Thema: Digitalisierung & Technologie

Verfassungsrecht für digitale Technologien, KI-Governance, Plattformregulierung, digitale Rechte und verfassungsrechtliche Aspekte des technologischen Wandels. Umfasst digitale Grundrechte, Datenschutz als Verfassungsrecht und verfassungsrechtliche Regulierung neuer Technologien.

Global Inequities in Algorithms

Algorithms can seem like esoteric subjects, often relegated to the realm of engineers and technology companies, given the technical nature of algorithmic design. Algorithms, when applied, take on a social character that invites us into peer beneath the hood to understand both their function and application. Given the growing ubiquitousness of algorithms in our daily lives, policymakers are looking to capture algorithms within regulatory mechanisms. This article seeks to understand the inequalities that undergird algorithmic applications, in order to understand how to regulate these systems.

31. März 2022

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Artificial Intelligence, Human Flourishing and the Rule of Law

One function of the rule of law is the promotion of human flourishing, often represented by the term ‘autonomy’. However, the ability to rely on the rule of law as a tool for counteracting AI’s constricting effect on human flourishing is being negated as the composition and design AI systems flout the ideals that the rule of law demand as necessary for a certain type of society.

30. März 2022

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Proactive Contestation of AI Decision-making

Liberal democracies have an artificial intelligence problem. The disruptive impact and complex harms of artificial intelligence (AI) decision-making, including their intrusive surveillance, unjustifiable biases, and deceptive manipulations matter in all societies, but they matter more in open, pluralist democracies, which depend on messy human accountability processes. AI decision-making systems are notoriously resistant to demands for external scrutiny.

30. März 2022

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Our Minds, Monitored and Manipulated

Well-functioning democracies require a well-informed citizenry, an open social and political discourse and absence of opaque or deceitful influence. Western democracies have however always been prone to power asymmetries and to coercion and the curbing of these freedoms through oppression and propaganda. Adoption of AI and datafication has raised concerns whether society is sliding into an Orwellian nightmare, where all of our actions are being scrutinized, controlled and manipulated at a scale that has never been possible before. So, what is it exactly that makes this time so different?

28. März 2022

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Artificial Intelligence Must Be Used According to the Law, or Not at All

Democracy requires to strengthen the Rule of Law wherever public or private actors use algorithmic systems. The law must set out the requirements on AI necessary in a democratic society and organize appropriate accountability and oversight. To this end, the European Commission made several legislative proposals. In addition to the discussion on how to use algorithmic systems lawfully, the question when it is beneficial to use them deserves more attention.

28. März 2022

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Brazilian Judicial Branch v. Telegram (and Bolsonaro)

On March 18, 2022, the Brazilian Federal Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes suspended Telegram’s functioning in Brazil through an individual injunction. In brief, the platform was blocked because its owners ignored their duty to cooperate with the Brazilian state in the repression of the illicit activities committed over the platform. However, only analyzing the issue’s core misses one of its essential surrounding elements: the direct interest of President Jair Bolsonaro in the free operation of the platform and the growing antagonism between him and Justice Alexandre de Moraes.

25. März 2022

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Legal Safeguards for the Volunteers of Ukraine’s Cyber Militia

What is the legal status of foreigners who enlist in Ukraine’s volunteer cyber militia? The Putin regime’s brutal invasion of Ukraine means that getting clarity on this question is a matter of urgency. However, more broadly, this is a question that will remain important for future conflicts if we do not properly engage with it now.

23. März 2022

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A Self-Regulatory Race to the Bottom through Out-of-Court Dispute Settlement in the Digital Services Act

Art. 18 of the draft Digital Services Act [Art. 21 in the final text] will introduce new dispute settlement processes. This addresses a legitimate policy concern, namely the need to enable effective recourse mechanisms for platform decisions. However, the concept fails when trying to combine the best of two worlds: solving disputes through real courts as well as through self-regulation. Art. 18 [Art. 21 in the final text] DSA raises serious concerns and should be substantially modified.

16. März 2022

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Terrorist content online and threats to freedom of expression

Many states have used these general stipulations contained in international law to introduce in their counterterrorism legislation specific provisions criminalizing the dissemination of ideas or opinions that might incite, endorse, or stimulate the commission of terrorist acts. With social media platforms, a new set of actors have begun setting the thresholds of what speech they will host, complicating governance.

14. März 2022

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Big Tech War Activism

The war in Ukraine is live. It’s not only live on CNN or Al Jazeera but it’s live on different social media platforms, for better and worse. In this context, Big Tech platforms are not neutral. Rather, along with their users, they are giving rise to a new wave of tech war activism, siding with Ukraine. While many of these initiatives may be well intended, this new form of tech activism raises questions about the role of social media in times of war.

10. März 2022

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