Wiebke Abel

Agents, Trojans and tags: The next generation of investigators

In a statement the Council of the European Union has recommended that member states should introduce clandestine remote searches of computers as a standard investigation method to combat cybercrime. At present, there is little analysis of the consequences such a development will have in the UK. The use of remote forensic software tools by law enforcement agencies has been, however, controversially discussed elsewhere and most notably in Germany where the Federal Constitutional Court had the opportunity to analyse the issue. This paper describes the use of this investigation method in Germany and analyses the reaction of the German and some other legal systems to give a first indication of the likely issues that its use in the UK will raise.

Duties of Care on the Internet

Internet service providers currently find themselves in the spotlight, both in a national and international context, with regard to their relationship both with governments and other private parties. This contribution focuses on duties of care as concerns the relationship between government and Internet service providers. The situation in four countries—the Netherlands, the UK, Germany and France—was researched. The (self-) regulation with respect to five separate themes (Internet security and safety, child pornography, copyright, identity fraud and the trade in stolen goods through Internet platforms) was identified. The conclusions promote more emphasis on a value chain approach and suggest improving the model of notice and take down in order to create more certainty.

“All the world’s a stage” — Legal and cultural reflections on the surveillance of online games

One of the more unusual revelations of the Snowden leaks was the discovery that UK and US security services had also targeted popular online gaming platforms for surveillance activity. While the British press had a field day coming up with creative headlines about “undercover Orcs”, public reaction was muted. Anger about “wasting taxpayer’s money” more than privacy concerns dominated the debate. But can we really dismiss surveillance of gaming as “not quite serious”? Using insights from psychology, anthropology and cultural studies, we argue that on the contrary, surveillance of people at play can be seen as a paradigmatic illustration of the dangers of the surveillance society, and give us insights in the values privacy law ought to protect.

Pauli Sententiarum Fragmentum Leidense (Cod. Leid. B.P.L. 2589) ediderunt et commentariis instruxerunt G. G. Archi, M. David, E. Levy, R. Marichal, H. L. W. Nelson

Mallon Jean. Pauli Sententiarum Fragmentum Leidense (Cod. Leid. B.P.L. 2589) ediderunt et commentariis instruxerunt G. G. Archi, M. David, E. Levy, R. Marichal, H. L. W. Nelson. In: Scriptorium, Tome 11 n°2, 1957. pp. 320-323.