UK ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATIONS ACT 2000: ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATIONS ACT 2000 — TAKE-OFF TIME FOR E-BUSINESS OR A MISSED OPPORTUNITY?

This article examines the provisions of the new UK Electronic Communications Act 2000 and concludes that there has been a missed opportunity. The author considers that further changes will be needed to support the reality of E-business development in the UK.     

Revoking consent: A ‘blind spot’ in data protection law?

The flow of personal data throughout the public and private sectors is central to the functioning of modern society. The processing of these data is, however, increasingly being viewed as a major concern, particularly in light of many recent high profile data losses. It is generally assumed that individuals have a right to withdraw, or revoke, their consent to the processing of their personal data by others; however this may not be straightforward in practice, or addressed adequately by the law. Examination of the creation of data protection legislation in Europe and the UK, and its relationship with human rights law, suggests that such a general right to withdraw consent was assumed to be inbuilt, despite the lack of express provisions in both the European Data Protection Directive and UK Data Protection Act. In this article we highlight potential shortcomings in the provisions that most closely relate to this right in the UK Act. These raise questions as to the extent of meaningful rights of revocation, and thus rights of informational privacy, afforded to individuals in a democratic society.     

WHY A LAWYER?—THE IMPORTANCE OF CLIENT‐DIRECTED LEGAL REPRESENTATION FOR YOUTH

This article begins with a discussion about the importance of ensuring that all children have lawyers in abuse and neglect cases. Lawyers provide a vital role in giving youth a voice in proceedings that sound profoundly affect their lives. The article then discusses why the client‐directed lawyer's role is consistent with federal law and legal ethics. Finally, the article discusses the growing support for client‐directed representation and what the American Bar Association has done to support this type of child representation.     

Stalking and Huntington’s Disease: A Neurobiological Link?

This case report describes a patient with Huntington's Disease (HD) who allegedly stalked her therapist. The patient developed recurrent thoughts about her therapist as well as amorous feelings towards her therapist. She engaged in stalking behavior including unwelcome gifts, multiple telephone calls to the therapist's office and home, and making threats towards the therapist. The patient continued to contact the therapist after the therapist filed a Personal Protection Order. The patient was successfully treated with risperidone and fluvoxamine. Through a focused review of the relevant literature, the authors explore the potential relationship between the patient's obsessional thoughts, amorous feelings towards her therapist, the basal ganglia dysfunction, and the stalking behavior. The authors posit a hypothesis of stalking as a novel early manifestation of HD in this patient. To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first reported case of stalking occurring with potentially causal organic lesions.     

Reforming Non‐Possessory Secured Transactions Laws: A New Strategy?

Non‐possessory secured transactions are key components of market economies. National and international legal reform projects have been advanced to further their use and broaden access to credit. Yet reforms appear to be limited by practical obstacles posed by national legal categories. This article shifts the focus from domestically defined categories to the operational rules that allow secured transactions to perform their economic function of managing credit risk. This shift leads to a reconsideration of the rules governing publicity and an examination of the policy issues underpinning the evolution of publicity. The article argues that international publicity standards, based on a registry system, could offer a new strategy for reforming secured transactions laws. The recently adopted UNCITRAL's Registry Guide is analysed and considered as a possible tool for reforming national secured transactions laws.     

Subsidiarity in the Area of EU Justice and Home Affairs Law—A Lost Cause?

This article intends to highlight the concept of subsidiarity in the area of the third pillar and EU criminal law more generally. In doing so, the article tries to show that criminal law could and should be seen as imbued with 'subsidiarity' and, more specifically, that it could be viewed as an expression of the principle of ultima ratio—a minimalism approach—in criminal law. Accordingly, the article asks why subsidiarity appears to be forgotten in third pillar matters despite its important function in this area. Moreover, the article confronts such a desired application of subsidiarity in the context of established EC law doctrine, by questioning whether it is possible simply to transplant the supranational discussion into the terrain of criminal law. Further, the article explores the function of Article 47 EU as the watchdog of the supranational sphere and discusses also briefly the phenomenon of enhanced cooperation in relation to the principle of subsidiarity in the domain of EU Justice and Home Affairs.     

‘Modernising’ data protection Convention 108: A safe basis for a global privacy treaty?

