The course addresses the multi-faceted regulatory challenges of the data economy in the context of societal transitions. It aims to provide students with a critical understanding of the risks and perils of a data-driven society, as well as with awareness of the legal and regulatory options to mitigate those risks. Students will acquire knowledge of the applicable legal framework (with particular reference to informational privacy, consumer protection and data protection) and will be introduced to the challenges of applying legal principles to factual scenarios emerging from societal transitions, such as smart cities, self-driving vehicles, mobility-on-demand, e-government and digital citizenship. In this connection, the course will pay particular attention to the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the way in which Courts and Data Protection Authorities have interpreted legal principles in relation to Big Data and Artificial Intelligence. As an in-depth study, a section of the course will be devoted to the change in modeling formal ontologies for legal knowledge. The emergence of autonomous artificial agents is challenging the modes and the structure of the legal discourse on topics like legal personhood, contractual and tortious responsibility, and even creativeness. While waiting for new policies to be adopted by national and international institutions, the inadequacy of legal orders to govern the phenomenon of artificial agents is embarrassing policy makers and courts.

Having completed the course, the student is expected to be able to: • Identify and ascertain key ethical issues related to the use of data and their impact on the IT industries, the users and the civil society. • Engage critically with the complex and multi-faceted regulatory framework on the use of data and the legal and ethical issues that arise. • Consider and evaluate the societal transitions in a reflective manner, including an evaluation of policy and regulatory options for maximizing the worth and minimizing risk of data-driven technologies. • Demonstrate effective dissemination of findings to professional and academic standards.

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The course focuses on the many aspects of the current international and European legal framework and it discusses how it applies to factual scenarios of the societal transition. Indicative content include: PART 1 – REGULATING DATA SOCIETIES: LEGAL AND ETHICAL ISSUES (30 hours) • Digital transition and the issues of “datafication” of human societies • Data as an instrument of power • Responsible data processing and sharing • Personal data in the context of informational privacy • The principles and structure of the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) • Forms of protection of data: contract, trade secrets and “de facto” powers PART 2 – AUTONOMOUS AGENTS, AI AND THE LAW (30 hours) • Public sector information and access to data • The legal protection of databases and computer programs: the role of “open source” software • Regulation of Artificial Intelligence (AI) • Autonomous Agents and the Law: personhood and responsibility • Artificial Intelligence and copyright, the case of creativeness

The course consists of frontal lectures, seminars and students’ presentations. The frontal lectures introduce the main concepts and cover all aspects of the ethical and legal framework. Seminars and students’ presentations will focus on and discuss specific issues and factual scenarios (case studies).

Online resources: • ICO Guide to Data Protection https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/guide-to-data-protection/ • General Data Protection Regulation https://gdpr-info.eu/ Recommended readings: • Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism (Profile Books, 2019) • Frank Pasquale, The Black Box Society (Harvard University Press, 2015) • Jaron Lanier, Who Owns the Future? (Penguin Books, 2015) • Ugo Pagallo, The Law of Robots. Crimes, Contracts and Torts (Springer, 2013) • Pompeu Casanovas et al., AI Approaches to the Complexity of Legal Systems (Springer, 2010) Articles, papers and other reading material will be made available to the students on the Course platform.

Modalità di esame: Elaborato scritto individuale;

Exam: Individual essay;

... The assessment consists of an individual essay (4,000 words) on a topic chosen by each student from a list of topics made available by the teachers. In the essay, students are expected to: • Identify the relevant legal and ethical questions arising from the chosen topic • Explain the applicable legal framework and the legal issues involved • Where applicable, identify points of different judicial interpretation • Refer every issue to a point of law where possible • Provide a conclusion to the question on the basis of the argument given in the body of the essay • Demonstrate critical analysis, evaluation and judgement • Ensure the argument is logical, coherent, well presented and structured • Ensure proper referencing is applied • Include a full bibliography

Gli studenti e le studentesse con disabilità o con Disturbi Specifici di Apprendimento (DSA), oltre alla segnalazione tramite procedura informatizzata, sono invitati a comunicare anche direttamente al/la docente titolare dell'insegnamento, con un preavviso non inferiore ad una settimana dall'avvio della sessione d'esame, gli strumenti compensativi concordati con l'Unità Special Needs, al fine di permettere al/la docente la declinazione più idonea in riferimento alla specifica tipologia di esame.