Law and Technology

Author(s):  
Giusella Finocchiaro ◽  
Claire Vishik

In this chapter the authors analyze the concept and definitions of anonymity in the modern connected world. In particular, they explore if modern technology renders complete anonymity impossible and if a new definition of anonymity needs to be adopted. They examine examples of anonymous use of technology that illustrate the complexity of the concept of anonymity and demonstrate that access to anonymity is not uniform for data owners with regard to multiple data controllers and audiences in complex systems and processes. They evaluate legal definitions of “anonymity” and “anonymous data” as well as the right to anonymity provided in the European directives and by some European statutes, observing that anonymity cannot be absolute, that only “relative” anonymity is realistic in the present technological environment, and that different degrees of anonymity exist. They address the issue of measuring these degrees or levels of anonymity in complex systems, in order to provide a new foundation for a nuanced and comprehensive understanding of anonymity. The authors conclude that the concept of relative anonymity can become the basis for a new and more effective approach to personal data protection.

2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alla Andreevna Neznamova ◽  
Georgyi Nickolaevich Kuleshov ◽  
Mikhail Mikhailovich Turkin

The article is devoted to the analysis of various approaches to the protection of personal data in Russia and the European Union. In order to determine the importance of observing the right to protection of personal data, a number of documents of the European Commission adopted over the past few years have been analyzed. General scientific and special legal methods of cognition allowed for a comparative analysis of Regulation 2016/679 on the Protection of Individuals in the Processing of Personal Data and Their Free Movement (2018) and EU Directive 2016/680. Although Russia has ratified the Council of Europe Convention for the Protection of Individuals with regard to Automatic Processing of Personal Data (1981), it has not been able to solve a number of problems related to the mandatory notification about personal data leaks, protection of personal data during their processing and against unauthorized access, etc. As a result, conclusions are drawn regarding the prevailing approaches to the definition of personal data and a unified conceptual and categorical apparatus in the field of personal data. Proposals for the modernization of Russian legislation based on international experience are made as well.


2019 ◽  
Vol 31 (5) ◽  
pp. 1509-1514
Author(s):  
Biljana Karovska-Andonovska ◽  
Zoran Jovanovski

The reforms in the communications monitoring system as part of the wider reform of the security services in the Republic of Macedonia, resulted with creation of a package of several laws whose adoption was supposed to provide the legislative basis for a system that would really work in accordance with the goals for which it was established. The communications monitoring system should provide a balanced protection of the right to security, on the one hand, and the right to privacy, on the other. Only on that way a priori primacy of the right to security over the right to privacy will it be disabled. Hence, the reforms in communications monitoring system are a precondition for the effective protection, primarily for the right to privacy and the secrecy of communications, but also for the right to personal data protection, the inviolability of the home as well as for the right to presumption of innocence. It is a complex and delicate matter where opening of a real debate through which the present deficiencies will be perceived in order to create an appropriate legal solutions was very important. However, the new Law on Interception of Communications as the most important in this area, retained a certain part of the provisions that were debatable in the previous legal solutions. The provisions regarding the model for interception of communications, which stipulates the establishment of a separate agency that mediates between the operators and the authorized bodies for interception of communications, were questionable as well. Also, new measures for monitoring communications in the interest of security and defense, as well as the provisions which regulate the disposition and delivery of metadata for security and defense, are also debatable. On the other side, the reform laws made an evident progress in a positive sense through the provisions for oversight and control over the interception of communications. With these changes, certain debatable elements have been overcome, especially those that have hindered it so far, and in some cases completely paralyzed the oversight and control over the monitoring of communications. In this paper we analyzed the debatable elements in the reform package of laws on interception of communications as well as some positive aspects contained in the provisions of the reform laws.


