Conference on Innovation and Digitalisation in Law

 

For this years' Conference on Innovation and Digitalisation in Law 2022 we came together to discuss the topic of ‘Protecting vulnerable groups in the digital world’.
The conference took place online on November 9th 2022 from 9:00 to 12:00, Vienna Time (CET).

To what extent is the protection of vulnerable groups necessary? How far does such protection go? These are some of the questions addressed by the online conference of the Department for Innovation and Digitalisation in Law. The topics span from the protection of children´s privacy online to the consumer protection issues concerning the participation of vulnerable groups to our digitalized world.

The conference was streamed live and the recording is accessible on YouTube  via the following link.

Presentation by Abog. Mariana Rissetto, LL.M.

Abog. Mariana A. Rissetto, LL.M. presented the project “Privacy4Kids”, which is a collaborative work of the Austrian Data Protection Authority and the University of Vienna with financial support of the European Commission.

This project aimes at familiarizing children aged 6 years to 14 years with the topic of data protection through animated and age-tailored educational videos. Within this project, 30 students from the University of Vienna’s Faculty of Law produced 22 videos in the winter term 2021/22 targeting two age groups: children from 6 to 10 years and children from 11 to 14 years. To facilitate the use of these videos in school classes as an educational tool, supporting material for teachers was also created. This winter term (2022/23), a new class of students develops a card game with a connection to the videos by linking to them via QR codes printed on the game cards.

Click here to watch the 1st presentation on YouTube!

Presentation by Dr. Gladt

Dr. Gladt presented projects from the ÖIAT that share the common objective to promote the competent, safe and responsible use of digital media. The project “Saferinternet.at” launched in 2005 and organises about 2500 workshops per year in schools, youth centres etc. and distributes information as well as educational material. “DigitaleSenior:innen” is a service contact point that addresses elderly people with the objective of enhancing the digital literacy of seniors.

According to Dr. Gladt young people are less likely to seek advice in the traditional way. Rather they seek advice from online sources. To facilitate this, the ÖIAT provides information about dispute resolution on the website of the “Internet Ombudsstelle”. The ÖIAT launched a spin-off called “Watchlist Internet” in 2013. This project aims at preventing damage by raising awareness about fraud schemes, through their website where they offer up-to-date news about online fraud and fakes.

Click here to watch the 2nd presentation on YouTube!

Presentation by Mag. Moechel

Mag. Moechel presented the proposed EU Regulation on the prevention and combating of child sexual abuse (CSAR). He introduced this legal instrument as an example of “how not to protect vulnerable groups”. According to Mag. Moechel, the legislative process of CSAR is based on incorrect figures and wrong assumptions. Mag. Moechel explained that he sees other ways to protect children, like a mandatory year early in school so children would understand the dangers of the internet.

Following his assessment, law enforcement and security lobbyists try to achieve the same decryption results with the proposed CSAR today as they have tried to since the Snowden revelations from 2013, which led to the general encryption of internet traffic. Mag. Moechel criticized the plans of the EU to establish a new agency against child abuse on the premises of Europol that already has much experience in data mining. This new EU centre against child abuse shall be empowered with competences that EU parliamentarians refused to grant Europol in June 2022.

Click here to watch the 3rd presentation on YouTube!

 Timetable

09:00 Introduction by Univ.-Prof. Dr. Christiane Wendehorst, LL.M. (Cantab.)
09:10 Presentation by Abog. Mariana Rissetto, LL.M. ("Privacy4Kids")
09:30 Presentation by Dr. Gladt ("Safer Internet", "Servicestelle digitale Senior:innen")
10:00 Break
10:10 Presentation by Mag. Moechel ("EU CSAR")
10:30 Panel Discussion moderated by Univ.-Prof. Dr. Nikolaus Forgó
12:00 Closing by Univ.-Prof. Dr. Iris Eisenberger, M.Sc. (LSE)

 Participants of the panel discussion

  • Mag. Joerg Heidrich (Lawyer and Data Protection Officer at Heise Medien GmbH)
  • Mag. Erich Moechel (Journalist at FM4)
  • Dr. Veronika Nagy (Assistant Professor in Criminology at the Law Department of Utrecht University)
  • Dr. Karl Gladt (Head of Legal at ÖIAT)
  • Mag. Sebastian Öhner (Legal Officer at Wiener Kinder- und Jugendanwaltschaft)

If you have any questions regarding the conference, please do not hesitate to contact us via idlaw-conference.id@univie.ac.at!