Legal Issues in the Digital Age

Digital Abuse: How Dark Patterns Manipulate Our Lives

Boris Edidin, Ksenia Kochetkova, Natalia Sarankina — Mon, 09 Dec 2024 00:00:00 +0300

The digital economy in Russia and abroad is of growing interest to lawmakers, especially in the context of the use of so-called ‘dark patterns' — manipulative interface solutions that influence user behavior. BigTech companies consolidate their dominant position in the market by implementing innovative practices, many of which cannot be recognized as bona fide. The most prominent example of the implementation of user retention mechanisms through embedded features is the Tik Tok platform (Dou Yin). The Tik Tok phenomenon is still being studied by experts, but one of the clues is the unique recommendation feed that dynamically adjusts to the user's interests and is endless, creating the so-called “immersion effect”. The article examines Russian and international approaches to regulating these practices. Particular attention is paid to legislative initiatives and enforcement practices aimed at protecting consumer rights and limiting the use of manipulative practices on digital platforms. The Russian legislation is still focused on certain aspects of consumer protection and countering unfair competition, while Western countries introduce specialized norms to combat “dark patterns”. The aim of the article is to examine the existing norms and suggest ways to adapt successful foreign practices to the Russian legal context.

Human Voice: Legal Protection Challenges

Ruslan Budnik, Evgenia Evpak — Mon, 09 Dec 2024 00:00:00 +0300

Focused on the phenomenon of human voice, the paper purports to develop approaches to legal protection of ordinary people's voices and those of artists as the technologies for sound synthesis, music and vocal performance are becoming more sophisticated. It was demonstrated the problem of legal protection of human voice has become especially pressing one in the context of artificial neural networks such as vocaloid designed for sound synthesis and voice cloning. The study provides a systemic arrangement of legally meaningful knowledge of human voice useful for the development of legal provisions to protect this personal good. The legal substance of vocal impersonation as a way to simulate and manipulate a synthesized voice was explored. Theoretically applicable legal constructs for protection of voice and computerized cloning technologies were analyzed. A trend to use copyright rather than patent for protecting vocaloid-like generative neural networks and other technological solutions for vocal synthesis was identified. The concept of voice was critically analyzed to propose a viable legal provision for its protection. The primary and auxiliary features of the concept of voice were parametrized for possible use in disputes on the legitimacy of voice cloning or vocal impersonation. The concept of vocal identity of ordinary people and artists was proposed for legal protection of this personal good as a set of performative sonic features including the basic parameters of singing voice as well as acoustic-phonetic and articulatory features of vocalization. A comprehensive legal and technological methodology for the protection of vocal identity was proposed.

Keystroke Dynamics: Prospects for Comprehensive Law Regulation

Anna Tsvetkova — Mon, 09 Dec 2024 00:00:00 +0300

The rapid digitalization of all spheres of society leads to the appearance of large volumes of typed texts, as well as the formation of the task of determining the performers of such texts. In this regard, it is necessary to develop applied research on keystroke dynamics, including through the prism of jurisprudence. Author of the article identifies sector of public relations related to ensuring the rights of citizens to personal and family secrets, the secrecy of correspondence; protection and processing of biometric personal data; state registration of persons based on their keystroke dynamics; disclosure and investigation of crimes in which typed texts are the subject of encroachment or the means of committing an illegal act; procedural proof of the involvement or non-involvement of a particular person with the creation of a typed text; as well as with the control of labor discipline and ensuring safety of production processes. In all these areas the beneficial fruits of processing keystroke dynamics is potentially high, that, however, is accompanied by significant risks of protecting information that is harmful to human persons. In this regard, author proposes models of regulatory regulation of all these areas in order to maintain a balance of public and private interests. The author's goal was to justify that the prompt resolution of the problematic issues raised would improve the effectiveness of law enforcement, protect the rights of citizens, and ensure the national security of the state. For this purpose, methods of logical definition of concepts, modeling, questioning, analysis and analogy, as well as systemic legal method were used. Conclusions were formulated about the prospects of both voluntary and mandatory state registration of users of computer devices and the Internet on the basis of their keystroke dynamics at the expense of the resources of the Center for Biometric Technologies. With the help of information from this database, as well as through investigative actions and operational search measures, it is possible to introduce keystroke dynamics into the field of forensic identification of the typist. To do this, it will be necessary to conduct a computer-technical examination, the results of that may be used as the basis for procedural evidence. Automated processing of information about keystroke dynamic can be used to monitor compliance with the work and rest regime by employees, independently fulfill their employer's orders, and prevent accidents at the workplace. Based on the totality of all the considered aspects, it is concluded there is a need for a deep understanding of keystroke dynamics in various fields of jurisprudence. It permits to form a regulatory system for the integrated regulation of public relations related to the processing of this phenomenon.

