The Technological Construction of Sovereignty

For policy-makers, it has always been a struggle to do justice to a diversity of perspectives when tackling challenging issues such as market access regulation, public investment in R&D, long-term unemployment, etc. In this struggle, technology, as a force that shapes economy, society, and democracy, at best used to be considered as an exogenous factor and at worst was simply forgotten. Today, however, we live in a different world. Technology is recognized as a major driver. Digital technology is now in the veins, heart, and brains of our society. Yet, the idea that we can put technology to our hand to shape reality, rather than taking technology as a given, has still not been embraced by policy-makers. This chapter argues that we can and should give a stronger steer on technology to construct the kind of reality and in particular the kind of sovereignty we aspire.

A Social-Identity Theory of Information-Access Regulation (SITIAR): Understanding the Psychology of Sharing and Withholding

Secrecy, privacy, confidentiality, concealment, disclosure, and gossip all involve sharing and withholding access to information. However, existing theories do not account for the fundamental similarity between these concepts. Accordingly, it is unclear when sharing and withholding access to information will have positive or negative effects and why these effects might occur. We argue that these problems can be addressed by conceptualizing these phenomena more broadly as different kinds of information-access regulation. Furthermore, we outline a social-identity theory of information-access regulation (SITIAR) that proposes that information-access regulation shapes shared social identity, explaining why people who have access to information feel a sense of togetherness with others who have the same access and a sense of separation from those who do not. This theoretical framework unifies diverse findings across disparate lines of research and generates a number of novel predictions about how information-access regulation affects individuals and groups.

A Social Identity Theory of Information Access Regulation (SITIAR): Understanding the Psychology of Sharing and Withholding

Secrecy, privacy, confidentiality, concealment, disclosure, and gossip all involve sharing and withholding access to information. However, existing theories do not account for the fundamental similarity between these concepts. Accordingly, it is unclear when sharing and withholding access to information will have positive or negative effects, and why these effects might occur. We argue that these problems can be addressed by conceptualizing these phenomena more broadly as different kinds of information access regulation. Furthermore, we outline a social identity theory of information access regulation (SITIAR), which proposes that information access regulation shapes shared social identity, explaining why people who have access to information feel a sense of togetherness with others who have the same access, and a sense of separation from those who do not. This theoretical framework unifies diverse findings across disparate literatures and generates a number of novel predictions about how information access regulation affects individuals and groups

Towards an Access Paradigm in Innovation Law?

The article generally discusses today’s meaning of an access paradigm in innovation law. Starting from concrete examples of access problems, it examines future research perspectives and the respective role of an access paradigm in innovation law. This concerns inter alia the possibility of common principles for public interest exceptions, in particular exceptions in the interest of free competition, throughout the different IP rights, as well as a closer look at the possibility of IP-external, sector-specific access regulation and the principles which should guide such approaches in research and policy.

A New Dataset of People Flow in an Industrial Site with UWB and Motion Capture Systems

Improving performance and safety conditions in industrial sites remains a key objective for most companies. Currently, the main goal is to be able to dynamically locate both people and goods on the site. Security and access regulation to restricted areas are often ensured by doors or badge barriers and those have several issues when faced with people being in places they are not supposed to be in or even tools of objects being used incorrectly. In addition to this, a growing use of new devices requires precise information about their location in the environment such as mobile robots or drones. Therefore, it is becoming essential to have the tools to dynamically manage these flows of people and goods. Ultra-wide-band and motion capture solutions will be used to quickly identify people who may be in unauthorized areas or performing tasks which they have been uninstructed to do. In addition to the dynamic tracking of people, this also overcomes some issues associated with moving objects or tools around the production floor. We offer a new set of data that provides precise information on worker movement. This dataset can be used to develop new metrics regarding worker efficiency and safety.

Symmetric Telecom Regulation, Competition and Investment

Symmetric telecoms regulation, where it is not only the operators with significant market power (SMP) at national or large geographical scales which are subject to special access obligations, has been on the agenda for long. However, emphasis has hitherto been on asymmetric regulation, but during the past few years, symmetric regulation has gradually gained weight in different EU countries, and the new European Electronic Communications Code also aims at putting more emphasis on symmetric regulation. The paper identifies the reasons behind symmetric access regulation possibly coming to play a more prominent role in EU telecoms regulation, the scope of symmetric regulation and how it is being articulated, and what the possible implications of symmetric regulation could be on the level of investment. The contribution of the paper is to discuss these different elements of understanding the potential role of symmetric regulation.