Law & Technology
Introduction
The aim of this course
1. Providing knowledge about the regulation/obligations when it comes to AI,
Chatbots, social media, online purchases, personal data,…
2. Critical reflection on some issues
NEWS
- Meta was testing some safety features for social media apps like Instagram. For
example the teen accounts, where it should be impossible for an adult to contact
that account. A whistle blower, however, reported that they’re ineffective.
- TikTok was found “slow poison to young children” in France, due to the harmful
content it provides. They think children under the age of 15 shouldn’t be able to use
any type of social media. One member even proposes a criminal investigation to the
harmful content.
- The EU and the US are concerned about the impact on children of friendships with
chatbots.
- The data protection authority states that cameras in common spaces, placed by
landlords, aren’t allowed.
- Amazon is tricking people into Prime subscriptions by using tricks (dark
patterns/deceptive patterns) like buttons on the right or using a specific color
(green). + they make it very difficult to end the subscription
- Cyberattacks (ransomware) are more common because of the generative AI. People
with no IT-knowledge can now easily, when having access to one of those programs,
send ransomware attacks to compagnies.
BUT let’s not forget the beneficial sides of technology !!
- Legal technology: used by lawyers to review/draft contracts
o Ghent has some very successful businesses investigating legal technology
Practical information about this course
Theme this year: generative AI
- 3 guest lectures
- Exam: in English
o If you don’t know one specific word on the exam, just write it in Dutch
o Open book exam
o PDF with legislative texts
- Introduction to law & technology because there are a lot of elective ‘follow-up’
courses in the master
- Broad field: choices were made because we can’t discuss each topic + key theme of
this year = generative AI
LAW & TECHNOLOGY 1
,Part I. Technology, Economy & Society
Chapter 1. an introduction to information technology for lawyers
1. introduction
Read it, no technical questions about this topic will be asked
“Technology is neither good nor bad, nor is it neutral.”
- Melvin Kranzberg
Different ways to look at technology
Ralf De Wolf
- Determinism
o Technology is neutral: it doesn’t necessarily has bad or good purpose
o Technology is being developed and people just use it
o Technology drives social and cultural change, not the other way around
o How people use the technology doesn’t matter
- Instrumentalism
o Technology is neutral
o It is up to individuals to decide how to use it
o Cf. Guns don’t kill people, people kill people
§ The gun is created but they only kill someone if a human decides to
Technology isn’t neutral, there are values already inherent to the technology
è Bcs developed by particular group of people/to serve a certain purpose:
- Substantivism
o Guns are meant to kill people, they are made to kill people
o The technology is meant to do something, sometimes inherently bad
- Critical theory
o Technology has certain values because it is developed by humans that do have
certain values, so it can not be neutral
o But individuals can still decide how to use a certain technology
o People can use technology in a totally different way than they were designed
for
LAW & TECHNOLOGY 2
, § Ex. Social media was made to connect with your friends and share
information
2. Technology, society and economy
2.1 which considerations should policymakers, legislators, lawyers,… take into account?
A. Technical considerations
To regulate a certain type of technology, you need to know how it works
- How does the technology work?
Algorithms, AI,…
o How is the hardware (physical parts)/software (instructions/code) designed?
o Which models are used?
o How are models trained?
o Which data is used?
Output depends on the input. Biased data will give biased output
- Who had designed the technology?
o Prominently male persons
- How well does the technology work?
o Is it accurate?
§ Imagine you’re not allowed on the plane because the system doesn’t
recognize you
§ Doesn’t work well for certain individuals (dark skin color, women)
o Ex. Facial recognition aims to identify based on your face: Iphone, public spaces
to detect suspects of certain crimes etc.
- How secure is the technology?
B. Economic considerations
The way technology is used is heavily influenced by the way it is paid for
- What is the business model (how are activities organized, how is value created, how is
money made?)?
o Is a service free?
o Is a service paid by advertising?
o Do we pay with our data or input?
