On May 21, 2021, Avv. Chiara Civitelli, secretary general of the Silk Council Association, held a video conference lecture on "Legal, geopolitical and ethical aspects of digital transformation" to the students of the "digital business organization" course of the Tuscia University (Department of Humanities, Communication and Tourism Sciences).
In her lecture, Avv. Civitelli illustrated the main opportunities and criticalities of the digital transformation to which the Covid-19 pandemic has given a strong acceleration. In this regard, the importance of a synergistic connection between the technical, legal and ethical aspects of the use of new technologies was emphasized through a series of practical examples both nationally and internationally.
In particular, we talked about the social credit system adopted in China, the use of the Immuni app for social tracking in order to prevent Covid-19 infections, the use of algorithms in the administrative procedure, the use of facial recognition technologies for security purposes, smart contracts, civil liability for damages caused by robots and other artificial intelligence devices, management and control over the use of data through intellectual property strategies and contractual obligations, smart working, cybersecurity in the company and the importance of employee training and awareness on these issues.
Finally, Avv. Civitelli dealt with the geopolitical aspects of digital transformation, comparing the American, Chinese and European approaches to the issue of digital sovereignty. In 2017, China adopted the intelligence law which outlines a model of public-private integration that requires all citizens, including residents outside China, to collaborate and provide information to the Chinese authorities for national security reasons. In 2018, the United States of America adopted the Cloud Act which similarly requires all operators of cloud computing services regardless of where they are located as long as they have a branch in the United States or operate in the American market, to provide data to US authorities requesting it. The European Union, on the other hand, promotes initiatives to support the technological competitiveness of European companies and for the creation of a European cloud (such as the Gaia X project). Another important tool to support the European digital single market is the EU 2016/679 General Data Protection Regulation.
The lecture was followed by an open debate between students and professors.
Thanks to Prof. Paolo Depaoli and Prof. Mario Pireddu of the Tuscia University for the invitation, to Prof. Avv. Gianluigi Ciacci of the Luiss Guido Carli University for intervening in the open debate and to all students for their attention and the interest shown.
