Computer and Communications Law

Dans cette contribution nous abordons l’évolution des normes déontologiques en Belgique francophone, Finlande, France, Italie, Portugal, Québec, Royaume-Uni et Suisse selon deux axes. Le premier concerne l’évolution digitale, avec les conséquences que la numérisation engendre sur les normes et leur portée, avec une attention particulière en matière d’User Generated Content et d’intelligence artificielle. Le second axe aborde les normes concernant les discriminations et la diversité, notamment en matière de genre et d’origine. Ces axes sont identifiés au départ d’une démarche inductive basée sur l’analyse comparée des différents conseils. Deux constats majeurs peuvent être tirés de cette analyse : d’une part, les conseils renforcent la responsabilité sociale du journalisme et les valeurs traditionnelles de la profession ; d’autre part, de nouvelles valeurs semblent s’affirmer, telles que la tolérance et la diversité.

Dans cette contribution nous abordons l’évolution des normes déontologiques en Belgique francophone, Finlande, France, Italie, Portugal, Québec, Royaume-Uni et Suisse selon deux axes. Le premier concerne l’évolution digitale, avec les conséquences que la numérisation engendre sur les normes et leur portée, avec une attention particulière en matière d’User Generated Content et d’intelligence artificielle. Le second axe aborde les normes concernant les discriminations et la diversité, notamment en matière de genre et d’origine. Ces axes sont identifiés au départ d’une démarche inductive basée sur l’analyse comparée des différents conseils. Deux constats majeurs peuvent être tirés de cette analyse : d’une part, les conseils renforcent la responsabilité sociale du journalisme et les valeurs traditionnelles de la profession ; d’autre part, de nouvelles valeurs semblent s’affirmer, telles que la tolérance et la diversité.

The use of Information Communication Technology (ICT) has permeated every profession, sector and facet of life. Although it has been slow in its application to legal practice in Nigeria, the prospect of ICT in law is promising and unending and it has resulted in the ield of Arti icial Intelligence (AI) and Law. AI and Law has many branches of which legal document automation forms an important part with high applications to drafting agreements. The paper examines the functionality of a programme written by the irst author that automatically generates land sale agreements between natural persons, with the aim of ascertaining if the programme conforms with the appropriate provision of applicable laws. The paper examines the laws applicable to land sale agreements in Nigeria and inds that the document produced by the programme conforms with the provisions of these Laws. The paper also examines the issues that may arise in the use of the programme or similar programmes.

Conferência ao IV Congresso Interativo Virtual "Humanos Direitos Máquinas - amigos ou inimigos". Universidad Nacional de Lanús / E-Justicia Latinoamérica, Argentina. Dia 20 de novembro de 2019.
A mesma retoma a comunicação apresentada na "Nordic Conference on Legal Informatics - 2019", na Universidade da Lapónia, Rovaniemi, dia 14 de novembro de 2019.

Segunda Palestra / Conferência de duas sobre "A Anonimização, Pseudonimização e Cifragem: alguns apontamentos comparativos entre o RGPD e a LGPD", para a Comissão de Direito Digital da Subseção de Campinas da Ordem dos Advogados do Brasil. Dia 2 de agosto de 2019.

Nowadays algorithms can decide if one can get a loan, is allowed to cross a border, or must go to prison. Artificial intelligence techniques (natural language processing and machine learning in the first place) enable private and public decision-makers to analyse big data in order to build profiles, which are used to make decisions in an automated way.

This work presents ten arguments against algorithmic decision-making. These revolve around the concepts of ubiquitous discretionary interpretation, holistic intuition, algorithmic bias, the three black boxes, psychology of conformity, power of sanctions, civilising force of hypocrisy, pluralism, empathy, and technocracy.

The lack of transparency of the algorithmic decision-making process does not stem merely from the characteristics of the relevant techniques used, which can make it impossible to access the rationale of the decision. It depends also on the abuse of and overlap between intellectual property rights (the “legal black box”). In the US, nearly half a million patented inventions concern algorithms; more than 67% of the algorithm-related patents were issued over the last ten years and the trend is increasing.

To counter the increased monopolisation of algorithms by means of intellectual property rights (with trade secrets leading the way), this paper presents three legal routes that enable citizens to ‘open’ the algorithms.

First, copyright and patent exceptions, as well as trade secrets are discussed.

Second, the GDPR is critically assessed. In principle, data controllers are not allowed to use algorithms to take decisions that have legal effects on the data subject’s life or similarly significantly affect them. However, when they are allowed to do so, the data subject still has the right to obtain human intervention, to express their point of view, as well as to contest the decision. Additionally, the data controller shall provide meaningful information about the logic involved in the algorithmic decision.

Third, this paper critically analyses the first known case of a court using the access right under the freedom of information regime to grant an injunction to release the source code of the computer program that implements an algorithm.

Only an integrated approach – which takes into account intellectual property, data protection, and freedom of information – may provide the citizen affected by an algorithmic decision of an effective remedy as required by the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU and the European Convention on Human Rights.

Recommended citation: Guido Noto La Diega, Against the Dehumanisation of Decision-Making – Algorithmic Decisions at the Crossroads of Intellectual Property, Data Protection, and Freedom of Information, 9 (2018) JIPITEC 3 para 1

Aula para a disciplina "O Direito da Criança e do Adolescente em Tempos de Internet", do Programa de Pós-Graduação em Direito (Mestrado) da Universidade Federal da Santa Maria, Brasil, dia 4 de novembro de 2019.
Uma versão anterior "O Aliciamento de Crianças para Fins de Exploração Sexual por meio da Internet: Brasil - Europa" correspondeu a uma Conferência/Aula no Centro de Ciências Jurídicas da Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Brasil, dia 26 de abril de 2018.