Author(s):  
Bruno Moslavac

The role of consent in personal data protection today is probably the first question for researches on how it impacts in our daily lives, ordinarily or on-line. This paper uses comparative method analyzes seemingly opposed essential parts of consent due to lawfulness of personal data processing versus inclusion of same data in a chain using blockchain technology, with the hypothesis that freewill public announcement of personal data substitute explicit consent for their processing. Finally, the author concludes that the principle of lawfulness stated by GDPR is not violated if the personal data processor using blockchain technology does not obtain consent for the processing of personal data, voluntarily put into the chain by another subject in the same “chain” and the “right to be forgotten” isn’t absolute right.


Author(s):  
Agnese Reine-Vītiņa

Mūsdienās tiesības uz privāto dzīvi nepieciešamas ikvienā demokrātiskā sabiedrībā, un šo tiesību iekļaušana konstitūcijā juridiski garantē fiziskas personas rīcības brīvību un vienlaikus arī citu – valsts pamatlikumā noteikto – cilvēka tiesību īstenošanu [5]. Personas datu aizsardzības institūts tika izveidots, izpratnes par tiesību uz personas privātās dzīves neaizskaramību saturu paplašinot 20. gadsimta 70. gados, kad vairāku Eiropas valstu valdības uzsāka informācijas apstrādes projektus, piemēram, tautas skaitīšanu u. c. Informācijas tehnoloģiju attīstība ļāva arvien vairāk informācijas par personām glabāt un apstrādāt elektroniski. Viena no tiesību problēmām bija informācijas vākšana par fizisku personu un tiesību uz privātās dzīves neaizskaramību ievērošana. Lai nodrošinātu privātās dzīves aizsardzību, atsevišķas Eiropas valstis pēc savas iniciatīvas pieņēma likumus par datu aizsardzību. Pirmie likumi par personas datu aizsardzību Eiropā tika pieņemti Vācijas Federatīvajā Republikā, tad Zviedrijā (1973), Norvēģijā (1978) un citur [8, 10]. Ne visas valstis pieņēma likumus par datu aizsardzību vienlaikus, tāpēc Eiropas Padome nolēma izstrādāt konvenciju, lai unificētu datu aizsardzības noteikumus un principus. Nowadays, the right to privacy is indispensable in every democratic society and inclusion of such rights in the constitution, guarantees legally freedom of action of a natural person and, simultaneously, implementation of other human rights established in the fundamental law of the state. The institute of personal data protection was established by expanding the understanding of the content of the right to privacy in the 70’s of the 19th century, when the government of several European countries initiated information processing projects, such as population census etc. For the development of information technology, more and more information on persons was kept and processed in electronic form. One of the legal problems was gathering of information on natural persons and the right to privacy. In order to ensure the protection of privacy, separate European countries, on their own initiative, established a law on data protection. The first laws on the protection of personal data in Europe were established in the Federal Republic of Germany, then in Sweden (1973), Norway (1978) and elsewhere. Not all countries adopted laws on data protection at the same time, so the Council of Europe decided to elaborate a convention to unify data protection rules and principles.


Author(s):  
Ioannis Iglezakis

Digital libraries provide many advantages compared with traditional libraries, such as wide and round the clock availability of resources, lack of physical boundaries, etc. However, the disclosure of personally identifiable information in the course of processing activities may lead to an invasion of privacy of library users, without their being aware of it. In fact, privacy threats are increased in the digital environment, in which digital libraries operate. The right to privacy in the library is “the right to open inquiry without having the subject of one’s interest examined or scrutinized by others” (ALA, 2005). Users of digital libraries have similar privacy expectations when making use of their services. The issues concerning the privacy of digital libraries’ patrons are thus addressed in comparative perspective, in this chapter. In more particular, the legal regulations with regard to data protection in digital libraries in the EU and the US are presented. The comparative analysis of the two legal orders shows differences and similarities, but also highlights loopholes of protection.


Author(s):  
Tamar Gvaramadze

This chapter discusses the impact of the pan-European principles of good administration on Georgian administrative law. It shows that the legal reforms and modern administrative legislation that started in Georgia in the 1990s were mostly influenced, and directed by, Western values and European principles, including core provisions of the Council of Europe. This influence has manifested itself, among other things, in the Georgian legislator giving constitutional importance to the right to a fair hearing in administrative proceedings and underlining the importance of good administration. Moreover, special parts of administrative law, such as regulation of local self-governance and personal data protection, have also not been immune to this influence, which has been strengthened by the progressive approach undertaken by Georgian courts.


