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40 Comp. Lab. L. & Pol'y J. 365 (2018-2019)
From Digits to Robots: The Privacy-Autonomy Nexus in New Labor Law Machinery

handle is hein.journals/cllpj40 and id is 401 raw text is: 








     FROM DIGITS TO ROBOTS: THE PRIVACY-
     AUTONOMY NEXUS IN NEW LABOR LAW
                           MACHINERY


                           Frank Hendrickxt

                           I. INTRODUCTION
     In his work on the Fourth Industrial Revolution, Klaus Schwab' points
at new developments taking place in our societies: they are driven by
technology, not comparable to what has been seen before and, above all, they
are disruptive. The term Industry 4.0, or the fourth industrial revolution, is
referred to as announcing a new time. While it may be open to criticism and
perhaps inherently based on speculation,2 Industry 4.0 is an interesting
attempt to make sense of the approaching future.
     The point of the Fourth Industrial Revolution is that it refers to previous
industrial revolutions. The first industrial revolution concerns the
liberation of humankind from animal power through the use of water and
steam power, which gave possibilities for mechanization and made mass
production possible. The second industrial revolution came with the
invention of electricity and electric power, which brought new changes in life
and work. The third industrial revolution brings us at the use of electronics
and information technology. Digitalization is a term that is referring to this,
although that is also associated with our current challenges. But the Fourth
Industrial Revolution is argued to be different: the speed of technological
breakthroughs is faster than ever and the transformations in our societies,
including government, work, and production, are more radical. New
technologies evolve rapidly, such as the Internet of things, data mining,
blockchain, artificial intelligence, robotics, autonomous vehicles, 3D
printing, or biotechnology.
     There are alternative ways to describe these new developments. An
interesting heading is the second machine age, providing an indication that
we are at a similar time frame as when the first machine age arose with the


    t Professor of Labour Law, University of Leuven (Belgium)
    1. Klaus Schwab, The Fourth Industrial Revolution: What It Means and How to Respond, WORLD
ECONOMIC FORUM (Jan. 14, 2016); KLAUS SCHWAB, THE FOURTH INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION 128 (1s, ed.
2017).
    2. FLORIAN RANFT, WORK IN THE DIGITAL AGE, CHALLENGES OF THE FOURTH INDUSTRIAL
REVOLUTION 610 (Florian Ranet, Max Neufeind & Jacqueline O'Reilly eds., 2018).

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