About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

14 Info. & Comm. Tech. L. 1 (2005)

handle is hein.journals/infctel14 and id is 1 raw text is: Information & Communications Technology Law, R Routledge Vol. 14, No. 1, 2005 Taylor&FrancisGroup Editorial Comment CHRISTOPHER HARDING & UTA KOHL Department of Law, University of Wales, Hugh Owen Building, Penglais, Aberystwyth, Ceredigion SY23 3DY. Email: csh@aber.ac.uk utakohl@hotmail.com The aim of this special issue is to explore the impact of developments in information technology on the law and practice of human rights protection, and conversely also how human rights argument may affect practice within the field of information technology. A moment's reflection will reveal both the more sinister and the more benign implications of the surge forward of information technology from a human rights perspective. On the one hand, the protective imperative is clear enough: advances in technology provide increasing opportunity for both state and private actors to invade the realm of the individual, widening and deepening the scope of different forms of control. One reactionto this hasbeen the emergence of new categories of protective law under suchheadings as 'data protection' and 'confidentiality'. On the other hand, technological development has also expanded the practicalities of rights protection-for instance, improving access to information and transparency in the context of claims to democratic entitlement. Our editorial remit was therefore to invite contributors to explore specific aspects of this increasingly significant and complex interface of law and technology, addressing both the challenges and the opportunities presented by the latter to the former, at national and international levels. It may be helpful to begin briefly with some generally applicable observations. To note the speed of technological development is now a commonplace remark, but nonetheless it refers to a crucial fact that informs legal response. As information technology becomes ever more rapidly more sophisticated, both law and legal doctrine have to run faster, and with greater and wider expertise, to keep pace. It is interesting to reflect, for instance, on the emergence of a concept such as 'data protection'. This is now an everyday term of art, employed in a range of situations. Perhaps few other terms convey so concisely this interaction of information technology and legal regulation, neatly encompassing: (1) the legal protection of (2) certain kinds of information from (3) technological invasion. Yet, as an idea and as vocabulary it is still of relatively recent origin, though widely bandied about and imperfectly understood. This is therefore an area of legal development that calls for both a mastery of the technology itself-of how it works and may develop-and the jurisprudential ability to handle new concepts and uncertain boundaries. This is as true for human rights lawyers as it is for any other category of lawyer coming to terms with technological development, and this point will be evident, for instance, from a reading of the contributions by Cannataci and Mifsud-Bonnici, and Berd6, as they address respectively the broader and more specific aspects of the development of 'data protection law'. In their article, Cannataci and Mifsud-Bonnici refer at one point to the 'coming of age' of data protection law, and this prompts a further, related reflection on the ISSN 1360-0834 print/ISSN 1469-8404 online/ 05 /010001-03 C Taylor & Francis Group Ltd DOI: 10.1080/13600830420003252565

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Purchase Access

Contact us for annual subscription options:

Contact Us

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most