Task 1 – Reflect and Discuss
Check the privacy settings of your smartphone.
How many apps used your camera, microphone and location in the last 24 hours?
Did you use these apps in the last 24 hours?
Do these apps need to access your camera, microphone or location for providing
their services?
There are 3 apps that use my location permanently
There are 3 apps that use microphone
There are 3 apps that use camera
Yes they do needs them for how I utilise them
ISSUES:
● Privacy issues
● Build profile on you and therefore manipulate you and target advertising
● Excessive gathering of information
● Your initial interests become stagnate, you are restricted and conformed to a
bubble by only showing you certain content, social isolation
● Gov can always have access
BENEFIT:
● More accurate apps
● More accurate info or media
,Task 2 - FRIENDS
Lisa Brown is a computer wizard that loves watching TV series. As her friends define
her, she is a binge watcher. Once she starts watching a new series, she cannot help but
seat in front of her TV or computer and watch as many episodes as she can in a sequel.
As long as she was a student, Lisa had a very flexible schedule but, when she started to
look for a job she realized that many job positions in her field require a lot of travelling.
Lisa is very concerned. What if when travelling to places she would not have access to
the next episode of her beloved TV show? To avoid that the end of the world
materializes, Lisa came up with an idea. She created her own platform with the ability of
the users to make available TV series that they owned as well as to interface directly
with the computer of another user and download from his or her PC video files. To avoid
potential problems with internet connections, Lisa added to the platform the possibility to
download programs for watching them offline. Since at the time she did not yet have a
job, she came up also with a business idea that would benefit many of the users of the
platform. If a user wants to watch a program offline, he can download an episode for
only 1 euro (these are equally shared between Lisa and the other user that made the
episode available).
She called her online platform “FRIENDS” and it was an instant success. Many TV
lovers from all over the world joined the platform and became regular users. For
registering, they needed to give their name, email address and credit card data in case
they wanted to benefit from the offline watching service. Thanks to the automatic
translating software that Lisa installed in the platform, the spreading of the platform did
not have any border limits. From China to India, from Africa to Latin America, everyone
can enjoy and share TV series.
During the time FRIENDS flourished, the platform was hacked at least three times and
all the data of the users were stolen, but Lisa kept the problem for herself. At the end,
with the great success of the platform she was most likely not needing a job at all.
When talking with some friends about her successful enterprise Lisa heard about
potential legal and ethical implications of her platform. It could have been just jealousy,
but since she wants to avoid any encounter with the law, she turns to you to ask about
potential legal problems that FRIENDS might face.
Please compile for Lisa a list of all the potential legal problems that you can
identify in her story and present them for discussion in class.
, 1. Potential legal problems include the fact that user data is at risk from the hacking
including credit cards
i. Privacy/security concerns (cybersecurity regulations, data protection
regulation, not reporting the breach)
2. Copyright infringement with the shows being downloaded illegally and sold
i. Have used the content without the permission of the copyright holder
3. Danger of hacking
i. Exposed them to cybercrime issue
Violation of consumer protection / ecommerce violations because making profit from copyright
infringement
IP issues with translation software
Trademark infringement
Identify the issue and attribute it to a field of law and argue why
(IMPORTANT) always explain what the law regulates, relevant articles and
case law
EXAM structure
1. Explain the issue or term that you see (data regulation/net neutrality
etc is …)
2. In the current scenario we have issue with article(s) …
3. Because the problem is …
4. Also supported by case law where they state …
Task 3 – The school website (old exam question)
, As the school year is close to its end, N-S-V, an elementary school in Groningen, is
facing problems with their website. The website is loading very slowly with the result
that neither the staff members, nor the parents are able to access the dedicated portals.
Toon, the director of the school, suspects that the problem is created on purpose by the
Internet Service Provider. At a recent meeting of the Municipality Council (of which Toon
is a member) Toon voiced strongly his opinion against a project proposed by the
Internet Service Provider company to build a new floor to their headquarters. The
project is yet to be approved and Toon believes that the Internet Service Provider
company is slowing access to the schools’s website in order to get Toon to change his
mind.
Very puzzled, Toon, who has heard about net neutrality principles, wonders if there is
any legal protection available in such a situation.
Please advise Toon on the European rules and fines applicable to situations in
which the net neutrality principles are not respected. In case the suspicion of
Toon is correct, does the situation of the N-S-V website fall under these
principles? Please substantiate your answer.
The relevant european legislation is the following Regulation (EU) 2015/2120 on Open Internet Access
art 3&4 establishing the rules and art 6 establishing the penalties
Regulation (EU) 2015/2120 on Open Internet Access
• Four important principles (arts 3 & 4)
1. No blocking (of lawful content, applications, services or non-harmful devices)
2. No throttling/limits on the speed
3. No discrimination of online content, applications and services
4. Transparency (and proportionality) of measures– providers must disclose information regarding
their network management practices, performance and the commercial terms of service
Who is subject to regulation? Internet service provider which gives you an IP address and the role of the
ISP is to send the packages of data to the corresponding IP address, transfer info from one address
through the internet to another address
Internet - network of networks
What does it require from the subject? Uphold the rights of individuals through the 4 principles. Internet
provider transfer date from content provider to the user. Since they are middleman they may act malign,