IPI at international conference “Multidisciplinary perspectives on algorithms” at Kyushu University
During 21. and 23. November the International Programs in Law of the Kyushu University’s Faculty of Law organized the conference Multidisciplinary perspectives on algorithms. Tjaša Zapušek, research assistant at IPI presented recent findings of her PhD research at University of Zürich.
Tjaša Zapušek talked about differences between three different ‘decision-making processes’ that occur as a consequence of three different types of systems, namely, three different types of algorithms. Through this systematization she examined legal concerns regarding foreseeability and certainty of the system’s actions and applicability of existing legal rules. The increasing complexity of algorithms that are governing autonomous systems will result in systems with sophisticated self-learning capabilities, and more importantly, in the ability of creating unforeseeable and autonomous decisions. From a legal perspective, the test of foreseeability can be described with a sentence whether a person can see/recognize a systematic relationship between the type of accident that the plaintiff suffered and the defendant’s wrongdoing. Considering the aspect of foreseeability, a defendant may escape liability if scientists cannot predict a systematic relationship between wrongdoing and harm.
In the past couple of years, the model complexity has grown substantially. Some of these algorithms are often considered as ‘black boxes’, identifying that there is still lots of obscurity surrounding their operation. Even though the latter often rewards us with models of higher accuracy and productivity, it usually comes at the expense of human interpretability.
The main goal of this event was to prevent that this issue leads to either under or overregulation and to bring together experts with a background in law, technology, economics, sociology, and ethics to address the issue.
The Internet Archive is a non-profit organization that maintains the Open Library, a digital library index, and is dedicated to preserving knowledge. As many of the works in the Internet Archive are under copyright, the Archive uses a system of controlled digital lending based on digital rights management to prevent unauthorized downloading or copying of copyrighted books. In March 2020, due to the circumstances surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic, the Internet Archive established the National Emergency Library, eliminating the waiting lists used in the Open Library and expanding access to books for all readers. In June 2020, the Emergency National Library faced a lawsuit from four book publishers and was ultimately closed.
The 43rd session of the WIPO Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (hereinafter SCCR) made substantial progress on the issues advocated by the A2K Coalition (Access to Knowledge Coalition), which IPI is a member of. This year’s session was the most productive on the issues of exceptions and limitations. James Love (Knowledge Ecology International), a long-time observer at WIPO, described the outcome and the impact of the public interest community as the strongest since the conclusion of the Marrakech Treaty, which brought global copyright exceptions for the benefit of the blind and visually impaired.
Today, March 17, 2023, a symposium on law in the information society is taking place in the golden lecture hall of the Faculty of Law in Ljubljana. Dr. Maja Bogataj Jančič will present copyright aspects of artificial intelligence at the symposium.
The third day of the 43rd session of the WIPO Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights is intended for discussion on the topic of exceptions and limitations to copyright, especially in connection with the right to research.