Archive
Originally planned as a face-to-face conference for 20 March 2020, the contributions to the conference have been published online due to corona.
Digitalisation is permeating more and more areas of life and in particular of law. With the rise of legal tech and companies offering automated mechanisms for enforcing legal claims from the comfort of your sofa at home, the legal system faces new challenges and is confronted with familiar problems in changing circumstances.
The conference took on a threefold approach: First, the conference examined how data can be obtained in such a way that quality is guaranteed (offline too) and looked at those responsible for data availability and validity. The conference then set out to determine whether such data can be reliably fed into systems such as blockchain. Finally, the discussion turned to the question of what areas and potential automation processes result from this and how the law should apply to these.
The contributions can be accessed using the keyword “Input Control”.
On 30.10.2019 at 6:15 p.m., the Research Centre for Law and Digitalisation hosted a two-hour panel discussion on the topic: “From Brexit to the Bundestag elections - How microtargeting is revolutionising election campaigns in Europe”.
Both the Brexit campaign “Vote Leave” as well as the 2017 Bundestag election campaign are examples of how the digital revolution has stretched out to election campaigns. Microtargeting has been used for political campaigns in the US for quite some time now and European countries are slowly following suit. What is this election campaign technique all about? What opportunities and risks are there? What are their legal implications?
Microtargeting is a communication strategy which uses data to tailor advertising to an individual or a specific group in order to better target them (e.g. via Facebook). This strategy harbours great potential for abuse, especially in relation to the spreading of false information. With the increasing use of microtargeting throughout election campaigns, the issues and concerns of data protection law are shifting into focus.
Researchers and practitioners discussed the advantages and disadvantages as well as the legal basis of microtargeting with the audience.
Programme:
6 p.m. to 6:15 p.m.: Opening introduction by Prof. Dr. Kai von Lewinski, brief introduction of the lecturers by the host, Prof. Dr. Jan H. Schumann.
6:15 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.: “Legal basis for targeting voters”, Tristan Radtke, graduate lawyer and web developer
6:30 p.m. to 6:45 p.m.: “Microtargeting as a method for targeting voters”, Conrad Clemens, state director of ‘CDU Saxony’ and campaign manager for local, European and state elections in Saxony 2019
6:45 p.m. to 7 p.m.: “Microtargeting. The interplay between communication and legal science”, Keno Christoffer Potthast, Hans Bredow Institute, Hamburg
7 p.m. to 8 p.m.: Discussion, hosted by Prof. Dr. Jan H. Schumann, University of Passau
The term “artificial intelligence” has been experiencing a huge boom lately. Artificial intelligence (AI) is included in almost all modern software in one form or another, whether in video games, dictation programmes or search engines. The applicability and potential of this technology appear limitless. AI even managed to create a piece of art that was recently auctioned off.
AI is also being utilised within the field of employment in order to assist with recruitment, to increase the efficiency of production processes and to monitor employee’s work performance. Although AI does serve to accelerate and facilitate the workplace, it also threatens to discriminate against people and to lead to a loss of empathy.
The interdisciplinary discussion with Matthias Spielkamp (AlgorithmWatch), Dr. Uli Meyer (MCTS) and Prof. Dr. Peter Wedde (d+a consulting GbR) shed light on different approaches to as well as opportunities and risks of AI.
On 21 and 22 March 2019, the Research Centre for Law and Digitalisation organised a conference on “Concepts of Data Journalism” hosted by Prof. Dr. Kai von Lewinski.
Further Information
Reports on the conference can be found in ‘Digitalmagazin’ and in other journals: Affeldt/Hähnle, Formate des Datenjournalismus, AfP 2019, 129-130; Sangl/Stemkowitz, MMR-Aktuell 2019, 415809; Mostler/Hermann, ZD-Aktuell 2019 (iE); Dornauer/Knoeppfler, K&R 2019 (iE).
On 13 December 2018 at 6:15 p.m., FREDI hosted the 60-minute lecture “Back to the future of Legal Informatics? - An assessment and discussion on the lasting and future importance of Legal Informatics followed by a discussion in Lecture Hall 11 (IM).
Lecturer: Prof.em.Dr.Dr.h.c. Wolfgang Kilian, Institute for Legal Informatics (IRI), Leibniz - University of Hanover
Legal Informatics as the interdisciplinary link between law and informatics has undergone several methodological changes over the years. Now that Legal Informatics is increasingly seeping into other legal subjects, and developments such as legal tech are providing new impulses for legal work with computers, the question as to the future and task of Legal Informatics as an independent subject arises.
To answer this question, we must look at the roots of Legal Informatics. Legal Informatics is related to sociology and deals with the interaction of (social and technical) systems, including those of law. At the same time, Legal Informatics is strongly connected to engineering, mathematical logic and model theory.
On 8 and 9 December 2018, the international conference “Current Issues regarding the Protection of Personal Data in European and Turkish Law” took place in Istanbul.
In his presentation “The Layered Privacy Language (LPL) Framework - Opportunities and Challenges”, Armin Gerl (FREDI) introduced FREDI’s interdisciplinary project within which he focusses on IT. Dirk Pohl (FREDI) presented the legal focus of this project in his presentation titled “Data Portability: One of the Few True Innovations of the GDPR?”.
On 22 November 2018, student assistant Judith Affeldt gave a lecture on “The value of personal data” at the conference “Data ownership and data trade compact” of the ESV Academy.
Prof. Konrad Lachmayer and Prof. Kai von Lewinski organised the international conference “Data Protection in Comparative Law: Germany – Austria” at the Sigmund Freud Private University in Vienna. The conference attracted researchers, public servants, and lawyers.
FREDI members Dipl. Jur. Annika Kieck (Comparative Law Germany), Wiss. HK. Maximilian Gerhold (licencié en droit (Toulouse 1); Comparative Law France) and Dirk Pohl (LL.B. (London); Comparative Law England) participated in the event.
FREDI’s Conference Report: Comparative Data Protection Austria and Data Protection - Conference at SFU Vienna on 14 and 15 June 2018, Zeitschrift für IT-Recht, Rechtsinformation und Datenschutz (jusIT), 2018/04, pp. 166 - 168 (Maximilian Gerhold together with Dirk Pohl).
On 28 May 2018, the Research Centre for Law of Digitalisation hosted a lecture on the coming into force of the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
The GDPR has been casting a shadow for two years now. As of 25 May 2018, it regulates data protection law uniformly throughout Europe. By now the issues of data protection law have reached the consumer – in particular due to companies changing their data protection declarations.
Companies have reacted differently to the enactment of the GDPR – either by remaining dangerous inactive or by basing their actions on far too little knowledge. This is certainly also due to the GDPR’s technology-neutral and non-industry-specific approach which by its very nature imposes complex adequacy considerations on the data processor.
Entrepreneurial activity that is not connected to the processing of personal data has become the absolute exception. Therefore, every consumer will indirectly be affected by the new regulations. It is up to supervisory authorities to ensure and monitor the compliance to the GDPR.
Researchers and practitioners took a critical look at the changes now in force and their implementation. Risks and ambiguities as well as practical methods for implementation are to be assessed.
The 13th International For..Net Symposium is a platform designed to set a stimulus for a value-oriented and secure internet use. It attracts individuals within the field of economics, law, and sociology. The Symposium was organised in collaboration with the Research Centre for Law and Digitalisation (FREDI).
Conference report by FREDI: Hostacna/Pohl, Wertschöpfung durch Digitalisierung - Innovation. Ethics. Security, AfP 2018, 211-213
Conference report by For..Net: Lorenz/Kitur/Leeb, MMR-Aktuell 2018, 406179
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