Deepfakes: Search for a Model of Legal Regulation

Vladislav Demkin — Mon, 09 Dec 2024 00:00:00 +0300

Modern studies of law, political science and other humanities reveal a major public concern about deepfake technologies, with legal regulation thereof only emerging. This paper looks into the main models whereby such technologies are regulated in Russia, China, European Union, United States and United Kingdom. Effective regulation of technologies should have as its main goal the protection of personal rights through methods of private and public law while striking a balance between relevant interests of other subjects to social relations. The study employs a variety of methods: comparative method (to analyze how deepfake technologies are regulated under various legal systems); method of rising from the abstract to the concrete (to move from regulation of AI to specific ways of regulating deepfake technologies); and the formal dogmatic method (to analyze legal provisions and their place in the regulation of deepfake technologies). The study provides a list of parties to AI-related social relations whose interests should be accounted for in developing the underlying regulation. The author points out certain fundamental questions to be resolved for legal regulation of deepfake technologies to emerge in Russia, and concludes by proposing answers to the said questions and identifying the vector of regulatory development.

Liability and the Digital Age: Comparative Analysis of the Australian, South African and CIS States Legislative Approaches

Denis Pechegin — Mon, 09 Dec 2024 00:00:00 +0300

The specific set of means of criminal law protection of the monetary sphere in the state is determined by many factors, among which economic ones are of primary importance. In this regard, approaches to the construction of a set of these means may vary depending on the economic system of the state. States with a develop economy establish criminal law prohibitions in the monetary sphere, mainly concerning counterfeiting of currency, as well as money laundering. Countries with a different, for example, mixed economic system are characterized by the consolidation of additional means of criminal law protection of the monetary sphere, including liability for failure to return funds from abroad, smuggling, etc. With that the rapid proliferation of digital assets platforms has democratized capital flow relations, enabling a vast spectrum of chances to bypass so called analog legal barriers has also raised concerns regarding means of counteracting of unlawful actions in the digital sphere. The study outlines approaches of some different countries, including Australia, South Africa, CIS states, which can be taken into account. It argues that differences in the type of economic systems of the states do not at all predetermine the impossibility of conducting a comparative legal study of their approaches in the digital sphere. On the contrary, the coincidence in the type of economic systems of two or more countries, in the digital age cannot serve as correct grounds for confirming the thesis on the relevance. The author summarizes the need for changes in the liability regulatory framework.

Artificial Intelligence in Law and Legal Analytics

Vladimir Isakov — Mon, 09 Dec 2024 00:00:00 +0300

The author discusses the concept of artificial intelligence and analyses the approaches to its concept and definitions existing in science. In a sketch of emergence of artificial intelligence the author notes artificial intelligence represents a natural stage in the development of technical devices designed to facilitate human intellectual activity. The author offers a classification of devices endowed with artificial intelligence, distinguishing between narrow (weak) AI and general (strong) AI; he outlines the most relevant areas of its development and describes the development stages. Among the spheres of possible application of devices with AI, the author lists the search for and structuring of information; identification of new connections and patterns that humans cannot see; assisting humans in professional activities; relieving humans from time-consuming and unproductive intellectual activities; management automation; assistance in making optimal management decisions. The article places a special focus on the threats and risks associated with the proliferation of AI. The author believes these include: displacement of humans from socially important spheres of activity, and job hijacking; decline in the level of education and qualification of workers leading to degradation of human intellect; corruption of humanity by idle and meaningless existence leading to its physical and cultural degradation; danger of robots making erroneous technical, economic, environmental, medical, etc. decisions; threat of failures in the operation of industrial robots and computerised control systems; particularly dangerous is the deliberate use of robots to cause harm, including the use of military and security systems capable of causing harm to people and property. The article discusses various options for granting AI a legal status. The author assumes a device endowed with artificial intelligence is a complex and autonomously operating tool of human activity, relatively independent of human person. The latter, however, is fully responsible for the consequences of the use of this tool. The author is sure it is counterproductive to artificially extend legal statuses developed for man, who is an individual endowed with consciousness and will, to AI. The article contains results of a “parallel exam” on legal analytics for students and artificial intelligence held at the Department of Law of the National Research University Higher School of Economics in May 2023. Also the author discusses specific areas and examples of the use of AI in law and legal analytics in the spheres of law -making, law enforcement, jurisprudence, and education.

Key Issues in the Intellectual Property Court's Presidium Rulings

Maria Kolzdorf, Natalia Kapyrina, Nikolai Goloiad — Mon, 09 Dec 2024 00:00:00 +0300

The authors review key positions in the rulings of the Presidium of the Russian Intellectual Property Court (IPC) issued between October and December of 2023. The Chamber hears cassation appeals against the decisions of the IPC first instance and deals primarily, but not only, with matters of registration and validity of industrial property rights. Therefore, the review predominantly covers substantive requirements for patent and trademark protection, as well as procedural issues both in the administrative adjudicating mechanism at the Patent Office (Rospatent) and at the IPC itself. Apart of it, the current review encompasses a variety of aspects related to trademark law and to various procedural matters covering activities of the Rospatent and the Intellectual Property Court.