This document discusses emerging trends in information and communications technology (ICT) and their implications for the legal framework in Europe. It identifies 11 key ICT trends, such as ubiquitous computing, cloud computing, digital natives, user-generated content, and the convergence of online and offline activities. For each trend, challenges for the current European legal system are described. The document also outlines recommendations to update EU legislation to address these challenges and keep European law "future proof" in the face of rapid technological change.
Convergence legal aspects- regulatory framework - patrick van eecke
1. Convergence - Legal Aspects
Regulatory Framework
dr. Patrick Van Eecke
Partner, DLA Piper, Brussels
Professor University Antwerp
2. Agenda
At stake
Swiftly moving to a converging world
Legal framework not at pace with technological developments
EU response
Digital agenda
2
3. European study
Commissioned by the European Commission
(DG Information Society)
From May 2008 until December 2009
Holistic approach
1. Identify the ICT trends that will have a future impact
2. Identify the gaps in the current legal framework
3. Provide recommendations for making the European
legislation future proof
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4. Team
International Study team
Patrick Mina Joao Maarten Daniel
Van Eecke Zoulovits Traça Truyens Nepelski
Global Advisory Board
Makoto Lawrence Ian
Ibusuki Lessig Walden
4
11. Real time web
Twitter lead the media in breaking news about US Airways
flight 1549 crashing in New York's Hudson river and the
Mumbai bombing
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12. Real time web
Government to citizen real time crisis communication combined with
location based services
Microsoft Vine after Katrina Hurricane
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13. Full accessibility: legal challenges
Clean Internet
Net neutrality
Digital divide
Liability due to on-line naivety
Security & cybercrime
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21. New intermediaries
Traditional players
internet infrastructure providers
access providers
hosting providers
New players: platforms
eBay, eBid, …
Layar, Mint
Wikipedia
Yahoo, Google
Second Life, Eve
MSN, Facebook, Myspace, Netlog, …
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22. New intermediaries: legal challenges
Liability limitations
Applicable law
Co-operation duties
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24. Cloud computing
From homeserver to cloud computing
Not limited to data, but also applications
IaaS – Infrastructure as a Service
PaaS – Platform as a Service
SaaS – Software as a Service
Biggest CC provider?
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25. Cloud computing
Aggregation of data:
combining structured/non
structured data
Cfr Reuters (Open Calais)
Cfr Google snippets
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29. Digital natives
I always do more than one thing in
parallel, otherwise I would feel like I
am running at partial capacity
You just don’t ask for a phone
number, you ask for a MSN
contact
I could spend 24 hours a day in
front of my PC and not get bored
With Facebook I can be available all
the time and always up-to-date with
what is going on. It’s important to be
part of everything
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32. The Digital Native
The Internet has become the new way for social networking
P16-34 are 25% more likely than P35-49 to use instant messenger, with over 75% of P16-34
currently using at least one service.
About 40% of P16-34 belong to a social network site; this is twice the percentage of P35-49
year olds.
Nearly 40% of P16-34 have met someone face to face after meeting on the Internet.
Yahoo, AOL and MSN Messenger are among the top Internet services in terms of awareness
and use by P16-34.
This is followed closely behind by social networking site, Myspace.com with 43% of P16-34
being current users. In comparison, only 16% of P35-49 are using Myspace.
Blogging and twittering is the “voice” of the new generation
71% of P16-34 year olds have participated in a blogging activity.
P16-34 are three times more likely (25%) than P35-49 to manage and/or write their own blog.
While personal and family/friend are the most common types of blogs among the younger
group, more than 40% are developing photo and pop culture (music/film) blogs as well. This is
different from the older group, who are using blogs to share information and discuss current
news and world events.
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33. The Digital Native
File-sharing
One third of P16-34s have participated in peer-to-peer file sharing compared to just 12% of
P35-49.
With the continued advancement of mobile telecoms, mobile video uploads to sites such as
YouTube and Grouper will be increasingly commonplace, spreading quickly to more well known
social networking sites such as MySpace and Flickr.
