2024-
2025
Samenvatting Law &
Technology
3E BACH RECHT UGENT
,Part I. Technology, Economy & Society
The importance of interdisciplinarity
Chapter 1. An introduction to information technology for lawyers
Chapter 2. The rise of platform in the digital economy
Chapter 3. A societal perspective on technology and new media
Technology is neither good nor bad, nor is it neutral.
– There exist many different perspectives on the role of technology in society. You can look at this from
different perspectives which can be influenced by your own background, ideology, …
– Melvin Kranzberg (1986) Technology and History: “Kranzberg’s Laws”. Technology and Culture, 27(3),
544-560. doi:10.2307/3105385
This perspective has been included in different types of theories about technology and the role that it plays in
society:
Technology is … Autonomous Human-controlled
Neutral Determinism Instrumentalism
Value-laden Substantivism Critical theory
Technology is:
– Neutral: just technology, there aren’t any values ingrained in technology
– Autonomous: as an individual, you do not really have an impact on it
1. Determinism: you believe that technology shapes society. It is neutral and it doesn’t matter how
individuals use technology
2. Instrumentalism: you think that technology is neutral but as an individual, you do have an impact
on how technology is used
a. Example: guns > the gun does not kill people, but people kill people. It is a human who
decides to use the tool in a way that can have this effect of hurting or killing someone
b. Translate the example in AI: AI is not biased but it is society that is biased.
3. Substantivism: you do believe that values are inherently included in the technology, but you still
think that you can’t really impact it as an individual (the way in which you use technology does not
matter
a. Example: guns > a gun is made to kill people, this is inherently something bad
4. Critical theory: there is an inherent link with the values that exist in the society. It is people who
create technology, so the values of those people are automatically ingrained in technology. At the
same time, you believe that it matters how people use technology
a. Affordances: each technology has certain affordances
It is important to be aware that people look at technology in different ways. Why is this important for lawyers?
Because this will be important when we decide whether we want to regulate technology, when we need to
regulate it, what kind of impact technology has on society, …
,It is important to understand how different disciplines are necessary for lawyers to really understand the legal
impact of certain technologies.
Technological considerations
That might be important for lawyers when we think about legal impact, regulation of technology
̶ How does the technology work?
Not in detail but at least the basics of how technology works
̶ How is the hardware (physical parts) / software (instructions / code) designed?
̶ This might be important to understand how you can regulate something
̶ Which models are used?
̶ To show certain output to the user
̶ How are models trained?
̶ Which data is used?
̶ The technologies that we will discuss only work if they have data. They need input,
information to do something with it (to run it through an algorithm) to give you an
output
̶ Is it personal data? Non-personal? It is important to understand whether something
is in compliance with the law, but you can only make that decision if you know how
the data was obtained
̶ Who has designed the technology?
̶ If you believe that the values that you have as a person are automatically ingrained in the
technology, then it is an important question
̶ We know from research that many of the technologies that we use do not work as well if they
are applied to females then to male persons.
̶ How well does the technology work?
̶ Lots of the technology that has been developed promises a lot and it evolves vey fast. At the
same time, we sometimes see that technology does not deliver on its promises
̶ Example: we know that facial recognition technology does not work as well for women
of colour. We might think as a lawyer that this is a problem
̶ How secure is the technology?
̶ From a legal perspective, this might be important
Economic considerations
̶ What is the business model (how are activities organised, how is value created, how is money made?)?
̶ It tells you how certain activities are organized, how value is created, how you can make money
with it, …
̶ De business model might be really important for a legislature to consider, because decisions
about it might have serious legal implications
̶ Is a service free?
̶ Even if you don’t have to pay for it, it is probably not free.
̶ Is a service paid by advertising?
̶ Do we pay with our data or input?
, ̶ The company does need to make money in some way. How? They use other ways;
they can be totally funded by advertising, or you pay with your data
̶ Who are the economic actors in the tech sector?
̶ ecosystems (YouTube, Android, Google Play, Gemini -> Alphabet); platforms (two-sided; e.g.