2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (6) ◽  
pp. 1283-1308
Author(s):  
Jie (Jeanne) Huang

AbstractThe recent COVID-19 outbreak has pushed the tension of protecting personal data in a transnational context to an apex. Using a real case where the personal data of an international traveler was illegally released by Chinese media, this Article identifies three trends that have emerged at each stage of conflict-of-laws analysis for lex causae: (1) The EU, the US, and China characterize the right to personal data differently; (2) the spread-out unilateral applicable law approach comes from the fact that all three jurisdictions either consider the law for personal data protection as a mandatory law or adopt connecting factors leading to the law of the forum; and (3) the EU and China strongly advocate deAmericanization of substantive data protection laws. The trends and their dynamics provide valuable implications for developing the choice of laws for transnational personal data. First, this finding informs parties that jurisdiction is a predominant issue in data breach cases because courts and regulators would apply the law of the forum. Second, currently, there is no international treaty or model law on choice-of-law issues for transnational personal data. International harmonization efforts will be a long and difficult journey considering how the trends demonstrate not only the states’ irreconcilable interests but also how states may consider these interests as their fundamental values that they do not want to trade off. Therefore, for states and international organizations, a feasible priority is to achieve regional coordination or interoperation among states with similar values on personal data protection.


This research paper is an exploratory study on the uses of hologram technology in educational theaters in Egyptian schools. Considering theater as one of the instructional methods adopted by the Egyptian Ministry of Education in the school curricula, and as an accredited school activity within a group of other educational activities. The introduction provides an overview of holographic technology and predicts its future in student learning. It further outlines educational activities that have become heavily dependent on technology in training and application, with the simplistic definition of 3D technology and 3D imaging explained. The literature review presents publications in hologram technology and related publications, explaining the different concepts of holographic, virtual, and augmented reality. The applicability of these concepts is elucidated, especially in theater activity as an educational tool in schools and educational institutions. Besides, the research focuses on the educational theater in Egypt, and the use of technology as a supportive means of achieving the goals of educational activities that may apply to exceptional capabilities and requirements. Modern technology using hologram may provide solutions to basic requirements for the stage, lighting arts, decoration, and theatrical illusions to achieve the goals of theatrical performances for educational purposes. The study used a sample size of 400 individuals represented as those responsible for performing theater activity in several schools in four different governorates in Egypt. The study results showed the impact of holographic technology in Egyptian school theaters and future challenges that may hinder the implementation of holographic technology in educational theatres, making references to previous studies on the topic. In its conclusions, the study addressed the funding gap and other challenges facing the implementation of hologram technology in educational theaters in Egypt


2019 ◽  
pp. 245-259
Author(s):  
Bernard Łukanko

The study is concerned with the issue of mutual relationship between the failure to comply with the laws on personal data protection and regulations relating to the protection of personal interests, including in particular the right to privacy. The article presents the views held by the Supreme Court with respect to the possibility of considering acts infringing upon the provisions of the Personal Data Protection Act of 1997 (after 24 May 2018) and of the General Data Protection Regulation (after 25 May 2018) as violation of personal interests, such as the right to privacy. The author shared the view of the case law stating that, if in specifc circumstances the processing of personal data violates the right to privacy, the party concerned may seek remedy on the grounds of Articles 23 and 24 of the Polish Civil Code. This position isalso relevant after the entry into force of the GDPR which, in a comprehensive and exhaustive manner, directly applicable in all Member States, regulates the issue of liability under civil law for infringements of the provisions of the Regulation, however, according to the position expressed in professional literature, it does not exclude the concurrence of claims and violation of the provisions on the protection of personal interests caused by a specifc event. In case of improper processing of personal data, the remedies available under domestic law on the protection of personal interests may be of particular importance outside the subject matter scope of the GDPR applicability. 


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