The international order based on the Peace of Westphalia continues to yield to the pressures of a resurgent polycentricity of international powers described by the idea of Neo-Medievalism. However, the ubiquitous role of information technologies makes us wonder whether even this notion is not now obsolete and does not require to match the new interaction between public and private subjects. The East has already chosen. The opinion of Andrea Monti – Professor of Digital Law in the Degree Course in Digital Marketing – University of Chieti-Pescara – Initially published in Italian by Formiche.net Continue reading “Meta, intelligence and private data. Is it the birth of Technoneomedievalism?”
Meta’s threat is the result of European hypocrisy and cultural subordination to North American models
Like a sovereign state, Meta-Facebook is announcing possible “sanctions” against another (non-)sovereign state, the European Union, because of its policy choices on personal data protection. After decades of guilty inertia, some national data protection authorities (the Austrian and German ones, in particular) have woken up from their torpor and discovered that Google’s ecosystem creates some problems for the rights of citizens of EU Member States. Better late than never? Comments on the news superficially focused on the tired narrative of ‘privacy protection’ and the risk that US authorities might access data imported by Google. However, these analyses fail to grasp some structural aspects of the affair. by Andrea Monti – Initially published in Italian on Strategikon – an Italian Tech blog. Continue reading “Meta’s threat is the result of European hypocrisy and cultural subordination to North American models”
GDPR is the victim of the ‘Analytics War’
T-209/21 is the case number that —regardless of the winner— will change if not the world, at least the industry based on personal data. On 1 November 2021, WhatsApp Ireland challenged before the European Court of Justice a binding decision of the European Data Protection Supervisor, which, in summary, questions how the company informs users and the nature and extent of the legitimate interest to profile users without their consent. The messaging platform’s defence argues on seven points, of which the most relevant are: the fact that the European Supervisor has interpreted the definition of ‘personal data’ in an extensive (and not allowed) way and the violation of the ‘innocent until prove guilty’ principle by requiring Whatsapp to demonstrate the actual effectiveness of its user data anonymisation process instead of leaving the competent authorities with the duty to ascertain violations. These are two deadly blows because they are aimed at the two Achilles heels of the GDPR by Andrea Monti – Initially published in Italian on Strategikon – an Italian Tech blog. Continue reading “GDPR is the victim of the ‘Analytics War’”
The dispute between Macron and Domain Name Governance
At the end of 2021, the French media spread the news of a legal action brought by Republique En Marche, the party founded by French President Emmanuel Macron, against a publisher that publishes satirical cartoons on the domain enmarche2022.fr. The dispute concerns the ownership, or rather the way of using a domain name – enmarche2022.fr, precisely – that Macron’s party considers detrimental to its image in the view of the upcoming political elections. by Andrea Monti – Initially published in Italian on Strategikon – An Italian Tech Blog. Continue reading “The dispute between Macron and Domain Name Governance”
The artificial intelligence of the virtual prosecutor
An article published on 26 December by the South China Morning Post headlined Chinese scientists to develop AI ‘prosecutor’ that can press charges on its own. According to the article, the project, which began in 2015, has now reached the executive stage, and software can support prosecutors in deciding whether to send eight types of crime to trial, including dangerous driving, fraud and gambling. Therefore, the field of application is restricted because the crimes that can be analysed are few, and the magistrate still maintains the last word. However, there has been no lack of the usual “alarms” about the “robotic judge” and the umpteenth demonstration of how dangerous this “artificial intelligence” can be – by Andrea Monti – Initially published in Italian on Strategikon – An Italian Tech Blog Continue reading “The artificial intelligence of the virtual prosecutor”