LAW & TECHNOLOGY 3
, o Ex. Pay or okay? Able to use a service for free: because the company uses your
information to sell to other companies.
- Who are the economic actors in the tech sector?
Power perspective
o Ecosystems (YouTube, Android, Google Play, Gemini è Alphabet = company
that runs all the Google-services)
è lot of influence on society
Ex. Very short answer from Gemini when looking something up on
Google
o Platforms
The way these platforms are designed, has consequences for all parties
Ex. Applying consumer protection rules
§ Two-sided: ex. Uber
Connects a person who needs to go somewhere with someone with a
car. You need enough drivers and enough users
§ Multi-sided: ex. Uber Eats
People that want to eat something + restaurants + deliverers
- How much economic power do tech companies hold?
A lot è societal consequences è reason for policymakers to take action
- Which role do network externalities and lock-in play?
o More users = more value
o Market tipping (so many benefits that outweigh costs)
o Lock-in (switching costs too high)
You have invested so much in a certain type of service that makes it too difficult
to just switch to another service
Ex. Different types of chargers for different types of technology è now
regulated: everything needs to be charged with an USB-C-charger
C. Societal considerations
- Is the use of a certain technology desirable/acceptable/unacceptable?
o It’s not because we CAN use something that we find it OKAY as a society
§ Ex. Guns
- Are there potential negative effects related to the use of the technology? For
individuals? For society?
o A lot of available technology is beneficial, but we sometimes forget to ask
ourselves if new technology is okay
§ Ex. AI-act: binding legislative instrument from the EU. There is a list with
prohibited types of AI-driven system. As a society we said no to these
types of technology (quite rare)
Has to be studied on a longitudinal basis
- How are (social, political,…) values shaped by technology?
o Fake news (especially in times of election)
- How do individuals use technology?
o Not always in the way it was intended/anticipated
- How do cognitive abilities/biases influence the use of technology?
o Privacy paradox, Transparency paradox
LAW & TECHNOLOGY 4
Introduction
The aim of this course
1. Providing knowledge about the regulation/obligations when it comes to AI,
Chatbots, social media, online purchases, personal data,…
2. Critical reflection on some issues
NEWS
- Meta was testing some safety features for social media apps like Instagram. For
example the teen accounts, where it should be impossible for an adult to contact
that account. A whistle blower, however, reported that they’re ineffective.
- TikTok was found “slow poison to young children” in France, due to the harmful
content it provides. They think children under the age of 15 shouldn’t be able to use
any type of social media. One member even proposes a criminal investigation to the
harmful content.
- The EU and the US are concerned about the impact on children of friendships with
chatbots.
- The data protection authority states that cameras in common spaces, placed by
landlords, aren’t allowed.
- Amazon is tricking people into Prime subscriptions by using tricks (dark
patterns/deceptive patterns) like buttons on the right or using a specific color
(green). + they make it very difficult to end the subscription
- Cyberattacks (ransomware) are more common because of the generative AI. People
with no IT-knowledge can now easily, when having access to one of those programs,
send ransomware attacks to compagnies.
BUT let’s not forget the beneficial sides of technology !!
- Legal technology: used by lawyers to review/draft contracts
o Ghent has some very successful businesses investigating legal technology
Practical information about this course
Theme this year: generative AI
- 3 guest lectures
- Exam: in English
o If you don’t know one specific word on the exam, just write it in Dutch
o Open book exam
o PDF with legislative texts
- Introduction to law & technology because there are a lot of elective ‘follow-up’
courses in the master
- Broad field: choices were made because we can’t discuss each topic + key theme of
this year = generative AI
LAW & TECHNOLOGY 1
,Part I. Technology, Economy & Society
Chapter 1. an introduction to information technology for lawyers
1. introduction
Read it, no technical questions about this topic will be asked
“Technology is neither good nor bad, nor is it neutral.”
