Intro to tech Law

Technology

- The application of scientific knowledge for practical purposes, especially in industry

- Machinery and equipment developed from the application of scientific knowledge

- The branch of knowledge dealing with engineering or applied science

Digital convergence

Traditional legal distinctions attached to the medium used are blurred

Law of the horse

The best way to learn specialized law is to study general rules

How TCP/IP works

Step 1:

- The TCP protocol breaks data into packets

Step 2:

- The packets travel from router to router over the internet according to the IP protocol

Step 3:

- The TCP protocol reassembles the packets into the original whole

Net Neutrality

Data packets on the internet should be moved impartially, without regard to content, destination, or source; IPs should treat all online traffic equally and openly, without discrimination, blocking, throttling, or prioritisation

Challenges of technology vs traditional legal rules

1) shift from ownership/control of things to information,

2) new model to market and deliver products/services, and

3) shift from rivalrous and tangible to non-rivalrous and non-tangible goods

Levels for regulating the information society

1) infrastructure layer,

2) equipment and transmission layer, and

3) the application and content layer

Generations of internet governance

1. 1st generation (90s) → Cyberlibertarians (Barlow)

2. 2nd and 3rd generations (00s) → Cyberpaternialism (Reidenberg, Lessig)

3. 4th generations (2010s) → Network Communitarianism (Murray)

4. 5th generation (2020s) → Intermediary & platform regulation; behavioural regulation; algorithmic regulation

Cyberlibertarianism

- Barlow

- A separate sovereign space where real-world laws and real-world governments are of little or no effect

- Weaknesses include: cyberspace lacking homogeneity and internal democratic discourse and therefore cyberspace cannot be effectively regulated from within; if certain content would be prohibited in one country, individuals would access it from other countries

- However, everyone on cyberspace is located on a specific country and therefore subject to that jurisdiction

Cyberpaternalism

Cyberspace is not immune from regulatory intervention by real-world regulators

Reidenberg → contractual agreements between various internet providers and the new internet architecture must be regulated

Lessig → cyberspace can be regulated through markets (reflection of what we value), norms (societal sanctions, judgement), architecture (physically constraining things), and the market (reflection of what we value)

Lex informatica

(Reidenberg)

Primary course of rule-making are technology developers and the social processes through which customary uses of technology evolve

> Shifting the focus of the government from direct regulation of cyberspace towards influencing changes in its infrastructure

Network Communitarianism

The relationship between the digital environment and the real world is a more fluid affair; it can be regulated by laws (from the legislator, influenced by the people) norms (customs between people), architecture (design of devices), and the market

- Compared to cyberpaternalism, network communitarianism does not consider the role of big companies

Intermediary and Platform regulation

Online platforms have an amplified effect and play a role in carrying information to you and filtering what you see; filter bubbles; collection of data and information of users

UN GCE

International actor in regulating cyberspace; outlines the global cybersecurity agenda and introduces the principle that IL applies to the digital space

Cybercrime

Crime in which the computer is the object of the crime or is used as a tool to commit an offence

> Characteristics: transnationality, ease of access, anonymity, automation, organised crime, volatility of data

Cyber-dependent crime

Crimes that can only be committed using a computer, computer networks or other form of ICT

Cyber-enable crime

Traditional crimes that are increased in their scale or reach by the use of computers, computer networks or other ICT

Computer-supported crime

The use of computer is an incidental aspect of the crime, but may create evidence; e.g. murdering someone wearing an apple watch, can use data as evidence

> Prosecuted only under national law, not under the CCC

Distributed Denial of Service Attack (DDOS)

Malicious attempt to disrupt normal traffic of a serves by overwhelming it with a flood of Internet traffic from multiple sources; causes downtime, revenue loss, and reputational damage; goals is to prevent the functioning of the website

Malware

Malicious software to gain unauthorised access to computer systems by exploiting its security vulnerabilities

Phishing

Attacker sends something that appears to be regular mail but contains hidden/embedded code that redirects the reply to a third party site in an effort to extract personal or credential information

Ransomware

Software designed to identify and encrypt valuable information in a victims system to extort payment for the key to decrypt

Regulating cybercrime

Regulating cybercrime can be hard due to digitalisation of critical societal services and the increased use of digital devices by individuals; rapid technology developments; and criminal behaviour evolving quickly

Digital Forensic Science

The process to acquire, preserve, analyze, and report on evidence using scientific methods that are demonstrably reliable, accurate, and repeatable such that it may be used in judicial proceedings

> Use of automation and technical tools must be proportional

> Digital data is used in approximately 85% of all criminal investigations in the EU

Web 1.0

> Internet forums, personal web page

Pros:

- Shrink distance

- Address large audiences

- Positive reinforcement

- New business models

- Share personal content

- Find each other again

Cons:

- Users become insular in their views

- Can be used for illegal/antisocial activities

- Enchances/supports crime (child pornography, money laundering, terrorist activities, defamation etc.)

Web 2.0

> Social media

Pros:

Interactive

Cons:

- Stalking

- Identity theft

- Cyberbullying

- Copyright infringements

Web 3.0

> Use of decentralised technologies, AI, cryptocurrency, metaverse etc; not fully there yet; mainly negative effects

Freedom of Expression

• US 1st amendment → absolute right, applies to all internet communications

• Art. 10 ECHR → not an absolute right, can be restricted

- Germany and France: limits freedom of expression if it denies the holocaust or offends the memory of the country; protects groups within society who would otherwise feel stigmatized by their distinction from mainstream

- The UK: limits public statements made with the intent to incite racial hatred

Hate speech

Covers all forms of expressions that spread, incite, promote, or justify racial hatred, xenophobia, anti-Semitism or other forms of hatred based on intolerance

Political speech:

Free and unrestricted speech in the political sphere that is an extension of democracy itself

> EU Counties: strict campaign regulations, only a certain amount of money can be spent, broadcasters draw up codes of good practice  → ensure fair and impartial coverage of political speech

The Right to Data Protection

Fair and legitimate collection, storage, use, and processing of personal data, by the State or private actors

Creative Commons

Sharing content for specific purposes without needing remuneration, created by professor Lessig

Use of AI and IP rights

You own the input and output; however no defined copyright over output

Intellectual Property

Economic value of information/intangibles; includes copyright, patents, trademarks, industrial design, layout design…

> IP property can be sold, bought, leased, passed on under a will, and assigned

> IPRs protected under domestic law, internal law, and EU law

Copyright

About the originality of the idea, not the object itself

Software

Set of statements or instructions to be used directly or indirectly in a computer to bring about a certain result; set out in source code, a set of illogical human-readable instructions coded into computer language; object code is the result of a compilation of the source code into machine readable instructions

Literal copying

A substantial part of the source code or object code been copied

Non-literal copyright

When the structure, design or characterisation of a work is copied

Fixed algorithms

Fixed points of architecture that present a code-based control

Learning algorithms

Continuous learning via feedback loop