Doctoral Dissertation Research: The Automation of Compliance: Techno-Legal Regulation in the United States Trucking Industry

Princeton University, Princeton NJ

Investigators

Abstract

Rules of all types are increasingly enforced by technological mechanisms; from code-based restrictions on sharing digital files, to red-light cameras at intersections, to software programs that monitor activity online. Technological enforcement regimes appeal to policymakers because machines enforce rules more perfectly than humans do; human enforcement is messier due to the discretion, incentives, and biases of both enforcers and enforcees. Technological rule enforcement, then, appears to close the gap between rule and practice by minimizing the human element and compelling compliance with a rule. This project explores how technological enforcement regimes may, in fact, relocate and reshape gaps between "on the books" rules and "on the ground" practices by creating new sites of social contestation, bringing new parties into negotiation with one another, and resituating stakeholders' interests. Using a combination of methods, including interviewing key stakeholders, analyzing documents in archives, and analyzing regulatory dockets, these dynamics are explored in the context of truck drivers' work time. For decades, truckers have kept track of their work hours, which are limited by federal regulations for safety reasons, using easily falsified paper logs. New regulations would mandate that drivers' time be automatically monitored by electronic devices integrated into trucks themselves, thus compelling drivers' compliance with timekeeping rules. This project examines the co-evolution of legal rules and technological capacities that shape enforcement practices, and the ways in which social relationships among employees, employers, and law enforcement are reconfigured when such systems are used. Drawing from scholarship in legal studies and organizational sociology, this project updates and reorients our understanding of regulation, enforcement, and discretion for the age of ubiquitous computing. The project contributes to broad social debates about the role of technological surveillance in legal rulemaking and in social life, and will be of interest to audiences in multiple academic disciplines, to policymakers, and to organizations.