clark, Tuuli Toivonen, Trishant Simlai, Stephanie O’Donnell, Jennifer Cobbe, and William Adams, ‘Principles for the Socially Responsible Use of Conservation Monitoring Technology and Data’ (2021) Conservation Science and Practice
- Jennifer Cobbe, Michelle Seng Ah Lee, and Jatinder Singh, ‘Reviewable Automated Decision-Making: A Framework for Accountable Algorithmic Systems’ (2021) ACM Conference on Fairness, Accountability, and Transparency (FAccT ‘21)
- Ari Ball-Burack, Michelle Seng Ah Lee, Jennifer Cobbe, and Jatinder Singh, ‘Differential Tweetment: Mitigating Racial Dialect Bias in Harmful Tweet Detection’ (2021) ACM Conference on Fairness, Accountability, and Transparency (FAccT ‘21)
- Jatinder Singh, Jennifer Cobbe, Do Le Quoc, and Zahra Tarkhani, ‘Enclaves in the Clouds’ (2021) ACM Queue
- Heleen Janssen, Jennifer Cobbe, Chris Norval, and Jatinder Singh, ‘Decentralised Data Processing: Personal Data Stores and the GDPR’ (2020) International Data Privacy Law
- Heleen Janssen, Jennifer Cobbe, and Jatinder Singh, ‘Personal information management systems: a user-centric privacy utopia?’ (2020) Internet Policy Review
- Jennifer Cobbe and Jatinder Singh, ‘Reviewable Automated Decision-Making’ (2020) Computer Law & Security Review
- Jennifer Cobbe, 'Legal Singularity and the Reflexivity of Law', in Simon Deakin and Christopher Markou (eds), Is Law Computable? Critical Perspectives on Law & Artificial Intelligence (Hart 2020)
- Jennifer Cobbe, Michelle Seng Ah Lee, Heleen Janssen, and Jatinder Singh, ‘Centring the Rule of Law in the Digital State’ (2020) IEEE Computer
- Jennifer Cobbe, Chris Norval, and Jatinder Singh, ‘What Lies Beneath: Transparency in Online Services Supply Chains’ (2020) Journal of Cyber Policy
- Seyyed Ahmad Javadi, Richard Cloete, Jennifer Cobbe, Michelle Seng Ah Lee, and Jatinder Singh, ‘Monitoring Misuse for Accountable ‘Artificial Intelligence as a Service’’ (2020) AAAI/ACM Conference on AI, Ethics, and Society (AIES '20)
- Ben Wagner, Krisztina Rozgonyi, Marie-Therese Sekwenz, Jatinder Singh, and Jennifer Cobbe, 'Consequences for Manufacturing Transparency? Facebook, Twitter and the German Network Enforcement Act' (2020) ACM Conference on Fairness, Accountability, and Transparency (FAT* ‘20)
- Jennifer Cobbe and Jatinder Singh, ‘Regulating Recommending: Motivations, Considerations, and Principles’ (2019) European Journal of Law and Technology
- Jennifer Cobbe and John Morison, ‘Understanding the Smart City: Framing the challenges for law and good governance’, in Emmanuel Slautsky (ed.) The Conclusions of the Chaire Mutations de l'Action Publique et du Droit Public, Sciences Po (2019)
- Jatinder Singh and Jennifer Cobbe, ‘The Security Implications of Data Subject Rights’ (2019) IEEE Security & Privacy
- Jennifer Cobbe, ‘Administrative Law and the Machines of Government: Judicial Review of Automated Public-Sector Decision-Making’ (2019) Legal Studies
- Jatinder Singh, Jennifer Cobbe, and Chris Norval, ‘Decision Provenance: Harnessing data flow for accountable systems’ (2019) IEEE Access
- Chris Norval, Jennifer Cobbe, Heleen Janssen, and Jatinder Singh, ‘Reclaiming Data: Overcoming App Identification Barriers for Exercising Data Protection Rights’ (2018) 4th Workshop on Legal and Technical Issues in Cloud and Pervasive Computing (IoT) (CLaw ‘18), UbiComp/ISWC’18 Adjunct
- Jatinder Singh, Christopher Millard, Chris Reed, Jennifer Cobbe, and Jon Crowcroft, ‘Accountability in the IoT: Systems, Law, and Ways Forward’ (2018) IEEE Computer
- Jennifer Cobbe, ‘Casting the Dragnet: Communications Data Retention Under the Investigatory Powers Act’ (2018) Public Law
Other
- Jennifer Cobbe, ‘The Politics of Artificial Intelligence: Rhetoric vs Reality’ (2024) Political Insight
- Jennifer Cobbe, ‘Technochauvinism: Report’ (2022) Chair Digital, Governance, and Sovereignty, Sciences Po
- Jennifer Cobbe and Jatinder Singh, ‘Regulating Recommending: Legal and Policy Directions for Governing Platforms’ (2022) Verfassungsblog
- Jennifer Cobbe, ‘Power and Dependency: The Perils of Corporate Cloud Computing’ (2021) The Reboot
- Jennifer Cobbe, ‘Behind Cambridge Analytica lay a bigger threat to our democracy: Facebook’ (2020) The Guardian
- Jennifer Cobbe, ‘Confronting the Algorithmic State’ (2020) Administrative Law Blog
- Jennifer Cobbe and Elettra Bietti, ‘Rethinking Digital Platforms for the Post-COVID-19 Era’ (2020) Centre for International Governance Innovation
- Jennifer Cobbe, ‘Why a focus on ‘fake news’ and Facebook misses the internet's real problems - and solutions’ (2019) openDemocracy
- Jennifer Cobbe, ‘Hot data: it’s time to take back control of the information that surveillance corporations hold on us’ (2018) International Politics and Society
- Jennifer Cobbe, ‘Reining in Big Data’s Robber Barons’ (2018) The New York Review of Books
- Jennifer Cobbe, ‘The problem isn’t just Cambridge Analytica or Facebook – it’s surveillance capitalism’ (2018) openDemocracy
- Jennifer Cobbe and Louise O'Hagan, 'Digital Citizenship: Report' (2016) Royal Irish Academy