TILT, our academic home, will host another edition of the TILTing Perspectives conference in 2019. We are coordinating a track called ‘Data Protection(s) in a Data-driven Society’. Mark 15-17 May 2019 in your calendar.
Data protection law sets the rules for the processing of personal data in order to provide legal protection against possible negative consequences associated with such processing. In the increasingly digital environment with increasingly autonomous algorithms at the backend where every interaction is being mediated by data, and which is rendered possible by (autonomous) algorithmic processes, is data protection law still up to the task? Even though the EU legislator has enacted a new set of rules (i.e., the GDPR and the Police Directive), it would seem that the data protection is in the state of transition, where the ever increasing scope of data processing and its shifting nature come as new challenges.
These developments raise a number of questions. What is the state of the art of data analytics, and how does it affect data subjects? Does data protection provide for sufficient safeguards in this respect? Is it equipped to address the increasing number of issues that stem from the digitalization of our lives (e.g., data portability)? In a context where every seemingly innocuous piece of data can potentially reveal very sensitive data, is the canonical distinction between personal and non-personal data put at jeopardy? Is there a role for other legal frameworks? Is a renewed interest in the right to private life the way forward? Can ethical frameworks be a useful complement to legal duties?
As the regulation of platforms and digital monopolies is framed in terms of competition law, and as consumer protection law seems to be gaining momentum as a way to address issues that were previously exclusively framed as a matter of data protection, what is the exact role of data protection today? What (other) theoretical and analytical frameworks exist in law, economics, philosophy, and other disciplines that can offer to help build an (alternative) robust system of legal protection against data-driven harms?
Hence, the theme of this track will be “data protections”, that is, what can we expect of data protection law in the data-driven society? What are its biggest challenges? What are the possible alternative (conceptual and legal) frameworks for achieving the purposes of data protection? Or have these purposes grown too ambitious and should be fundamentally reconsidered? Is there one or several ways in which individuals can be protected in the face of data processing operations that potentially impact and affect them?
We welcome paper and panel proposals from scholars from various disciplines, including but not limited to law, STS, information and surveillance studies, economics, computer science, etc.
For questions about possible presentation topics for this track, please contact Dr. Nadya Purtova and Dr. Raphael Gellert:
N.N.Purtova at uvt.nl and R.M.R.Gellert at uvt.nl