Dear readers,
For more than six years now, Jusletter IT – The Magazine for IT and Law devotes itself to interdisciplinary and comprehensive coverage of all topics round about IT and law that lawyers consider important.
One intention of Jusletter IT is to pioneer in new media in addition to classical forms of publication, like text and graphic representation, conference proceedings, scientific papers and essays. Podcasts are intriguing tools. Webinars will soon be indispensable in digitally aligned working environments.
In this spirit, three speeches that were recorded at the event «Is there a right of AdBlocking?» on 31 May 2016, will guide through the subject area of AdBlocking: network neutrality, decision-making authority of user/consumer, plot boundaries in the digital age etc.
- Lukas Bühlmann, Gibt es ein Recht auf AdBlocking? – Begrüssung (Podcast)
- Michael Reinle, Gibt es ein Recht auf AdBlocking? – Einführung und Übersicht rechtliche Fragen (Podcast)
- Kai Recke, AdBlocker – legality from a user’s perspective (Podcast)
Data protection – both the term and regulations – has now found its way into almost every area of life. A small focus will lay on this broad topic in today's issue, too.
The legal problems arising when companies adjust their prices in high frequencies according to changes in supply and demand and their customers' willingness to pay are shown by Florent Thouvenin. Often referred to as «dynamic pricing», this strategy brings new challenges both for legislators and courts.
Bernd Schmidt and Claudia Bischof are taking a particularly topical subject into hand: the British's choice to leave the European Union. What consequences will the Brexit imply for the data protection related status of the country? Will Great Britain be an unsecure third country any time soon? What are the concerned companies’ opportunities for reacting?
Another statement from Great Britain is provided by Burkhard Schafer, who, on the example of the proposed national ID database for Scotland, illustrates global information and communication technology (ICT) and the difficulties it brings to national legal regimes. History is taken into account as well as newest technical developments.
Due to the last year’s technological developments, personal data can be processed for the purpose of valuating creditworthiness and risks of credit default respectively. Rolf Dieter Kargl and Walter Hötzendorfer examine the credit assessment in Austria under consideration of the new EU General Data Protection Regulation and, at this, bring light into the data protection related questions.
In its case Patrick Beyer vs. Federal Republic of Germany, the European Court of Justice considers, if dynamic IP addresses constitute personal data according to Art. 2 Letter a of Directive 95/46/EG. Maurits Haas comments the Opinion of Advocate General Sánchez-Bordona concerning this process.
Vlad-Dan Roman analyses, whether and how there is any place for competition law with regard to the public spillover. In our dynamic world, rapidly changing requirements for business, society and governments need to be reacted to as soon as possible. Complex collaborative instruments have been created by the EU and her Member States. But is there any room left for competition amid those standardizations?
Seen from an IP and competition law perspective, additive production processes, also known as «3D-Printing» that facilitate the (re-)producing of physical products come with inherent risks. Rolf H. Weber and Lennart Chrobak conduct a thorough analysis of this technology and show up adjustment requirements for the future.
In co-authorship with Dominic Oertly, Rolf H. Weber additionally observes the reform package for a modernised contract law in e-commerce proposed by the European Commission. The authors take a critical look at the sharing economy in the EU.
Kai Erenli deals with the hype initiated by the game «Pokémon Go» this year and, in doing so, enlarges upon former international handling of the topic as well as the underlying technic. In conclusion, he asks the question: What legal problems result from the contact with Augmented Reality (AR)?
On 18 March 2016, the revised Federal Mail and Telecommunications Monitoring Act was adopted and, prospectively, will come into force in 2018. Samuel Klaus and Roland Mathys show up, in which aspects the revision brings changes and what these entail practically.
Erich Neuwirth, a mathematician and statistician, tries to add an objective contribution to the question of the possible influence of errors in the Austrian presidential election 2016. His contribution was first published on his blog and is republished in an updated version.
In May 2015, Nadja Braun Binder has already issued the topic of taxation procedures in Germany being in a paradigm shift (see Nadja Braun Binder, Auf dem Weg zum vollautomatisierten Besteuerungsverfahren in Deutschland, in: Jusletter IT 25 May 2016). In time, the federal legislature has cleared the path for a fully automated administrative procedure and the announcing of administrative acts – in theory, at least.
What has been a great success in Germany since 2006, has now found its way to Austria: a judiciary online auctioning platform that allows bailiffs to auction off movable objects following the Act on the Enforcement of Judgements. Martin Schneider and Hanspeter Draxler shortly introduce the platform www.justiz.auktion.at.
We wish you a fascinating reading and are looking forward to greet you again on 24 November 2016 for the next issue of Jusletter IT!
Vienna / Berne, in September 2016
