Law and New Technologies

obligatory courses

The ability of critical close reading.

Formal prerquisites

Reading scientific articles in English.

Remote learning

The conversatory will be focused on the issues linked to the new technologies, namely:

1) problems which result from the attempts to adjust regulation concerning the traditional economy to the digital one; the theoretical proposals of solving the dilemmas which appear due to the appearance of new technologies; new technologies and human rights – the problem of algorithms and discrimination;

2) ‘Strategy to build single digital market for Europe’;

3) data protection and the role of regulations concerning privacy in data-based economy;

5) challenges created by the platformization of the economy in the area of law.

The conversatory will be focused on the issues linked to the new technologies, namely:

1) problems which result from the attempts to adjust regulation concerning the traditional economy to the digital one; the theoretical proposals of solving the dilemmas which appear due to the appearance of new technologies; new technologies and human rights – the problem of algorithms and discrimination;

The first topic area of the classes refers to the overall issues linked to the role of law if considering digital transformation. Classes will focus on the concepts such as ‘code as law’ and the selected examples of law changing due to the technological development will be analysed. Moreover, the questions referring to the challenges created by the technological development for human rights will be asked, e.g. due to ‘machine bias’.

2) ‘Strategy to build single digital market for Europe’ – the legislative initiatives undertaken in the EU and their practical meaning for the development of the European digital economy; the controversies linked to e.g. the regulation concerning geo-blocking;

Classes will be used to present the brief characteristic of the EU law (sources of the EU law, their uniqueness) and for the analysis of the ‘Strategy to build single digital market for Europe’ and its selected elements, e.g. the regulation concerning geo-blocking. Classes will lead to the manifestation of multicentered contemporary legal order and linking it to the challenges raised by the development of new technologies.

3) data protection and the role of regulations concerning privacy in data-based economy – provisions included in the general data protection regulation; the exterritoriality of data protection regulation;

The relevant legal acts and the selected case law will be analysed – the topic will be strictly linked to the discussion concerning growing importance of data for the economy.

4) intellectual property and copyrights – their role in the creative economy; the controversies linked to the directive on copyrights on the digital single market (e.g. ‘hyperlinks tax’ and obligatory filtering);

Intelectual property protection as the example of the area of regulation which illustrates tensions which appear due to the technological development: research focused on the perception of legal norms by the internet users will be analysed; moreover, the controversies which rose due to the proposal of directive on copyrights on digital single market will be analysed as well as the issue of changes in the understanding of term ‘work’ and ‘creator’ resulting from the technological development.

5) challenges created by the platformization of the economy in the area of law – e.g. concerning labour law;

Classess will constitute the summary of the course – the example of platform-based business model will serve as a case which allows to indicate the areas in which new technologies create regulatory challenges.

During the classes three types of sources will be discussed: (1) selected legal acts; (2) selected case law; (3) theoretical literature on the issues discussed during the class. The aim of the conversatory is not only better understanding of topics linked to the law and new technologies, but also to enable students to easily analyse legal acts and case law.

K_W05 Has in-depth knowledge about regional, domestic and international institutions and the problem of European integration

K_W06 Is reflective and critical of the problem of social differentiation and inequalities

K_W18 Has in-depth knowledge of selected institutions and organizations responsible for the transfer of norms and rules in society, such as the educational system, law, morality, religion, etc

K_W21 Has in-depth knowledge about politics and political processes at the domestic, EU and global levels as well as about participation in the public sphere

K_W23 Is reflective and critical in interpreting the processes occurring in Polish as well as global society and their consequences for social attitudes and institutions

K_W24 Has in-depth knowledge about the current needs and problems of Polish society and changes in this area

K_U18 Can identify the kinds of research in which the scientific texts read can be applicable

K_U19 Can prepare a presentation of a selected problem or study in Polish and in a foreign language

K_K02 Can propose a solution to a problem that requires an interdisciplinary research approach

K_K05 Can gather, find, synthesize and critically assess information about social sciences

Active participation in discussions in class and presentation.