On May 14 1991 the Council of the European Communities adopted the directive on the legal protection of computer programs. Pursuant to this directive the Member States "shall bring into force the laws, regulations and administrative provisions necessary to comply with this directive before 1 January 1993". Article 1 of the directive states that the Member States shall protect computer programs by copyright, as literary works. At the time of publication, not all the Member States had complied with the directive, although they did have bills pending. Specialists from each Member State of the EC describe the copyright provisions of their country, both in general and with respect to software, and then provide detailed descriptions of the way in which their country has enacted or intends to enact the directive. Most of the contributions contain a translation of the relevant statutory provisions. Chapter 1 of the book desrcibes the provisions of the directive in detail. Thus the reader should be able to obtain an overview of the protection of computer programs in the EC.

"Automation of Legal Reasoning" explores the development which has lead up to the formation of a joint field of artificial intelligence (AI) and law. In this undertaking, the basic foundations of AI and the methodological approaches found in jurisprudence are related to each other in a historical perspective. The book also addresses the future prospects of the discipline. In this part of the study an elaborated jurisprudential model of legal reasoning is introduced, reflecting different sub-processes and various types of legal knowledge exercising influence over them. In addition, a critical analysis of various AI-approaches that have been suggested for the field of law is provided. In this context, also two AI-system development projects carried out at The Swedish Law and Informatics Research Institute are described. The investigation leads up to the formulation of a design approach for advanced AI-systems for law, based on a functional decomposition of legal knowledge, the integration of various computational techniques and the structural integration of different types of small-scale AI-systems. The study concludes with a discussion of potentialities and consequences of a future development.

This book offers conceptual analyses, highlights issues, proposes solutions, and discusses practices regarding privacy and data protection in transitional times. It is one of the results of the 15th annual International Conference on Computers, Privacy and Data Protection (CPDP), which was held in Brussels in May 2022. We are in a time of transition. Artificial Intelligence is making significant breakthroughs in how humans use data and information, and is changing our lives in virtually all aspects. The pandemic has pushed society to adopt changes in how, when, why, and the media through which, we interact. A new generation of European digital regulations - such as the AI Act, Digital Services Act, Digital Markets Act, Data Governance Act, and Data Act - is on the horizon. This raises difficult questions as to which rights we should have, the degree to which these rights should be balanced against other poignant social interests, and how these rights should be enforced in light of the fluidity and uncertainty of circumstances. The book covers a range of topics, including: data protection risks in European retail banks; data protection, privacy legislation, and litigation in China; synthetic data generation as a privacy-preserving technique for the training of machine learning models; effectiveness of privacy consent dialogues; legal analysis of the role of individuals in data protection law; and the role of data subject rights in the platform economy. This interdisciplinary book has been written at a time when the scale and impact of data processing on society - on individuals as well as on social systems - is becoming ever more important. It discusses open issues as well as daring and prospective approaches and is an insightful resource for readers with an interest in computers, privacy and data protection.

When people think of hackers, they usually think of a lone wolf acting with the intent to garner personal data for identity theft and fraud. But what about the corporations and government entities that use hacking as a strategy for managing risk? Why Hackers Win asks the pivotal question of how and why the instrumental uses of invasive software by corporations and government agencies contribute to social change. Through a critical communication and media studies lens, the book focuses on the struggles of breaking and defending the "trusted systems" underlying our everyday use of technology. It compares the United States and the European Union, exploring how cybersecurity and hacking accelerate each other in digital capitalism, and how the competitive advantage that hackers can provide corporations and governments may actually afford new venues for commodity development and exchange. Presenting prominent case studies of communication law and policy, corporate hacks, and key players in the global cybersecurity market, the book proposes a political economic model of new markets for software vulnerabilities and exploits, and clearly illustrates the social functions of hacking.

Although over 100 countries have developed data privacy laws, there is a lack of expert guidance on these laws. This text examines the fundamental aims and principles of data privacy law, along with the mechanisms for its enforcement in an international context. Bygrave analyses relevant law from around the globe, paying particular attention to international instruments and using these as a foundation for examining national law. He also places data privacy law within a broader legal and political framework, focusing upon its interrelation with related fields, such as human rights, administrative law, and, intellectual property rights.