Proposals for the reform or ‘modernisation’ of Council of Europe Data Protection Convention 108 have now been forwarded from the Convention's Consultative Committee for consideration by the Council of Ministers. This article assesses the changes proposed, which strengthen the obligations of Parties to implement the Convention as a matter of effective practice, not just as a law on paper. It tightens most of the existing data protection principles, and adds new ones which better align the Convention with the EU Directive (and proposed Regulation). The Convention Committee will have explicit new functions including assessing candidates for accession, and periodically reviewing implementation by existing parties. However, the proposals concerning the required standard for data export limitations are in some respects ill-defined and dangerous for data subjects. The existing standard that personal data can only be exported if the recipient provides ‘adequate’ protection has been abandoned for an undefined requirement of ‘appropriate’ protection. The article situates the risk of abandoning meaningful data export restrictions in the context of the USA's push for ‘interoperability’ of very different data protection standards.     

‘Substantial and Radical Change’: A New Dawn for Scottish Criminal Procedure?

This paper discusses the recommendations of the Carloway Review, which was established to review law and practice in criminal cases following the introduction in Scotland of a right to legal assistance during detention. A number of recommendations are made in the Review, including the introduction of stricter time limits governing the detention of suspects, the removal of the corroboration requirement, the rejection of adverse inference provisions, and a change in the manner in which the appeal court deals with cases referred to it by the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission. It is argued that while some of these recommendations are to be applauded, others are poorly reasoned and some may lead to a dangerous reduction in protection against wrongful conviction.     

Offenders’ uncoerced false confessions: A new application of statement analysis?

Purpose. Deception detection research has mainly studied denials and distortions given by students. This study examined true and false confessions as told by offenders. It was hypothesized that the statement analytic techniques Criteria‐Based Content Analysis (CBCA) and Reality Monitoring (RM) would discriminate truths and lies. Methods. Truthful and deceptive confessions to crime were given by 30 offenders (both women and men) in a within‐subject design. The participants were in prison at the time of data collection, and told the truth about a crime they had committed and been sentenced for. In addition, they made up a lie about a different crime after a few minutes of preparation. The transcribed statements were scored for CBCA and RM criteria. Results. Results showed that neither total CBCA nor total RM scores differentiated between lies and truths. Some individual CBCA criteria, however, showed differences: more self‐deprecations and doubts about own testimony in the told lies, and more unexpected complications in the truths. Conclusions. The results are discussed in relation to statement analysis of offenders’ accounts, individual CBCA criteria, as well as the development of criminal experience and familiarity with the event and setting. Implications for triers of fact and suggestions for future research are considered.     

‘Should I Stay or Should I Go ?’—A Critical Analysis of the Right to Withdraw from the EU

This article seeks to answer one of the key questions facing the EU in the future: what effect will the new right to withdraw have on the EU? Will it lead to a gradual fragmentation of what was supposed to be ‘an ever closer union of unlimited duration’? Or will it even mark the beginning of the end of the Union? In order to answer these complex questions, this article first briefly analyses the pre‐Lisbon situation regarding withdrawal. It then critically examines the newly inserted Article 50, which codifies the right to withdraw. Having done so, it will then examine whether non‐legal considerations, such as political and economic reasons, will render withdrawal a theoretical rather than realistic option.     

A New Look into Broken Windows: What Shapes Individuals’ Perceptions of Social Disorder?

Purpose

This study compares perceptual and observational measures of social disorder to examine the influence of observable levels of disorder in shaping residents’ perceptions of social problems on their street.

Methods

This study uses regression models utilizing data from a survey of residents, systematic social observations and police calls for service to explore the formation of perceptions of social disorder.

Results

We find little correspondence between residents’ perceptual and researchers’ observational measures of social disorder, suggesting that residents form perceptions of social disorder differently than do outsiders to their community. However, researchers’ observations of physical disorder were found to strongly influence residents’ perceptions of social disorder. Findings also suggest that people with different demographic backgrounds and life experiences may perceive the same social environment in very different ways.

Conclusions

The results add to a growing literature suggesting that social disorder is a social construct, rather than a concrete phenomenon. Moreover, we suggest that the linkage between physical disorder and residents’ perceptions of social disorder might provide an avenue for police to address residents’ fear of crime while avoiding some of the criticisms that have been leveled against programs targeting social disorder.     

