Abstract:
How would cutting-edge information technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), and Robotics impact on our daily lives, society, and legal systems? What should be done to deal with issues brought by such latest technologies? With using a comparative analysis of laws in Japan, EU, and US, this lecture focuses on two specific topics: the right to be forgotten mainly, and users’ rights in copyright law additionally, both of which seem to symbolize the growing need for a new conception of rights in times of rapid change and also for rebalancing of competing values and interests. In particular, this lecture argues that Japanese law often takes an intriguing eclectic position somewhat in-between the European and US laws through applying good old laws to solve newly emerged issues, as exemplified most recently by the Japanese Supreme Court’s ruling on January 31, 2017, which set the criteria for balancing competing interests to allow a preliminary injunction on search results for privacy protection but declined to do so in that particular case.
Speaker: Dr. Itsuko Yamaguchi (University of Tokyo)