This book examines the disclosure and withholding of all forms of confidential information handled by professionals. Fully revised and updated, the new edition examines the numerous recent developments in the law, particularly following revelations by the media of the interception of professional confidences by phone hacking and other means. Its primary focus is on the law of England and Wales, but it includes insights from the secondary literature and case law of Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, and Scotland. This allows it to predict how English courts may fill gaps in the law, and makes it a useful resource for practitioners in other common law jurisdictions. The book begins with a discussion of the basic principles of confidentiality, including types of confidential information, confidentiality obligations, disclosures, and confidentiality obligation. Part I examines the legal instruments for the enforcement of confidentiality, including contractual obligations, tort of misuse of private information, equitable wrongs, actions against third parties, civil remedies and criminal offences, and remedies beyond the courts. Part II discusses justified disclosure, including those relating to public interest, official investigations, administration of justice, consent and waiver, and lapsed confidentiality. Part III analyses the grounds for justified non-disclosure, including legal professional privilege, public interest immunity, contractual or equitable obligations, data protection and freedom of information, privacy protection, and non-disclosure to client. Finally, Part IV discusses limiting the extent of a lawful disclosure, dealing with circulation restrictions, public reporting, anonymity, court attendance restrictions, and collateral use. This is an essential reference for those advising either the professional or the individual client on issues relating to the disclosure of confidential personal information.

This book addresses important issues at the intersection of copyright law and Internet policy. It is the result of a comprehensive, multi-year review of three key topics: 1) the legal framework for the creation of remixes; 2) the relevance and scope of the first sale doctrine in the digital environment; and 3) the application of statutory damages in the context of individual file-sharers and secondary liability for large-scale online infringement. Each section provides recommendations based on the stakeholder input received.

The Internet is often described as a "network of networks" because it is not a single physical entity, but hundreds of thousands of interconnected networks linking hundreds of millions of computers around the world. As such, the Internet is international, decentralised, and comprised of networks and infrastructure largely owned and operated by private sector entities. As the Internet grows and becomes more pervasive in all aspects of modern society, the question of how it should be governed becomes more pressing. This book reviews the issues, the management, and future of internet governance.

The federal government spends more than $80 billion each year on information technology (IT) investments; in FY2017 that investment is expected to increase to more than $89 billion. Historically, the projects supported by these investments have often incurred "multi-million dollar cost overruns and years-long schedule delays." In addition, they may contribute little to mission-related outcomes and, in some cases, may fail altogether. These undesirable results "can be traced to a lack of disciplined and effective management and inadequate executive-level oversight." The Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act (FITARA) was enacted on December 19, 2014, to address these issues and codify existing initiatives managed by the Federal Chief Information Officer (CIO).

Information Technology and Intellectual Property Law is a complete exploration of the relationship between information technology and intellectual property laws a very wide-ranging and complex, ever changing area of law. It provides up-to-date coverage and analysis of the intellectual property laws applicable to all forms of computer software. placing the law in the context of computer use examining copyright, database rights, patents, trade marks, design rights and the law of confidence. There have been numerous cases before the Court of Justice for the European Union (CJEU) recently, in particular involving the use of trade marks on the Internet, and these are analysed in detail with the implications of the judgments explained in a practical and accessible way. Information Technology and Intellectual Property Law includes developments surrounding ISPs (Internet Service Providers), for example injunctions against ISPs both in the UK and before the Court of Justice of the European Union, and coverage of the Digital Economy Act provisions. It can either be read from cover to cover as a thorough introduction to the subjects addressed or be used as a very useful starting point for a specialist practitioner faced with a particular problem on a particular case. With this in mind Information Technology and Intellectual Property Law is an essential addition to any an IT and IP practitioner's bookshelf as well as a useful textbook for non-specialists as well as advanced undergraduate and taught postgraduate IT and IP courses.

There is no comprehensive federal privacy statute that protects personal information. Instead, a patchwork of federal laws and regulations govern the collection and disclosure of personal information and has been addressed by Congress on a sector-by-sector basis. Some contend that this patchwork of laws and regulations is insufficient to meet the demands of today's technology. Congress, the Obama Administration, businesses, public interest groups and citizens are all involved in the discussion of privacy solutions. This book examines some of these efforts with respect to the protection of personal information and provides a brief overview of selected recent developments in the area of federal privacy law.

