26 May 2019

Author: Larry Diamond
Date of Publication: 2019

Once hailed as a great force for human empowerment and liberation, social media and related digital tools have rapidly come to be regarded as a major threat to democratic stability and human freedom. Based on a deeply problematic business model, social-media platforms are showing the potential to exacerbate hazards that range from authoritarian privacy violations to partisan echo chambers to the spread of malign disinformation. Authoritarian forces are also profiting from a series of other advances in digital technology, notably including the revolution in artificial intelligence (AI). These developments have the potential to fuel a “postmodern totalitarianism” vividly illustrated by China’s rapidly expanding projects of digital surveillance and social control. They also pose a series of challenges for contemporary democracies. [View Resource]

Authors: Erina Kikarea and Mayaan Menashe
Date of Publication: 2019

The advent of the digital revolution brought about a wave of optimism and raised the hopes of societies for better governance and more freedoms, hopes that today seem dashed, at least partly. There is a widespread belief that new and emerging information and communication technologies (ICTs) pose threats to the rights of individuals and groups, and give rise to complex global governance questions. A growing amount of literature shows how they present challenges for data privacy, discrimination, and inequality, as well as for economic relationships, human rights and freedoms more generally. This introductory article seeks to set the background and context of the new and emerging technologies, particularly cyber- space, Big Data, AI and global governance. [View Resource]

Author: Gábor Mélypataki
Date of Publication: 2019

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has transformed has transformed social realities. Much of its effects is not yet clear. The author argues that post-apocalyptic visions are unlikely to be realised and that there is no need fear the revolution of machines. However, this does not mean that using AI will not have negative effects or dangers. The traditional employment relationship is likely to remain but in a changed form, with AI partially or completely replacing the function of the employer or the employee. The article analyses questions arising from both situations; for example, whether the employer’s decision-making power can be delegated to AI and the legal consequences of AI’s mistakes. [View Resource]

Authors: Michael Doherty and Valentina Franca
Date of Publication: 25 December 2019

There are few topics in contemporary labour law scholarship that have generated more literature than work in the so-called ‘platform economy’. To date, much work has focussed on the question of defining the personal scope of the employment relationship and on the problems of using existing classifications of employment status in the context of work organised via platforms. This article seeks to address the much less-discussed issue of how collective bargaining may function in the ‘platform economy’, and the role of collective labour law actors, most notably the social partners. The article argues that, rather than focussing on individual employment status and litigation, it is by developing a regulatory framework supportive of, and that involves key stakeholders in, strong sectoral collective bargaining that work in the ‘platform economy’ can be adequately regulated to the benefit of workers, business and the State. [View Resource]