Multi-tasking
Despite the emergence of new media platforms, consumers continue to bond with television
and other traditional media
85% of heavy Internet users say they participate in other media related activities while online,
mostly watching television or listening to music.
Always connected
The only time when they aren’t communicating is when they are sleeping
No geographical boundaries
You NEVER lose touch with people unless you want to
When you change schools you can keep in touch with the same people, through university,
through different jobs, moving location…
You decide who makes up your friendship group, not circumstance
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34. The Digital Native
Other legal reference model
Geographical link not relevant
Alternative identity management
Alternative dispute resolution
mechanisms
Own codes of behavior
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35. Digital natives: legal challenges
New legal paradigms
Lack of public support for legal initiatives taken by digital
immigrants
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40. Consumerisation of IT
Convergence between consumer and corporate tools and
devices
WiFi
'smart' mobile phones & personal electronic devices
Blogs and wiki’s
instant messaging & the Internet
even the PC itself
Google Desktop, Skype
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53. 3D printing
Jay Leno has a lot of old cars with a lot of obsolete parts. When
he needs to replace these parts, he skips the error-prone
machinist and goes to his rapid prototyping 3D printer.
The 3D scanner next to Jay creates a digital model of this flanged nut
from Jay’s EcoJet supercar. The nut takes 20 minutes to scan and
reverse model and 3 hours to print in plastic.
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57. Off line & on line convergence
Barriers between off line and on line world fading away
Real time web
Mobile applications
Location based services (augmented reality)
Surface computing
Merging social networks
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58. Location based services
Augmented reality
Combination of mobile web, camera, compass and GPS
E.g. iPhone, Android, Layar
Step by step tourist guides, real estate, musea, …
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69. Legal challenges for Europe
From i2010 to i2020
The future of data protection in the information society
copyright
liability
money
contracting
dispute resolution
consumer protection
…
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72. Examples of recommendations
The definition of "information society services" (as used in the
E-commerce Directive) must be decoupled from article 50 the EC
Treaty and must include all online activities, whether or not
provided for remuneration.
The current EU legal instruments on jurisdiction (Brussels I) and
applicable law (Rome I - II) must be modified to take into account
online issues. In particular, clear rules must be established on
which country's tort laws apply in case of copyright breaches,
defamation issues, and unlawful processing of personal data.
Steps must be taken to clarify that the scope of the "coordinated
field" in the E-commerce Directive covers any rule that can affect
an online service provider, with the single exception of a rule that
indiscriminately applies to both the online and the offline
environment.
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73. Examples of recommendations
A "right to forget" should be introduced, allowing citizens to
ask a data controller to remove personal data as from a
specified period of time (for example, five years), regardless of
whether the data controller has reserved the right to keep
using the data in the future.
A "right to data portability" should be introduced, allowing
citizens to request a copy of the personal data held by the data
controller.
The private use exception must be extended, so that it also
covers internet publishing activities undertaken by consumers.
The adoption of multi-territorial licensing must be further
encouraged in order to increase legal certainty of commercial
users and foster the development of legitimate online services.
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74. Examples of recommendations
A harmonised and detailed notice-and-takedown procedure
must be introduced, which balances the rights of all
stakeholders.
The scope of the special liability regime must be enlarged
and clarified, by replacing the current three-fold structure with
a two-fold structure (mere conduit service providers and "third
party information processors"). Community-driven platforms,
platforms with user generated content and cloud computing
services must in particular fall under the special liability regime.
The scope of the new exceptions of the revised E-money
Directive (the "limited networks" exception of article 1.4 and
the "value added services" exception of article 1.5) must be
clarified in order to resolve the legal uncertainty faced by many
emerging online payment services.
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75. Examples of recommendations
Harmonised rules on e-archiving and digital evidence must
be adopted.
A "comply or explain" approach (self-regulation) should be
adopted, which allows access providers to engage in legitimate
bandwidth management practices, but discourages other net
neutrality interferences.
Article 13 of the E-privacy Directive must be adapted in order
to include new forms of spam and solve issues with the
current legal framework.
