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Würzburg Centre for Social Implications of Artificial Intelligence (SOCAI)

SOCAI Conference!

Impact of Technological Advances on Individuals: Interaction of Law & Informatics

The Würzburg Centre for Social and Legal Implications of Artificial Intelligence (SOCAI) together with the Cluster of Excellence ct.qmat – Complexity and Topology in Quantum Matter will hold a two-day conference on 2 - 3 December 2021 on the impact of technological advances on individuals. Speakers, predominantly from the disciplines of law, computer science, business management and information systems as well as economics will contribute with the aim of placing "individual" at the core of their subjective perspectives. The venue will take place in Würzburg providing for an interactive platform for the definition, description and analysis of possible ways in which technological developments as well as legal and regulatory reforms could be administered and implemented in an effective manner, catering for the protection of rights and legitimate interests of individuals. 

 

                                                

Digitisation and automation is seen to be increasingly embedded in the societal sphere and infrastructure, a process largely enabled and facilitated by technological advances in the fields of ICT and informatics in general.

The resulting catch-up shift in the existing ‎legal and regulatory landscape has posed a need for establishing a fair balance between the creation of a level playing field for different actors and stakeholders. Such is resonated in the public and private sectors in favour of innovation and digital transformation, against the need for a clear pattern of legal and regulatory standards that would safeguard the rights and interests of individuals and communities within the well-established values of economic and democratic diversity and equality. 

Based on the flux of novel business, governance and economic models being defined and put in practice underscoring the prevalence of the data-driven economy, a collaborative discourse between the disciplines of law and informatics is required allowing for a better understanding of the associated implications and repercussions, affecting individuals in particular. 

Specific attention is given to distributed and peer to peer network infrastructures with varying levels of decentralisation in terms of governance, communication and participation protocols. Algorithmic protocols often play a pivotal role in ways in which these infrastructures function and operate. Algorithms as the core element of Artificial Intelligence (AI) entailing machine learning have seen a rapid evolution, from automated sets of instructions with mathematical logic -based execution triggers to rule-based expert systems and neural networks. The constituent algorithms of AI are fed with structured and unstructured data as input in order to complete a given task, in principle without a need for a software programme. Here the level and scope of human intervention would be dependent upon the complexity of deployed and applied techniques.

In this context, a number of points could be summarised for reflection: 

  • technical ‘distributed by design’ feature of network infrastructures and legal uncertainties as to jurisdictional boundaries;
  • attribution of liability in distributed ledger technology (DLT) -based network infrastructures in the absence of a clear definition of roles and responsibilities among actors and stakeholders;
  • digitisation of the state and potential consequences on fundamental rights of individuals; 
  • growing dominance of corporate entities in big data analytics and implications on the concepts of individual consent and control;
  • data inaccuracy and bias in automated decision making processes and possible technical tools for detection and mitigation thereof;
  • data ownership and commercialisation of personal data, personal data as a contractual consideration; 
  • community –driven inclusive economic models based on peer to peer, interoperable, scalable and disintermediated network infrastructures;   
  • identity management systems and individuals’ control over all matters related to collection, processing and storage of personal data;
  • regulatory thresholds of privacy by design and privacy by default and their effective application;
  • hardware design models, functioning independently from incumbent operating systems, allowing for security by design and by default.  

 

 

In alphabetical order:

  • Naomi Appelman, IViR, University of Amsterdam
  • Balázs Bodó, Blockchain & Society Policy Research Lab, University of Amsterdam
  • Ronan Fahy, IViR, University of Amsterdam  
  • Malte Christian Gruber, Lucernaiuris, University of Lucerne
  • Fabian Gwinner, Chair of Business Management & Information Systems, Julius-Maximilian University of Würzburg
  • Adrian Hofmann, Chair of Business Management & Information Systems, Julius-Maximilian University of Würzburg
  • Golnaz Jafari, SOCAI, Lucernaiuris, University of Lucerne
  • Christian Janiesch, Chair of Enterprise Computing, Department of Computer Science, TU Dortmund University  
  • Lea Katharina Kumkar, Civil & Business law & Legal Issues of Digitisation, University of Trier
  • David Roth-Isigkeit, SOCAI, Julius-Maximilian University of Würzburg
  • Benedikt Schuppli, Co-CEO, FQX AG
  • Ronny Thomale, CT.QMAT, Dept. of Theoretical Physics, Julius-Maximilian University of Würzburg
  • Florent Thouvenin, ITSL, University of Zurich
  • Joris van Hoboken, IViR, University of Amsterdam
  • Antonio Vetrò, Nexa Centre for Internet & Society, Polytechnic University of Turin
  • Axel Winkelmann, Chair of Business Management & Information Systems, Julius-Maximilian University of Würzburg