Like many other areas of life, humanitarian practice and thinking are being transformed by information and communications technology. Despite this, the growing digitization of humanitarianism has been a relatively unnoticed dimension of global order. Based on more than seven years of data collection and interdisciplinary research, #Help presents a ground-breaking study of digital humanitarianism and its ramifications for international law and politics. Global problems and policies are being reconfigured, regulated, and addressed through digital interfaces developed for humanitarian ends. #Help analyses how populations, maps, and emergencies take shape on the global plane when given digital form and explores the reorientation of nation states' priorities and practices of governing around digital data collection imperatives. This book also illuminates how the growing prominence of digital interfaces in international humanitarian work is sustained and shaped by law and policy. #Help reveals new vectors of global inequality and new forms of global relation taking effect in the here and now. To understand how major digital platforms are seeking to extend their serviceable lives, and to see how global order might take shape in the future, it is essential to grasp the perils and possibilities of digital humanitarianism. #Help will transform thinking about what is at stake in the use of digital interfaces in the humanitarian field and about how, where, and for whom we are making the global order of tomorrow.

The subjects of Privacy and Data Protection are more relevant than ever with the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) becoming enforceable in May 2018. This volume brings together papers that offer conceptual analyses, highlight issues, propose solutions, and discuss practices regarding privacy and data protection. It is one of the results of the tenth annual International Conference on Computers, Privacy and Data Protection, CPDP 2017, held in Brussels in January 2017. The book explores Directive 95/46/EU and the GDPR moving from a market framing to a 'treaty-base games frame', the GDPR requirements regarding machine learning, the need for transparency in automated decision-making systems to warrant against wrong decisions and protect privacy, the riskrevolution in EU data protection law, data security challenges of Industry 4.0, (new) types of data introduced in the GDPR, privacy design implications of conversational agents, and reasonable expectations of data protection in Intelligent Orthoses. This interdisciplinary book was written while the implications of the General Data Protection Regulation 2016/679 were beginning to become clear. It discusses open issues, and daring and prospective approaches. It will serve as an insightful resource for readers with an interest in computers, privacy and data protection.

In 1996, Congress enacted comprehensive reform of the nation's statutory and regulatory framework for telecommunications by passing the Telecommunications Act, which substantially amended the 1934 Communications Act. The general objective of the 1996 Act was to open up markets to competition by removing unnecessary regulatory barriers to entry. At that time, the industry was characterised by service-specific networks that did not compete with one another: circuit-switched networks provided telephone service and coaxial cable networks provided cable service. The act created distinct regulatory regimes for these service-specific telephone networks and cable networks that included provisions intended to foster competition from new entrants that used network architectures and technologies similar to those of the incumbents. This 'intramodal' competition has proved very limited. But the deployment of digital technologies in these previously distinct networks has led to market convergence and 'intermodal' competition, as telephone, cable, and even wireless networks increasingly are able to offer voice, data, and video services over a single broadband platform. There is consensus that the current statutory framework is not effective in the current market environment, but not on how to modify it. The debate focuses on how to foster investment, innovation, and competition in both the physical broadband network and in the applications that ride over that network while also meeting the many non-economic objectives of U.S. telecommunications policy: universal service, homeland security, public safety, diversity of voices, localism, consumer protection, etc. This book explores these issues and includes the act in its entirety.

The internet and the equipment through which it is delivered has revolutionised the way business offers its services and consumers access information. The constantly evolving technology will continue to become mobile both in terms of the apparatus used to get online, such as mobile phones, and also the wireless capability which will become widespread. Commercial use of the technology presents huge legal issues and has led to the introduction of significant new laws to govern online trade. However, the approach taken by the EU in regulating the internet differs markedly from that of the United States. Given the degree of trade between the two continents and in particular between the USA and the UK, it is vital that businesses on both sides of the Atlantic understand the diverse legal regimes, whether they operate in European or North American markets. This book provides an overview of the English law treatment of the internet, which is heavily influenced by the EU, and contrasts it where appropriate to American legal governance. The book examines issues including online contractual formation, privacy law across geographical borders, electronic signatures, online marketing and consumer sales over the internet. The book is essential reading for businesses in both lands.

