This book focuses on the phenomenon of hacktivism and how it has been dealt with up to now in the United States and the United Kingdom. After discussing the birth of the phenomenon and the various relevant groups, from Electronic Disturbance Theater to Anonymous, their philosophies and tactics, this timely and original work attempts to identify the positive and negative aspects hacktivism through an analysis of free speech and civil disobedience theory. Engaging in this process clarifies the dual nature of hacktivism, highlighting its potential for positive contributions to contemporary politics, whilst also demonstrating the risks and harms flowing from its controversial and legally ambiguous nature. Based on this hybrid nature of hacktivism, Karagiannopoulos proceeds to offer a critique of the current responses towards such practices and their potential for preserving the positive elements, whilst mitigating the risks and harms involved in such political practices. Finally, the study focuses on identifying an alternative, symbiotic rationale for responding to hacktivism, based on a cluster of micro-interventions moving away from the conflict-based criminal justice model and the potentially unjust and inefficacious results it entails.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has augmented human activities and unlocked opportunities for many sectors of the economy. It is used for data management and analysis, decision making, and many other aspects. As with most rapidly advancing technologies, law is often playing a catch up role so the study of how law interacts with AI is more critical now than ever before. This book provides a detailed qualitative exploration into regulatory aspects of AI in industry. Offering a unique focus on current practice and existing trends in a wide range of industries where AI plays an increasingly important role, the work contains legal and technical analysis performed by 15 researchers and practitioners from different institutions around the world to provide an overview of how AI is being used and regulated across a wide range of sectors, including aviation, energy, government, healthcare, legal, maritime, military, music, and others. It addresses the broad range of aspects, including privacy, liability, transparency, justice, and others, from the perspective of different jurisdictions. Including a discussion of the role of AI in industry during the Covid-19 pandemic, the chapters also offer a set of recommendations for optimal regulatory interventions. Therefore, this book will be of interest to academics, students and practitioners interested in technological and regulatory aspects of AI.

This book considers a new approach to online copyright infringement. Rather than looking at the subject within a purely technological context, it provides legal analysis from a human perspective. This book highlights that there are three key instances in which the capacity of a human mind intersects with the development of copyright regulation: (1) the development of copyright statutory law; (2) the interpretation of the copyright statutory law the judiciary; and (3) human interaction with new technology. Using a novel framework for constructing digital perspectives, the author, Dr Hayleigh Bosher, analyses the laws relating to online copyright infringement. She provides insights into why the law appears as it does, shedding light on the circumstances of how it came to pass and demonstrates a clear malfunction in the interpretation and application of copyright law to online activities that derives from the disconnect between the technological and the human perspectives. The book proposes putting the human element back into copyright analysis to enable the return of reason where it has been lost, and provide a clearer, more consistent and fair legal regulation of online copyright infringement. Law, Technology and Cognition: The Human Element in Online Copyright Infringement will be of interest to students, academics, researchers, as well as practitioners.

Beyond identifying and characterising the particular types of risk and liability that may arise in decentralised digital economies, this book suggests safeguards for different types of distributed networks. It explores relationships between people and will be of interest to academics, practitioners, and students.

The use of biometric identification systems is rapidly increasing across the world, owing to their potential to combat terrorism, fraud, corruption and other illegal activities. However, critics of the technology complain that the creation of an extensive central register of personal information controlled by the government will increase opportunities for the state to abuse citizens. There is also concern about the extent to which data about an individual is recorded and kept. This book reviews some of the most current and complex legal and ethical issues relating to the use of biometrics. Beginning with an overview of biometric systems, the book goes on to examine some of the theoretical underpinnings of the surveillance state, questioning whether these conceptual approaches are still relevant, particularly the integration of ubiquitous surveillance systems and devices. The book also analyses the implementation of the world's largest biometric database, Aadhaar, in detail. Additionally, the identification of individuals at border checkpoints in the United States, Australia and the EU is explored, as well as the legal and ethical debates surrounding the use of biometrics regarding: the war on terror and the current refugee crisis; violations of international human rights law principles; and mobility and privacy rights. The book concludes by addressing the collection, use and disclosure of personal information by private-sector entities such as Axciom and Facebook, and government use of these tools to profile individuals. By examining the major legal and ethical issues surrounding the debate on this rapidly emerging technology, this book will appeal to students and scholars of law, criminology and surveillance studies, as well as law enforcement and criminal law practitioners.

