Law for Computer Scientists and Other Folk

by Mireille Hildebrandt

Overview

This is the first textbook introducing law to computer scientists. The book covers privacy and data protection law, cybercrime, intellectual property, private law liability and legal personhood and legal agency, next to introductions to private law, public law, criminal law and international and supranational law. It provides an overview of the practical implications of law, their theoretical underpinnings and how they affect the study and construction of computational architectures. In a constitutional democracy everyone is under the Rule of Law, including those who develop code and systems, and those who put applications on the market. It is pivotal that computer scientists and developers get to know what law and the Rule of Law require. Before talking about ethics, we need to make sure that the checks and balances of law and the Rule of Law are in place and complied with. Though it is focused on European law, it also refers to US law and aims to provide insights into what makes law, law, rather than brute force or morality, demonstrating the operations of law in a way that has global relevance. This book is geared to those who have no wish to become lawyers but are nevertheless forced to consider the salience of legal rights and obligations with regard to the construction, maintenance and protection of computational artefacts.

This is an open access title available under the terms of a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 International licence. It is offered as a free PDF download from OUP and selected open access locations.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780198860884
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	07/06/2020
Pages:	352
Product dimensions:	9.10(w) x 6.10(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Mireille Hildebrandt, Research Professor 'Interfacing Law and Technology', Free University Brussels

Table of Contents

AcknowledgementsReading GuideAbbreviationsTable of Contents1. Introduction: Textbook and Essay1.1. Middle ground: architecture1.2. Law in 'speakerspace'1.3. Law in 'manuscriptspace'1.4. Law in 'bookspace'1.5. Law in cyberspace: a new 'onlife world'1.6. OutlinePART I WHAT LAW DOES2.. Law, Democracy, and the Rule of Law2.1. What is Law? 2.2. What is law in a constitutional democracy? 3.. Domains of Law: Private, Public, and Criminal Law3.1. Private, public and criminal law: conceptual distinctions3.2. Private law3.3. Public law and criminal law4.. International and Supranational Law4.1. Jurisdiction in Western legal systems4.2. International law4.3. Supranational law4.4. International rule of lawPART II DOMAINS OF CYBERLAW5.. Privacy and Data Protection5.1. Human rights law5.2. The concept of privacy5.3. The right to privacy5.4. Privacy and Data Protection5.5. Data protection law5.6. Privacy and data protection revisited6.. Cybercrime6.1. The problem of cybercrime6.2. Cybercrime and public law6.3. The EU cybercrime and cybersecurity directives7.. Copyright in Cyberspace7.1. IP law as private law7.2. Overview of IP rights7.3. History, objectives and scope of copyright protection7.4. EU copyright law7.5. Open source and free access8.. Private Law Liability for Faulty ICT8.1. Back to basics8.2. Tort law in Europe8.3. Third-party liability for unlawful processing and other cyber tortsPART III FRONTIERS OF LAW IN AN ONLIFE WORLD9.. Legal Personhood for AI? 9.1. Legal subjectivity9.2. Legal agency9.3. Artificial agents9.4. Private law liability10.. 'Legal by Design' or 'Legal Protection by Design'? 10.1. Machine learning (ML)10.2. Distributed Ledger Technologies (DLTs), smart contracts and smart regulation10.3. 'Legal by Design' or 'Legal Protection by Design'?FINALS11.. Closure: on ethics, code and law11.1. Distinctions between law, code and ethics11.2. The conceptual relationship between law, code and ethics11.3. The interaction between law, code and ethics11.4. Closure: the force of technology and the force of law

Editorial Reviews

"It provides an overview of the practical implications of law, their theoretical underpinnings and how they affect the study and construction of computational architectures." — H. W. Micklitz, Journal of Consumer Policy

From the Publisher