Vulnerable data subjects

Discussion about vulnerable individuals and communities spread from research ethics to consumer law and human rights. According to many theoreticians and practitioners, the framework of vulnerability allows formulating an alternative language to articulate problems of inequality, power imbalances and social injustice. Building on this conceptualisation, we try to understand the role and potentiality of the notion of vulnerable data subjects. The starting point for this reflection is wide-ranging development, deployment and use of data-driven technologies that may pose substantial risks to human rights, the rule of law and social justice. Implementation of such technologies can lead to discrimination systematic marginalisation of different communities and the exploitation of people in particularly sensitive life situations. Considering those problems, we recognise the special role of personal data protection and call for its vulnerability-aware interpretation. This article makes three contributions. First, we examine how the notion of vulnerability is conceptualised and used in the philosophy, human rights and European law. We then confront those findings with the presence and interpretation of vulnerability in data protection law and discourse. Second, we identify two problematic dichotomies that emerge from the theoretical and practical application of this concept in data protection. Those dichotomies reflect the tensions within the definition and manifestation of vulnerability. To overcome limitations that arose from those two dichotomies we support the idea of layered vulnerability, which seems compatible with the GDPR and the risk-based approach. Finally, we outline how the notion of vulnerability can influence the interpretation of particular provisions in the GDPR. In this process, we focus on issues of consent, Data Protection Impact Assessment, the role of Data Protection Authorities, and the participation of data subjects in the decision making about data processing.     

First-in-Human Trial Participants: Not a Vulnerable Population, but Vulnerable Nonetheless

The 21st-century translational science campaign could lead to an increase in first-in-human (FIH) trials. As tests of investigational interventions move from the laboratory to human research, scientists, officials, and review committees should address ongoing concerns about the ethics of FIH trials. In this article, I describe three ethical considerations relevant to all FIH trials: (1) the requirement for adequate preclinical research; (2) study design safeguards; and (3) choice of subject population. I also examine specific ethical considerations relevant to the three subject populations (healthy volunteers, seriously ill patients lacking standard treatment options, and stable patients) involved in FIH research. I recommend a variety of actions that could increase subject protection and the value of the information generated in FIH trials.     

弱势群体的宪法地位研究

弱势群体在宪法领域具有特定的涵义,其宪法地位体现在具体的宪法原则和制度中;从历史的角度看,弱势群体的宪法地位也经历了一个逐步提高的过程.我国宪法对弱势群体作出了保护,但存在不足,应修改宪法给弱势群体予以充分的保护.     

Attribution and the law

Complex theories of culpability have evolved in the law, which specify the circumstances in which an action is to be viewed as voluntary or involuntary, and justifiable or not justifiable. Legal theories also distinguish among varying degrees of responsibility for criminal acts depending, upon the mental state of the defendant. These theories have been developed, for the most part, on the basis oflogical analysis. Recently psychologists have begun toempirically study the judgmental processes used in assigning responsibility for actions. This article reviews both the legal and psychological approaches to the area and notes the potential contributions psychological research can make to our understanding of judgmental biases in the justice system. The empirical research can help indicate condition in which legal principles are ignored and replaced with common sense interpretations of the law and legal principles.Center for Criminal Justice Harvard Law School.     

Obscenity and the law

This paper examines whether a random sample of adults can apply local contemporary community standards regarding the acceptability of explicit sexual material. Inasmuch as the legal test employed in the U.S. for determining obscenity requires a jury to apply such standards, the research examines the practicality of such an approach. The analysis indicates that the best predictor of what an individual will perceive the community standards to be is the individual's own standards concerning sexual material. The implications of these findings are examined from both a legal and social science perspective. In addition, the consequences of not providing jurors information concerning local standards are discussed.A previous version of this paper was presented at the Annual Meeting of the Law and Society Association in Chicago, May 29–June 1, 1986. The authors wish to thank Debbie Edwards, Jane Warne, and the anonymous reviewers fromLaw and Human Behavior for their helpful comments and suggestions concerning the paper.     

Telemedicine and the law

The delivery of medical services through the use of modern technology is proving of significant benefit, particularly in remote communities where transportation of patients and medical practitioners is problematic. Technical systems supporting telemedicine-based consultations have been available for some years and more recently diagnostic services such as pathology and radiology have embraced this new technology. While teleradiology and telepathology allow medical services to be delivered across vast distances from highly populated areas to regions of low population density, the same technology can also deliver services across national and international boundaries. Where the patient and medical practitioner are located in different jurisdictions, issues arise regarding the regulation of medical service provision and this has an impact on the registration of medical practitioners, mutual recognition of training and specialisation and the administration of medical service provision. The increasing specialisation of medical practice and manpower shortages in key practice areas would suggest that there will be ongoing expansion of telemedicine services in the years to come. This will require greater standardisation of medical education, together with an improvement in arrangements for mutual recognition of medical practitioners across national boundaries.     

Dementia and the law

The care for patients with dementia raises many legal (and ethical) issues. This article explores some of the more important topics, i.e. (early) diagnosis of the disease, the availability and provision of care, treatment and non treatment decisions, and medical research with dementia patients.     

Discrimination and the law

Law and Human Behavior -