Free expression is under threat. Social media and "fake news," misinformation, and disinformation have prompted governments to propose new forms of regulation that are deeply challenging to free expression. Hate speech, far-right populism, campus speech debates, and censorship consistently make headlines in Canada and abroad. Dilemmas of Free Expression offers forward-looking appraisals of ways to confront challenging moral issues, policy problems, and controversies that pay heed to the fundamental right to free expression. The essays in this volume offer timely analyses of the law, policy, and philosophical challenges, and social repercussions to our understanding of expressive freedom in relation to government obligations and public discourse. Free expression and its limits are multifaceted, deeply complex, inherently values-based, and central to the ability of a society to function. Dilemmas of Free Expression addresses the challenges of limiting free expression across a host of issues through an analyses by leading and emerging voices in a number of disciplines, including political science, law, philosophy, and Indigenous studies.

AI and people do not compete on a level-playing field. Self-driving vehicles may be safer than human drivers, but laws often penalize such technology. People may provide superior customer service, but businesses are automating to reduce their taxes. AI may innovate more effectively, but an antiquated legal framework constrains inventive AI. In The Reasonable Robot, Ryan Abbott argues that the law should not discriminate between AI and human behavior and proposes a new legal principle that will ultimately improve human well-being. This work should be read by anyone interested in the rapidly evolving relationship between AI and the law.

Electronic signatures are ubiquitous. Anyone sending an e-mail or using a credit card uses one. They can have a bearing on all areas of law, and no lawyer is immune from having to advise clients about their legal consequences. This third edition provides an exhaustive discussion of what constitutes an electronic signature, the forms an electronic signature can take and the issues relating to evidence, formation of contract and negligence in respect of electronic signatures. Case law from a wide range of common law and civil law jurisdictions is analysed to illustrate how judges have dealt with changes in technology in the past and how the law has adapted in response.

The Internet has been romanticized as a zone of freedom. The alluring combination of sophisticated technology with low barriers to entry and instantaneous outreach to millions of users has mesmerized libertarians and communitarians alike. Lawmakers have joined the celebration, passing the Communications Decency Act, which enables Internet Service Providers to allow unregulated discourse without danger of liability, all in the name of enhancing freedom of speech. But an unregulated Internet is a breeding ground for offensive conduct. At last we have a book that begins to focus on abuses made possible by anonymity, freedom from liability, and lack of oversight. The distinguished scholars assembled in this volume, drawn from law and philosophy, connect the absence of legal oversight with harassment and discrimination. Questioning the simplistic notion that abusive speech and mobocracy are the inevitable outcomes of new technology, they argue that current misuse is the outgrowth of social, technological, and legal choices. Seeing this clearly will help us to be better informed about our options. In a field still dominated by a frontier perspective, this book has the potential to be a real game changer. Armed with example after example of harassment in Internet chat rooms and forums, the authors detail some of the vile and hateful speech that the current combination of law and technology has bred. The facts are then treated to analysis and policy prescriptions. Read this book and you will never again see the Internet through rose-colored glasses.

This is an open access title available under the terms of a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 International licence. It is free to read at Oxford Scholarship Online and offered as a free PDF download from OUP and selected open access locations. This book is the culmination of nearly six years of research initiated by Fred Cate and Jim Dempsey to examine national practices and laws regarding systematic government access to personal information held by private-sector companies. Leading an effort sponsored by The Privacy Projects, they commissioned a series of country reports, asking national experts to uncover what they could about government demands on telecommunications providers and other private-sector companies to disclose bulk information about their customers. Their initial research found disturbing indications of systematic access in countries around the world. These data collection programs, often undertaken in the name of national security, were cloaked in secrecy and largely immune from oversight, posing serious threats to personal privacy. After the Snowden leaks confirmed these initial findings, the project morphed into something more ambitious: an effort to explore what should be the rules for government access to private-sector data, and how companies should respond to government demands for access. initiated by Fred Cate and James Dempsey to examine the This book contains twelve updated country reports plus eleven analytic chapters that present descriptive and normative frameworks for assessing national surveillance laws, survey evolving international law and human rights principles applicable to government surveillance, and describe oversight mechanisms. It also explores the concept of accountability and the role of encryption in shaping the surveillance debate. Cate and Dempsey conclude by offering recommendations for both governments and industry.