- Melvin Kranzberg
Different ways to look at technology
Ralf De Wolf
- Determinism
o Technology is neutral: it doesn’t necessarily has bad or good purpose
o Technology is being developed and people just use it
o Technology drives social and cultural change, not the other way around
o How people use the technology doesn’t matter
- Instrumentalism
o Technology is neutral
o It is up to individuals to decide how to use it
o Cf. Guns don’t kill people, people kill people
§ The gun is created but they only kill someone if a human decides to
Technology isn’t neutral, there are values already inherent to the technology
è Bcs developed by particular group of people/to serve a certain purpose:
- Substantivism
o Guns are meant to kill people, they are made to kill people
o The technology is meant to do something, sometimes inherently bad
- Critical theory
o Technology has certain values because it is developed by humans that do have
certain values, so it can not be neutral
o But individuals can still decide how to use a certain technology
o People can use technology in a totally different way than they were designed
for
LAW & TECHNOLOGY 2
, § Ex. Social media was made to connect with your friends and share
information
2. Technology, society and economy
2.1 which considerations should policymakers, legislators, lawyers,… take into account?
A. Technical considerations
To regulate a certain type of technology, you need to know how it works
- How does the technology work?
Algorithms, AI,…
o How is the hardware (physical parts)/software (instructions/code) designed?
o Which models are used?
o How are models trained?
o Which data is used?
Output depends on the input. Biased data will give biased output
- Who had designed the technology?
o Prominently male persons
- How well does the technology work?
o Is it accurate?
§ Imagine you’re not allowed on the plane because the system doesn’t
recognize you
§ Doesn’t work well for certain individuals (dark skin color, women)
o Ex. Facial recognition aims to identify based on your face: Iphone, public spaces
to detect suspects of certain crimes etc.
- How secure is the technology?
B. Economic considerations
The way technology is used is heavily influenced by the way it is paid for
- What is the business model (how are activities organized, how is value created, how is
money made?)?
o Is a service free?
o Is a service paid by advertising?
o Do we pay with our data or input?
LAW & TECHNOLOGY 3
, o Ex. Pay or okay? Able to use a service for free: because the company uses your
information to sell to other companies.
- Who are the economic actors in the tech sector?
Power perspective
o Ecosystems (YouTube, Android, Google Play, Gemini è Alphabet = company
that runs all the Google-services)
è lot of influence on society
Ex. Very short answer from Gemini when looking something up on
o Platforms
The way these platforms are designed, has consequences for all parties
Ex. Applying consumer protection rules
§ Two-sided: ex. Uber
Connects a person who needs to go somewhere with someone with a
car. You need enough drivers and enough users
§ Multi-sided: ex. Uber Eats
People that want to eat something + restaurants + deliverers
- How much economic power do tech companies hold?
A lot è societal consequences è reason for policymakers to take action
- Which role do network externalities and lock-in play?
o More users = more value
o Market tipping (so many benefits that outweigh costs)
o Lock-in (switching costs too high)
You have invested so much in a certain type of service that makes it too difficult
to just switch to another service
Ex. Different types of chargers for different types of technology è now
regulated: everything needs to be charged with an USB-C-charger
C. Societal considerations
- Is the use of a certain technology desirable/acceptable/unacceptable?
o It’s not because we CAN use something that we find it OKAY as a society
§ Ex. Guns
- Are there potential negative effects related to the use of the technology? For
individuals? For society?
o A lot of available technology is beneficial, but we sometimes forget to ask
ourselves if new technology is okay
§ Ex. AI-act: binding legislative instrument from the EU. There is a list with
prohibited types of AI-driven system. As a society we said no to these
types of technology (quite rare)
Has to be studied on a longitudinal basis
- How are (social, political,…) values shaped by technology?
o Fake news (especially in times of election)
- How do individuals use technology?
o Not always in the way it was intended/anticipated
- How do cognitive abilities/biases influence the use of technology?
o Privacy paradox, Transparency paradox
LAW & TECHNOLOGY 4