Uber / multi-sided; e.g. Uber Eats); companies; individuals?
̶ How much economic power do tech companies hold?
̶ Many of the big tech companies are really powerful because they have succeeded in building
a monopoly and very often, they have several businesses that only strengthen each other
̶ The power that they hold will be important from a competition law perspective, but we have
also seen in the past few years that the EU has taken actions to curb the power of these big
companies and platforms, because they feel that the market is completely destroyed
̶ Which role do network externalities and lock-in play?
̶ more users = more value; market tipping (so many benefits that outweigh costs); lock-in
(switching costs too high)
̶ example: Airbnb: the more offer there is, the more interesting it becomes for people who want
to rent something
Societal considerations
̶ Is the use of a certain technology desirable / acceptable / unacceptable?
̶ It might be the case that we decide that certain technologies are unacceptable to use them
because of the impact that they have on individuals, on the rights of individuals or on society
as a whole
̶ It might also be the case that we think it is acceptable if it can function within certain limits, if
certain obligations are respected
̶ It is not because technology can be built (is technically possible), that we also should think that
its acceptable
̶ There are certain types of AI based systems that we do not consider acceptable, so we
should prohibit that
̶ Are there potential negative effects related to the use of the technology? for individuals? for society?
̶ Example: Australian plan to ban children from social media. The reason why they want to do
this is because they belief or see that there is increasing research about mental health concerns
do to extensive use of social media apps
̶ How are (social, political, …) values shaped by technology?
̶ How do individuals use technology?
̶ How do cognitive abilities / biases influence the use of technology?
̶ Privacy paradox, transparency paradox, control paradox
̶ People care a lot about privacy. How they go about deciding what they put online, is different.
It does not mean that you do not care about your privacy
̶ Do individuals need certain skills to use the technology?
̶ Media literacy / digital literacy
̶ Important priorities for policy makers. If you see that people act in a certain way, that they
engage with technology in a certain way, then this might have different reasons. One reason
might be that they are not literate enough
2025
Samenvatting Law &
Technology
3E BACH RECHT UGENT
,Part I. Technology, Economy & Society
The importance of interdisciplinarity
Chapter 1. An introduction to information technology for lawyers
Chapter 2. The rise of platform in the digital economy
Chapter 3. A societal perspective on technology and new media
Technology is neither good nor bad, nor is it neutral.
– There exist many different perspectives on the role of technology in society. You can look at this from
different perspectives which can be influenced by your own background, ideology, …
– Melvin Kranzberg (1986) Technology and History: “Kranzberg’s Laws”. Technology and Culture, 27(3),
544-560. doi:10.2307/3105385
This perspective has been included in different types of theories about technology and the role that it plays in
society:
Technology is … Autonomous Human-controlled
Neutral Determinism Instrumentalism
Value-laden Substantivism Critical theory
Technology is:
– Neutral: just technology, there aren’t any values ingrained in technology
– Autonomous: as an individual, you do not really have an impact on it
1. Determinism: you believe that technology shapes society. It is neutral and it doesn’t matter how
individuals use technology
2. Instrumentalism: you think that technology is neutral but as an individual, you do have an impact
on how technology is used
a. Example: guns > the gun does not kill people, but people kill people. It is a human who
decides to use the tool in a way that can have this effect of hurting or killing someone
b. Translate the example in AI: AI is not biased but it is society that is biased.
3. Substantivism: you do believe that values are inherently included in the technology, but you still
think that you can’t really impact it as an individual (the way in which you use technology does not
matter
a. Example: guns > a gun is made to kill people, this is inherently something bad
4. Critical theory: there is an inherent link with the values that exist in the society. It is people who
create technology, so the values of those people are automatically ingrained in technology. At the
same time, you believe that it matters how people use technology
a. Affordances: each technology has certain affordances
It is important to be aware that people look at technology in different ways. Why is this important for lawyers?