Legal problems abound in the information society. Electronic commerce, copyright, privacy, illegal and harmful content, taxes, wiretapping governments face an enormous challenge to meet the advent of the Internet and ICT with a flexible, up-to-date, and adequate legal framework. Yet one aspect makes this challenge even more daunting: internationalization. Law is still to a great extent based on nation states, but the information society is above all a borderless and global society. Territoriality and national sovereignty clash with the need for a global approach to address ICT-law issues. Should states leave everything to the global market, or should they intervene to protect vital national interests? If they create regulations, should these reflect the rules of the physical world? How can one enforce national rules in a world where acts take place somewhere in Cyberspace? This text presents the positions on these issues of the governments of the Netherlands, Germany, France, the UK, and the US, as well as of international organisations. How do they think about co-regulation, law enforcement, harmonization, international co-operation, and alternative dispute resolution? How do they deal with applicable law and online contracts, privacy, international liability of Internet providers, and electronic signatures? What are the implications of the European Electronic Commerce Directive and the draft Crime in Cyberspace convention? Any legal framework that is to fit the global information society must take into account internationalization. This volume shows to what extent governments are meeting this challenge.

The ideal of an inclusive and participatory Internet has been undermined by the rise of misogynistic abuse on social media platforms. However, limited progress has been made at national - and to an extent European - levels in addressing this issue. In England and Wales, the tackling of underlying causes of online abuse has been overlooked because the law focuses on punishment rather than measures to prevent such abuses. Furthermore, online abuse has a significant impact on its victims that is underestimated by policymakers. This volume critically analyses the legal provisions that are currently deployed to tackle forms of online misogyny, and focuses on three aspects; firstly, the phenomenon of social media abuse; secondly, the poor and disparate legal responses to social media abuses; and thirdly, the similar failings of hate crime to tackle problems of online gender-based abuses. This book advances a compelling argument for legal changes to the existing hate crime, and communications legislation.

Virtual currencies, particularly crypt-currencies, have been identified as potential money laundering and terrorism financing instruments due to their ability to transfer money anonymously and instantaneously over the globe. Governments and regulators have also recognized the need to more closely monitor and track virtual currency purchases and accounts to avoid the industry being exploited for money laundering or terrorism financing purposes, as explained in this book. The broad overview of various international legal approaches attempting to address this issue would be a great resource for legal and anti-money laundering or counter terrorism financing graduate students, scholars and practitioners interested in virtual currencies research.' - Raymond Choo, University of South Australia'This book is a comprehensive, highly detailed review of cybercrime and the issues raised by gambling in virtual environments. It makes an excellent contribution to the evolving discussion about the risks and controls relating to these activities. I would highly recommend it to anyone interested in financial crime and virtual environments from an international perspective.' - Liz Falconer, University of the West of England, UK In this unique book, the authors examine the relationship between real world legislation and new advancements in technology, showing how this can lead to loopholes in legislative protection. They draw on empirical research to highlight the jurisprudential issues relating to economic internet crime and digital currencies. Advancements in technology have seen gambling behavior transverse a new path. The law has not kept pace with such advances, leaving grey areas of concern undiscussed and unregulated.The authors provide a critical discussion on laws relating to gambling in virtual worlds, commenting that terms such as 'virtual' or fantasy are unhelpful in promoting effective legislation. The discussion reveals how virtual world gambling can lead on to other criminal acts within virtual worlds, and specifically examines the notion of cybercrime, economic internet crime and the problems associated with digital currencies. The book concludes by presenting the case for joined up national and international legislation to tackle virtual world crimes effectively. This distinctive study will appeal to researchers and advanced students with an interest in cybercrime, economic internet crime and virtual economies. Practitioners, policy-makers and law enforcement officers will find this book informative in promoting suitable legislation to encompass new technologies in economic crime. Contents: 1. Introduction to Virtual Worlds and Gambling 2. Cybercrime Critical Literature Review 3. Global and Virtual Gambling Legislation 4. International Measures Regulating Online Gambling 5. Global Regulation on Financial Crime 6. Digital Currencies and Financial Crime Conclusion and Recommendations Index