 

 

The two-day event is organised in two consecutive sessions on 2 - 3 December 2021, with the first session running from 16h00 to 19h00 and the second from 09h00 to 12h30

To download the programme as PDF click here.

Please note the change to the online format due to the pandemic situation. Click here for more information.

 

SOCAI Conference!
Impact of Technological Advances on Individuals: Interaction of Law & Informatics
2 December 2021, 16h00 – 19h00
Zoom

 

16h00

Welcome & Opening Remarks

Golnaz A. Jafari, LL. M., SOCAI, JMU Würzburg and Lucernaiuris, University of Lucerne

Dr. David Roth-Isigkeit, SOCAI, JMU Würzburg

Prof. Dr. Ronny Thomale, CT.QMAT, Dept. of Theoretical Physics, JMU Würzburg

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Prof. Dr. Thomas Dreier, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Editorial Board of JIPITEC

SOCAI/JIPITEC joint collaboration

 

16h30

Session 1:

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Dr. Antonio Vetrò, Nexa Centre for Internet & Society, Polytechnic University of Turin

Imbalanced data as risk factor of discriminating automated decisions: A measurement-based approach

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Dr. Balázs Bodó, Blockchain & Society Policy Research Lab, University of Amsterdam

The Competition of Data Ordering Approaches
Discussion

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Break
17h30-17h50

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17h50

Dr. David Roth-Isigkeit, SOCAI, JMU Würzburg

Algorithmic Transparency in the EU Artificial Intelligence Act (Draft)

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Prof. Dr. Florent Thouvenin, ITSL, University of Zurich

Informational Self-Determination: A Convincing Rationale for Data Protection Law?

Discussion

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Conference Dinner

19h30

 


3 December 2021, 09h00 – 12h30
Zoom

09h00

Session 2:

JProf. Dr. Lea Katharina Kumkar, Civil & Business law & Legal Issues of Digitisation, University of Trier

Deepfake Regulation – Technical, Societal and Legal aspects

Discussion

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Break  

9h45-10h15
Coffee provided

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10h15

Prof. Dr. Christian Janiesch, Chair of Enterprise Computing. Department of Computer Science, TU Dortmund University

Fabian Gwinner, Chair of Business Management & Information Systems, Julius-Maximilian University of Würzburg

Adrian Hofmann, Chair of Business Management & Information Systems, Julius-Maximilian University of Würzburg

Prof. Dr. Axel Winkelmann, Chair of Business Management & Information Systems, Julius-Maximilian University of Würzburg

Security Implications of Consortium Blockchains: The Case of Ethereum Networks

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Golnaz A. Jafari, SOCAI, Lucernaiuris, University of Lucerne

Prof. Dr. Malte-C. Gruber, Lucernaiuris, University of Lucerne

The Case of Diem: A Distributed Ledger Technology -based Alternative Financial Infrastructure Built by a Centralised Multisided Platform

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Short Break 

11h00-11h15
Coffee provided

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11h15

Benedikt Schuppli, Co-CEO, FQX AG

Golnaz A. Jafari, SOCAI, Lucernaiuris, University of Lucerne

Piercing the Digital Veil: A Case Study for a DAO Legal Framework under Swiss Law

Discussion

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12h15

Closing Remarks

Dr. David Roth-Isigkeit, SOCAI, JMU Würzburg

Due to the worsening pandemic situation, we have decided to move the SOCAI Conference on the Law of Digitisation to an online format. For this we will use the Zoom platform. Register on our conference page (click here) and you’ll receive in due time a Zoom link valid for both conference days.

 

Feel free to drop your questions and queries to golnaz.jafari@uni-wuerzburg.de and david.roth-isigkeit@uni-wuerzburg.de.

 

Participants are requested to register via our form. Therefore click here.