Please, note that this subject is mandatory for students of Law and Technology.

Exam: The students are NOT allowed to bring any reading materials to the exam.
Only hardcopy non-legal, non-specific, non-annotated dictionaries English-native language of the students (and vice versa) are allowed.

 

The development of new technologies confronts society with opportunities and risks that are often hard to predict and difficult to specify. These risks can be related to a technology, to its development, and to the specific uses or applications of the technology. The course will focus on the use and deployment of various modalities of regulation with regard to new and emerging technologies. This will be explored in the context of often recurring failures in risk perception, typical forms of risk analysis and risk management, and the restricted usefulness of the latter for policy and legislation purposes. With regard to technology, two questions will be raised: Which types of risks and drawbacks require regulation at all, and, if regulation is necessary, which kind or type of regulation should be chosen? Alternative options will be addressed including legislation (public, private), regulation through technology, through economic instruments, self-regulation, social norms, et cetera. The course will also address failures of regulation. An essential part of the course will address issues of efficiency, efficacy, ethics, acceptance and legitimacy, with particular focus on the role of ethics in technology governance. The general aims of the course is to enable the student to make well-considered judgements and assessments concerning the adequacy and legitimacy of regulation of the various types of technology related risks and drawbacks.
 

Type of exams