Combines academic rigour with case studies and activities designed to aid learning Suitable for courses both in the UK and internationally, and it uses international examples

Digital Totalitarianism: Algorithms and Society focuses on important challenges to democratic values posed by our computational regimes: policing the freedom of inquiry, risks to the personal autonomy of thought, NeoLiberal management of human creativity, and the collapse of critical thinking with the social media fueled rise of conspiranoia. Digital networks allow for a granularity and pervasiveness of surveillance by government and corporate entities. This creates power asymmetries where each citizen's daily 'data exhaust' can be used for manipulative and controlling ends by powerful institutional actors. This volume explores key erosions in our fundamental human values associated with free societies by covering government surveillance of library-based activities, cognitive enhancement debates, the increasing business orientation of art schools, and the proliferation of conspiracy theories in network media. Scholars and students from many backgrounds, as well as policy makers, journalists and the general reading public will find a multidisciplinary approach to questions of totalitarian tendencies encompassing research from Communication, Rhetoric, Library Sciences, Art and New Media.

What effect do robots, algorithms, and online platforms have on the world of work? Using case studies and examples from across the EU, the UK, and the US, this book provides a compass to navigate this technological transformation as well as the regulatory options available, and proposes a new map for the era of radical digital advancements. From platform work to the gig-economy and the impact of artificial intelligence, algorithmic management, and digital surveillance on workplaces, technology has overwhelming consequences for everyone's lives, reshaping the labour market and straining social institutions. Contrary to preliminary analyses forecasting the threat of human work obsolescence, the book demonstrates that digital tools are more likely to replace managerial roles and intensify organisational processes in workplaces, rather than opening the way for mass job displacement. Can flexibility and protection be reconciled so that legal frameworks uphold innovation? How can we address the pervasive power of AI-enabled monitoring? How likely is it that the gig-economy model will emerge as a new organisational paradigm across sectors? And what can social partners and political players do to adopt effective regulation? Technology is never neutral. It can and must be governed, to ensure that progress favours the many. Digital transformation can be an essential ally, from the warehouse to the office, but it must be tested in terms of social and political sustainability, not only through the lenses of economic convenience. Your Boss Is an Algorithm offers a guide to explore these new scenarios, their promises, and perils.

This book provides an overview of recent and future legal developments concerning the digital era, to examine the extent to which law has or will further evolve in order to adapt to its new digitalized context. More specifically it focuses on some of the most important legal issues found in areas directly connected with the Internet, such as intellectual property, data protection, consumer law, criminal law and cybercrime, media law and, lastly, the enforcement and application of law. By adopting this horizontal approach, it highlights - on the basis of analysis and commentary of recent and future EU legislation as well as of the latest CJEU and ECtHR case law - the numerous challenges faced by law in this new digital era. This book is of great interest to academics, students, researchers, practitioners and policymakers specializing in Internet law, data protection, intellectual property, consumer law, media law and cybercrime as well as to judges dealing with the application and enforcement of Internet law in practice.

The dogma of the sovereignty of the state, deriving from the Peace of Westphalia, underpins much of the modern-day international system. However, developments in recent technology have led this ideology to depart from reality. Viewing state sovereignty through the prism of public international law, the book will begin with an overview of the settlement of Westphalia, how it has influenced international documents ever since, and how the advantages of centralised decisions came to be perceived. By surveying the Law of the Sea, Maritime Law, Air and Aviation, Telecommunications, Postal Services, Space Law and Mensuration, the book demonstrates how, in each, the interplay between state sovereignty and developing technologies have caused significant legal change. Some changes, Lyall argues, such as international measures of time and geography, have been born out of convenience, facilitated by technology developed for the purpose. Other areas of change developed out of a desire to reconcile conflicts or harmonise necessary state regulation. The book analyses the reasons behind these changes and discusses the ongoing attempts to balance state equality, measures adopted by new institutions to secure comprehensive representation. It ends by looking to the future of state sovereignty in an increasingly globalised world. The book is of use to any student or scholar interested in policy making, international law and international affairs, both legal and scientific, as well as those looking at legal administrative issues and government officiation.