There is an increasing interest in the ethical design of robots. As evidence of this fact, one may refer to some recent reports and the European Parliament’s resolution on civil law rules on robotics.The latter will be the primary focus of this analysis since the EU Parliament is the first legal institution in the world to have initiated work of a law on robots and artificial intelligence. The European strategy on robotics seems affected by two main problems: an excessive emphasis on ethics at the expense of security, and more gen-erally, a lack of awareness of the critical role played by the operation of striking a balance between competing interests. Balancing is pivotal to the interpretation and application of the law. And the current development of AI technologies does not enable the delegation of the operation to robots. Certainly, the most controversial point regards the status of robots as electronic persons. Even though the suggestion may seem extreme, it may prove to be successful, for at least three reasons. First, robots are becoming more and more similar to humans (anthropomorfisation and AI). Second, humans are becoming increasingly akin to robots (artificial enhancement). Third, the robot’s legal personality would be profitable for the robotic industry.

This article is a useful tool for both Asian and European readers as regards some of the state-of-the-art technologies revolving around the Internet of Things (‘IoT’) and their intersection with cloud computing (the Clouds of Things, ‘CoT’) in both the continents. The main legal issues will be presented, with a focus on intellectual property, consumer protection, and privacy. India and the United Kingdom are selected because they are at the forefront of the IoT innovation in their respective countries. The IoT is an expanding and heterogeneous universe encompassing all Things which are capable of connectivity and are equipped with sensing and actuating capabilities. One can find Things in very diverse sectors, from agriculture to manufacturing, retail, healthcare, leisure, domotics, urban development, etc. Therefore, not only is providing an exhaustive and static definition of the IoT nearly impossible (or at least pointless), but also the endeavour of providing a complete picture of the phenomenon would be a cumbersome path towards failure. Consequently, I will give account only of the highlights of the IoT in India and the United Kingdom. In India, the IoT will be analysed through the prism of net neutrality, smart cities, manufacturing, computer-related inventions, and a recent bill on the surveillance aspects of the world’s largest biometric database (Aadhaar). In turn, I will look at the British context by analysing some (quasi) regulatory acts with a focus on privacy and consumer protection. One last caveat. When it comes to new technologies, one tends to be either ‘apocalyptic’ or ‘integrated’. Either the technology will save us all by leveraging a revolution leading to a disruptive innovation, or it will destroy our lives and the world will go to the dogs. I take a middle position and believe that through education, collective awareness, and soft law, one will be able to keep the human being at the centre of innovation, to unite people rather than divide them, to empower them and alleviate discrimination and poverty. What is important is neither should one delegate to technology nor to rely entirely on government: if the IoT is to actually become a revolution, it will do so due to the commitment of each and every one of us who will contribute to create the Internet of Citizens.

PLEASE CITE AS: Guido NOTO LA DIEGA, The Internet of Citizens. A lawyer’s view on some technological developments in the United Kingdom and India, in Indian Journal of Law & Technology, 2017, 12(1), 53-104.

PLEASE CITE AS Noto La Diega G (2016) Patents on Computer-Related Inventions in India. Intel Prop Rights. S1:009. doi: 10.4172/2375-4516.1000S1-009

In India, sec. 3(k) of the Patents Act 1970 clearly excludes the patentability of computer programmes per se. For many years, the regime of computer-implemented inventions has been unclear, until the Controller General of Patents, Designs and Trade Marks (the India Intellectual Property Office) issued its Guidelines on the examination of computer-related inventions. Notably, this gave rise the civil society’s protests; indeed, there was the fear that the government was surreptisciously allowing the patentability of computer programmes per se. Therefore, the guidelines have been withdrawn and recently a new version has been published. It openly reaffirms the exclusion of the software patents and introduces a three-step test to determine the applicability of sec. 3(k) of the Patents Act to computer-related inventions. This opinion focuses the new guidance, by placing it in the context of the leading role of India in the technological and social developments revolving around the Internet of Things.

In 1941, Herbert Marcuse predicted that ubiquitous technology would have changed the concept itself of rationality. This paper does not aim at measuring the impact on rationality of a ‘growing technical ensemble of things and relations’, but Marcuse’s idea helps us understand that the Internet of Things should make us rethink some fundamental principles. Therefore,  it is crucial to study this (relatively) new phenomenon with a multidisciplinary pragmatic approach that, moving from a relatively complex use case, touches some of the main technical and legal issues emerging from it and from the Clouds of Things, the intersection of the Internet of Things and cloud computing. After a clarification of the concepts of Internet of Things and Clouds of Things and having shed light on the complexity of the relevant ecosystem (especially as regards the actors involved), the author proposes a taxonomy of eHealth and finally narrow down to the CoT-Health use case. In particular, the focus of this paper is twofold. On the one hand, it explores some legal aspects – mainly data-protection related – of mobile health (mHealth), a field with
no clear regulations and it usually is not even considered as part of eHealth. Alongside, it narrows down to a CoT-health scenario centred on the so-called repurposing. With regards to the latter, some considerations about liability are presented. The decentralisation of healthcare, big data and the patient’s empowerment made
possible by CoT-Health appear as the best strategy to face the challenges of healthcare in the 21st century.

PLEASE CITE AS G. NOTO LA DIEGA, British Perspectives on the Internet of Things. The Clouds of Things-Health Use Case, Internet of Things: Legal Issues and Challenges towards a Hyperconnected World, 12nd Annual International Conference, Seoul National University, Honolulu, 26 November 2015.