Cyberlaw, droit de l'internet, du numérique et des nouvelles technologies

Articles

Cyberterrorism, a legal challenge or a buzzword ?

“There are many ways terrorists can kill you. Computers aren't one of them.” Joshua Green

In 1974, Judge Richard Baxter, formerly of the International Court of Justice, questioned the utility of a legal definition of terrorism:“We have cause to regret that a legal concept of terrorism was ever inflicted upon us. The term is imprecise; it is ambiguous; and, above all, it serves no operative legal purpose[1]”.These words strongly echo to the legal ambiguity of cyberterrorism. Indeed, unluckily, cyberterrorism has inherited first from the controversy that still surrounds the term cyberspace, and second from the terminological quarrel that affects terrorism[2] - for which the search of a consensual or adequate definition is still likened to the quest for the Holy Grail[3]. As a field of study that is still as its premises, cyberterrorism deeply lacks of a consensus over its definition, to the extent that some even challenge its existence.

P2P: can tax law fill the gaps of copyright law ?

Entertainment companies strive to control the unauthorised sharing of digital music (MP3) files between individual users on the Internet. To what extent might the imposition of levies on hardware (e.g. computers), blank media (e.g. CD Roms) and/or Internet Service Providers, the proceeds of which are distributed to rightholders, prove to be a feasible and desirable alternative or addition to the deployment of technical controls?

Technology regulating technology : the role of architecture

S'inspirant des thèses du constitutionnaliste américain Lawrence LESSIG, cet article se penche sur les modalités actuelles de régulation des technologies, ses incohérences et ses insuffisances. Conformément au principe de neutralité des technologies, le droit s'est toujours attaché à établir des règles de responsabilité ex ante, venant a posteriori sanctionner des comportements permis par les outils modernes. À l'instar du contrôle des armes à feu aux États-Unis, ou du code de la route, on autorise la détention de la source du danger et on limite les usages. Le numérique permet une tout autre forme de régulation et offre l'opportunité de faire code informatique une émanation de l'esprit des lois, pour peut que l'on accepte que l'architecture d'une technologie est flexible et peut incorporer les principes démocratiques. Un changement d'approche pourrait être envisagé sous cet angle, à travers d'un côté une vision technique de la mise en oeuvre des règles sanctionnant les usages, mais au-dessus l'élaboration d'un corpus de règles supérieures (une Constitution?) auxquelles les technologies devront elles-mêmes être conformes.

The impact of a new interoperability exception in the UK copyright law

The Gower's Report on Intellectual Property considers the opportunity of enacting a new legal exception to copyright, through the authorization of private copying for format-shifting purposes. What would be the impact of such change in the UK legislation? With regard to the present form and modalities of the proposition, this essay focuses on its potential impact on innovation, competiton and consumer protection.

The use of autonomous agents in the prevention and prosecution of cybercrime

This essay will discuss the potential impact of the use by law enforcement agencies of intelligent agents technology to prevent, detect and prosecute the smuggling and looting of antiquities, with a particular focus on the automated detection of online suspicious activities
Lire la suite...

The use of virtual reality for evidence presentation in Court

Introduction : is it worth taking the red pill?

Gestalt psychology in the courtroom. - In the last two decades, high technology has invaded the courtroom as a source of demonstrative evidence. A quick glimpse of U.S. litigation reveals that American judges are increasingly inclined to admit computer-generated evidence as relevant material, insofar as the exhibit satisfies more or less flexible legal standards. Typically, the evidence will consist in video animations or simulations of the events rendered in three-dimensional computer graphics, with avatars representing parties in mock-up environments, rendered on a desktop monitor in “windows-on-the-world” view. Lawyers thus apply to their pleading well-grounded psychological theories, such as the vividness effectand Gestalt psychology, and take advantage of human sensory and cognitive systems to present to juries and judges complex sequences of facts, that words only or inanimate drawings may awkwardly depict.

Software patents : a direct threat to open source software development

From Schumpeter to Wikinomics:

Will software patents stop the expansion of the creative commons?

What if people started joining network bands on their spare-time, recorded their own music in virtual studios, and distributed it freely over the Internet? What if it was actually good to the point that mainstream artists sales are threatened? Maybe record companies would try to halt the movement by distorting the intellectual property rationales and start to claim monopolies over the ideas of love ballads and rock anthems. In a nutshell, this is what happened in the software industry since the advent of the Open Source phenomenon, and the movement towards patentability of software is the industry’s reaction.

Beyond the caricature, the impact of software patent on Open Source should be rigorously evaluated. As it increasingly gains attention from the governments[1] and popularity amongst huge communities of users and contributors, Open Source hitherto relied on the limited copyright protection to provide non-infringing alternatives to widespread commercial software, the success of Linux being the emblematic figure of the phenomenon.

The impact on innovation of the compulsory licensing decision against Microsoft

Windows on the world. - Undoubtedly, Microsoft faces an identity paradox. The protagonist of one of the most emblematic start-from-scratch success-story of the digital era has also become the target of much criticism and the symbol of global economic hegemony[1]. Consequently, when the firm’s offensive competition strategy was questioned and condemned by the U.S.[2] and European authorities, it generated a tremendous impact in the media and sometimes, oversimplification of the legal issues at stake.

[ Retour ]

Accueil