This book focuses on the right to privacy in the digital age with a view to see how it is implemented across the globe in different jurisdictions. The right to privacy is one of the rights enshrined in international human rights law. It has been a topic of interest for both academic and non-academic audiences around the world. However, with the increasing digitalisation of modern life, protecting one's privacy has become more complicated. Both state and non-state organisations make frequent interventions in citizens' private lives. This edited volume aims to provide an overview of recent development pertaining to the protection of the right to privacy in the different judicial systems such as the European, South Asian, African and Inter-American legal systems. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of The International Journal of Human Rights.

As the threats posed by organised crime and terrorism persist, law enforcement authorities remain under pressure to suppress the movement, or flows, of people and objects that are deemed dangerous. This collection provides a broad overview of the challenges and trends of the policing of flows. How these threats are constructed and addressed by governments and law enforcement agencies is the unifying thread of the book. The concept of flows is interpreted broadly so as to include the trafficking of illicit substances, trade in antiquities, and legal and illegal migration, including cross-border travel by members of organised crime groups or 'foreign fighters'. The book focuses especially on the responses of governments and law enforcement agencies to the changing nature and intensity of flows. The contributors comprise a mix of lawyers, sociologists, historians and criminologists who address both formal legal and practical, on-the-ground approaches to the policing of flows. The volume invites reflection on whether the existing tool kit of governments and law enforcement agencies is adequate in this changing environment and how it could be modernised, for example, by increased reliance on technology or by reappraising the role of the private sector. As such, the book will be useful not only for academics and practitioners who work on security-related matters, but also more generally to those who are interested in what the near-term future of policing is likely to look like and how the balance between law enforcement on the one hand and human rights and civil liberties on the other can be achieved.

Exploring the evolution of the right to be forgotten, its challenges, and impacts on privacy, reputation, and online expression, this book lays out the current state of the law on the right to be forgotten in Canada and in the international context while addressing the broader theoretical tensions at the core of the right to be forgotten.

This book explores the question of whether software should be patented. It analyses the ways in which the courts of the US, the EU, and Australia have attempted to deal with the problems surrounding the patentability of software and describes why it is that the software patent issue should be dealt with as a patentable subject matter issue, rather than as an issue of novelty or nonobviousness. Anton Hughes demonstrates that the current approach has failed and that a fresh approach to the software patent problem is needed. The book goes on to argue against the patentability of software based on its close relationship to mathematics. Drawing on historical and philosophical accounts of mathematics in pursuit of a better understanding of its nature and focusing the debate on the conditions necessary for mathematical advancement, the author puts forward an analytical framework centred around the concept of the useful arts. This analysis both explains mathematics', and therefore software's, nonpatentability and offers a theory of patentable subject matter consistent with Australian, American, and European patent law.

Using the UK as a case study the book aims to provide a detailed rationale for the tension between a policy perspective that tries to provide protection for victims of such practices through legislation and the need to better understand a phenomenon that constantly evolves as a result of new technology, disruptive adoption and social norms.

As a social process that places great stock in its stability and predictability, law does not deal easily or well with change. In a modern world that is in a constant and rapid state of flux, law is being placed under considerable stress in its efforts to fulfill its task as a primary regulator of social and economic behaviour. This challenge is particularly acute in the realm of technology and its profound ramifications for social and economic behaviour. The innovative Techno-Age not only offers fresh ways of handling old problems, but also throws up entirely new problems; traditional ways of thinking about and responding to these old and new problems and their optimal resolution are no longer as tenable as many once thought. One such example is the burgeoning world of cryptocurrencies - this peer-to-peer digital network presents a profound challenge to the status quo of the financial services sector, to the established modes of state-backed fiat currency, and to the regulatory authority and reach of law. Taken together, these related challenges demand the urgent attention of jurists, lawyers and law reformers. It is the future and relevance of legal regulation as much as cryptocurrency that is at stake. This book proposes an approach to regulating cryptocurrency that recognises and retains its innovative and transformative potential, but also identifies and deals with some of its less appealing qualities and implications.

This book explores the intersection between artificial intelligence and two intellectual property rights: copyright and patents. The increasing use of artificial intelligence for generating creative and innovative output has an impact on copyright and patent laws around the world. The book aims to map and analyse that impact. The author considers how artificial intelligence systems may aid, or in some cases substitute for, human creators and inventors in the creative process. It is from this angle that the copyright and patent regimes in four jurisdictions (Europe, the United States, Australia and Japan) are investigated in depth. The author describes how these jurisdictions look at works and inventions generated through a process where artificial intelligence is present or prevalent, and examines how copyright and patent regimes should adapt to the reality of artificially intelligent creators and inventors. As the use of artificial intelligence to generate creative and innovative products becomes more common, this book will be a valuable resource to researchers, academics and policy makers alike.