Because this will be important when we decide whether we want to regulate technology, when we need to
regulate it, what kind of impact technology has on society, …
,It is important to understand how different disciplines are necessary for lawyers to really understand the legal
impact of certain technologies.
Technological considerations
That might be important for lawyers when we think about legal impact, regulation of technology
̶ How does the technology work?
Not in detail but at least the basics of how technology works
̶ How is the hardware (physical parts) / software (instructions / code) designed?
̶ This might be important to understand how you can regulate something
̶ Which models are used?
̶ To show certain output to the user
̶ How are models trained?
̶ Which data is used?
̶ The technologies that we will discuss only work if they have data. They need input,
information to do something with it (to run it through an algorithm) to give you an
output
̶ Is it personal data? Non-personal? It is important to understand whether something
is in compliance with the law, but you can only make that decision if you know how
the data was obtained
̶ Who has designed the technology?
̶ If you believe that the values that you have as a person are automatically ingrained in the
technology, then it is an important question
̶ We know from research that many of the technologies that we use do not work as well if they
are applied to females then to male persons.
̶ How well does the technology work?
̶ Lots of the technology that has been developed promises a lot and it evolves vey fast. At the
same time, we sometimes see that technology does not deliver on its promises
̶ Example: we know that facial recognition technology does not work as well for women
of colour. We might think as a lawyer that this is a problem
̶ How secure is the technology?
̶ From a legal perspective, this might be important
Economic considerations
̶ What is the business model (how are activities organised, how is value created, how is money made?)?
̶ It tells you how certain activities are organized, how value is created, how you can make money
with it, …
̶ De business model might be really important for a legislature to consider, because decisions
about it might have serious legal implications
̶ Is a service free?
̶ Even if you don’t have to pay for it, it is probably not free.
̶ Is a service paid by advertising?
̶ Do we pay with our data or input?
, ̶ The company does need to make money in some way. How? They use other ways;
they can be totally funded by advertising, or you pay with your data
̶ Who are the economic actors in the tech sector?
̶ ecosystems (YouTube, Android, Google Play, Gemini -> Alphabet); platforms (two-sided; e.g.
Uber / multi-sided; e.g. Uber Eats); companies; individuals?
̶ How much economic power do tech companies hold?
̶ Many of the big tech companies are really powerful because they have succeeded in building
a monopoly and very often, they have several businesses that only strengthen each other
̶ The power that they hold will be important from a competition law perspective, but we have
also seen in the past few years that the EU has taken actions to curb the power of these big
companies and platforms, because they feel that the market is completely destroyed
̶ Which role do network externalities and lock-in play?
̶ more users = more value; market tipping (so many benefits that outweigh costs); lock-in
(switching costs too high)
̶ example: Airbnb: the more offer there is, the more interesting it becomes for people who want
to rent something
Societal considerations
̶ Is the use of a certain technology desirable / acceptable / unacceptable?
̶ It might be the case that we decide that certain technologies are unacceptable to use them
because of the impact that they have on individuals, on the rights of individuals or on society
as a whole
̶ It might also be the case that we think it is acceptable if it can function within certain limits, if
certain obligations are respected
̶ It is not because technology can be built (is technically possible), that we also should think that
its acceptable
̶ There are certain types of AI based systems that we do not consider acceptable, so we
should prohibit that
̶ Are there potential negative effects related to the use of the technology? for individuals? for society?
̶ Example: Australian plan to ban children from social media. The reason why they want to do
this is because they belief or see that there is increasing research about mental health concerns
do to extensive use of social media apps
̶ How are (social, political, …) values shaped by technology?
̶ How do individuals use technology?
̶ How do cognitive abilities / biases influence the use of technology?
̶ Privacy paradox, transparency paradox, control paradox
̶ People care a lot about privacy. How they go about deciding what they put online, is different.
It does not mean that you do not care about your privacy
̶ Do individuals need certain skills to use the technology?
̶ Media literacy / digital literacy
̶ Important priorities for policy makers. If you see that people act in a certain way, that they
engage with technology in a certain way, then this might have different reasons. One reason
might be that they are not literate enough