Etc, etc.
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78. Digital Agenda
A Digital Agenda for Europe
Commission Communication of 19 May 2010 - COM(2010) 245
part of the Europe 2020 Strategy
Successor of i2010, A European Information Society for growth
and employment
European Commission Communication of 1 July 2005,
COM(2005) 229 final
part of the Lisbon Agenda
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79. 7 priority areas for action
1. Creating a Digital Single Market
2. Improving the framework conditions for interoperability
between ICT products and services
3. Boosting internet trust and security
4. Guaranteeing the provision of much faster internet access
5. Encouraging investment in research and development
6. Enhancing digital literacy, skills and inclusion
7. Applying ICT to address social challenges such as climate
change, rising healthcare costs and the ageing population.
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80. 7 obstacles hindering that goal
1. Fragmented digital markets
2. Lack of interoperability
3. Rising cybercrime and risk of low trust in networks
4. Lack of investment in networks
5. Insufficient research and innovation efforts
6. Lack of digital literacy and skills
7. Missed opportunities in addressing
societal challenges
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81. 16 key actions for overturning the obstacles
Key Action 1: Simplify copyright clearance, management and
crossborder licensing by:
Enhancing the governance, transparency and pan-European
licensing for (online) rights management by proposing a
framework Directive on collective rights management (2010)
Creating a legal framework to facilitate the digitisation and
dissemination of cultural works in Europe by proposing a Directive
on orphan works, to conduct a dialogue with stakeholders with a
view to further measures on out-of print works, complemented by
rights information databases (2010)
Reviewing the Directive on Re-Use of Public Sector Information,
notably its scope and principles on charging for access and use.
(2012)
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82. 16 key actions
Key Action 2: Ensure the completion of the Single Euro
Payment Area (SEPA), eventually by binding legal measures
fixing an end date for migration and facilitate the emergence of
an interoperable European eInvoicing framework through a
Communication on eInvoicing and by establishing a
multistakeholder forum (2010)
Key Action 3: Propose a revision of the eSignature Directive
with a view to provide a legal framework for cross-border
recognition and interoperability of secure eAuthentication
systems (2011)
Key Action 4: Review the EU data protection regulatory
framework with a view to enhancing individuals' confidence
and strengthening their rights (2010)
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83. 16 key actions
Key Action 5: As part of the review of EU standardisation
policy, propose legal measures on ICT interoperability to
reform the rules on implementation of ICT standards in Europe
to allow use of certain ICT fora and consortia standards (2010)
Key Action 6: Present measures aiming at a reinforced and
high level Network and Information Security Policy, including
legislative initiatives such as a modernised European Network
and Information Security Agency (ENISA), and measures
allowing faster reactions in the event of cyber attacks,
including a CERT for the EU institutions (2010)
Key Action 7: Present measures, including legislative
initiatives, to combat cyber attacks against information
systems, and related rules on jurisdiction in cyberspace at
European and international levels by (2010-2013)
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84. 16 key actions
Key Action 8: Adopt a Broadband Communication that lays
out a common framework for actions at EU and Member State
to meet the Europe 2020 broadband targets, including:
Reinforce and rationalise, in this framework, the funding of high-
speed broadband through EU instruments and explore how to
attract capital for broadband investments through credit
enhancement (2014)
Propose an ambitious European Spectrum Policy Programme that
will create a co-ordinated and strategic spectrum policy at EU level
in order increase the efficiency of radio spectrum management
and maximise the benefits for consumers and industry (2010)
Issue a Recommendation in 2010 to encourage investment in
competitive Next Generation Access networks through clear and
effective regulatory measures (2010)
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85. 16 key actions
Other actions relating to
Research and Innovation
Enhancing digital literacy, skills and inclusion
ICT-enabled benefits for EU society
Example:
Propose a Council and Parliament Decision to ensure mutual
recognition of e-identification and e-authentication across the EU
based on online 'authentication services' to be offered in all Member
States (which may use the most appropriate official citizen documents
– issued by the public or the private sector) (2012)
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