Offers the most accessible overview of the topic currently available. Suitable for students coming to the topic without a law background. The authors have diverse backgrounds in academia, journalism and practice, and present the subject clearly and dynamically.

This book demands that we question what we are told about security, using tools we have had for thousands of years. The work considers the history of security rhetoric in a number of distinct but related contexts, including the United States' security strategy, the "war" on Big Tech, and current concerns such as cybersecurity. Focusing on the language of security discourse, it draws common threads from the ancient world to the present day and the near future. The book grounds recent comparisons of Donald Trump to the Emperor Nero in a linguistic evidence base. It examines the potential impact on society of policy-makers' emphasis on the novelty of cybercrime, their likening of the internet to the Wild West, and their claims that criminals have "gone dark". It questions governments' descriptions of technology companies in words normally reserved for terrorists, and asks who might benefit. Interdisciplinary in approach, the book builds on existing literature in the Humanities and Social Sciences, most notably studies on rhetoric in Greco-Roman texts, and on the articulation of security concerns in law, international relations, and public policy contexts. It adds value to this body of research by offering new points of comparison, and a fresh but tried and tested way of looking at problems that are often presented as unprecedented. It will be essential to legal and policy practitioners, students of Law, Politics, Media, and Classics, and all those interested in employing critical thinking.

A must have book on how GDPR is actively working in the privacy, compliance and technology space. Gain a clear understanding of GDPR requirements and recognise opportunities to reshape your data privacy compliance programs. Learn unique techniques to avoid GDPR non-compliance in the third and fourth industrial revolution era. A practical guide to providing great insights on data privacy challenges and compliance with invaluable practical approaches. Demonstrates data privacy legislation differences and similarities in multi-jurisdictions and how to man oeuvre the minefield of privacy successfully.

In this multidisciplinary book, experts from around the globe examine how data-driven political campaigning works, what challenges it poses for personal privacy and democracy, and how emerging practices should be regulated. The rise of big data analytics in the political process has triggered official investigations in many countries around the world, and become the subject of broad and intense debate. Political parties increasingly rely on data analytics to profile the electorate and to target specific voter groups with individualised messages based on their demographic attributes. Political micro-targeting has become a major factor in modern campaigning, because of its potential to influence opinions, to mobilise supporters and to get out votes. The book explores the legal, philosophical and political dimensions of big data analytics in the electoral process. It demonstrates that the unregulated use of big personal data for political purposes not only infringes voters' privacy rights, but also has the potential to jeopardise the future of the democratic process, and proposes reforms to address the key regulatory and ethical questions arising from the mining, use and storage of massive amounts of voter data. Providing an interdisciplinary assessment of the use and regulation of big data in the political process, this book will appeal to scholars from law, political science, political philosophy and media studies, policy makers and anyone who cares about democracy in the age of data-driven political campaigning.

Internet Governance: Origins, Current Issues, and Future Possibilities deals with Internet governance and includes computer history, Internet beginnings, institutions and stakeholders, proposed models of governance, and human rights. The concept of Internet governance covers an exceptionally complex and rapidly changing field of norms and rules. Its origins and conflicts engage many disciplines and give rise to technical standards with contributions from a wide range of stakeholders. At the same time, the Internet has increasingly become the dominant reality for all the information processing industries. The ultimate goal of the book is to establish a foundation for identifying a new model of governance for the Internet. In doing so, the book honors the efforts of previous scholars who have considered and proposed other models for the governance of the Internet. Among its aims, the book is intended as an introduction for the novice to the subject of internet governance. The first two chapters offer a historical foundation of the institutions and the debate. The next two chapters discuss the evolution of that debate over the last twenty years. The final two discuss the present and future ramifications of the debate and include the author's attempts to sketch a practical plan for a new concept of Internet governance. This book provides an introductory, multidisciplinary account of the forces at work in the evolving concept of internet governance for scholars in the information studies fields, including computer, information and library science. It should also be useful for scholars in the fields of international law, international relations, diplomacy studies and political science.