Incidence of Low Body Mass Index in the Elderly in Forensic Cases—A Possible Marker for Frailty Syndrome?

Diagnosing frailty syndrome at autopsy may be difficult if no adequate clinical history is provided. As low body mass index (BMI) may be associated with frailty in the elderly, the following study was undertaken to determine the percentage of medicolegal cases with BMIs < 18.5 in decedents aged over 75 years. Review was undertaken over three time periods: January to December 1986, January to December 2006, and January to December 2012. In 1986, 16% (15 of 93) of individuals aged ≥75 years had BMIs < 18.5, in 2006, 15% (50 of 336), and in 2012, 13% (35 of 274). In no case was frailty syndrome mentioned. This study demonstrates that frailty syndrome appears to be an underappreciated diagnosis in forensic practice despite a significant percentage of elderly decedents (13–16% over a 27‐year period) having low BMIs. Prospective assessment of this group is required to determine the incidence and contribution to mortality of frailty syndrome in a forensic context.     

EU–China Competition Dialogue: A New Step in the Internationalisation of EU Competition Law?

EU has been the protagonist in promoting the internationalization of competition laws based on EU competition law norms. The development of China's Antimonopoly Law shows that EU has succeeded so far in establishing itself as the main reference point for China's competition regulation. The success can be mainly attributed to the EU‐China Competition Dialogue (Dialogue), a new initiative set up by EU and China in 2004. The paper reviews the internationalization of EU competition law and its characteristics. It then examines the Dialogue and how EU exported its competition law norms to one of the latest AML secondary legislations on Antimonopoly Pricing. It argues that the Dialogue's informal nature, EU's routinized technical assistance to Chinese competition authorities and its China‐oriented strategy in communication have been highly important in ensuring that the EU Competition Law becomes the main reference point for the AML. However, the paper argues that it is for the same reasons that EU faces weakness in controlling the reception of EU competition law norms by China. Based on this, the paper further illustrates that EU's understanding of competition law internationalization as reflected under the Dialogue has not undergone fundamental changes.     

The liability of website owners for defamation in Israel: A challenge yet to be solved?

From the end of the twentieth century to the present we have witnessed the effects of technology on the way we consume and distribute information. The print media, which in many ways was the natural product of the printing revolution, has given way to the electronic media with websites providing the new “town squares” in which the public discourse is held on political, economic and social issues among others. The Israeli legal system, like the legal systems in other countries, faces a variety of challenges and complex ethical and legal issues when required to regulate (often retrospectively) the manner and processes through which the discourse will be conducted in the virtual “town hall”. In essence, this article focuses on one of the many questions occupying the Israeli legal system and that is whether website owners should be liable in defamation for speech published by third parties on the Internet (through blogs, tweets on Twitter, posts on Facebook,¹ uploaded video clips on YouTube and the like) when no connection exists between the third party and the site owner apart from the fact that the third party has used the website as a platform to publish the offensive speech. The issue of the liability of the website owner has ramifications for the injured party's capacity to institute an action for defamation against the website owner, as often only the latter will be in a position to compensate the injured party (financially) for the offensive speech. The Israeli legal system, which in many ways furnishes a unique and interesting framework for examining the question posed above, as we explain in the body of the article, presents a fascinating example of how the Israeli legislature and the courts have dealt and continue to deal with claims filed against website owners for damage to reputation as a result of speech published by third parties. The article offers a comprehensive review of the status of the right to freedom of speech, anonymity and the right to reputation in Israel, the considerations for and against the imposition of liability on website owners and the latest case law on these questions.     

The Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014: A Litany of Fundamental Flaws?

This article argues that the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014 are fatally flawed notwithstanding the apparent rigour of the process which produced them. These Regulations were the product of considerable deliberation following a sensitively executed public inquiry yet, it is argued, they rely too heavily on the rhetoric of criminal law while failing to take into account the competing norms for compliance and the impact of NHS budget constraints. Further, they push the CQC towards a heavy‐handed deterrence approach to enforcement, which will increase hostility between regulatees and the inspectorate, and ultimately reduce the scope for developing the transparency about failures which is sorely needed in the NHS. This article challenges the contemporary wisdom that it is primarily knee‐jerk regulatory responses that suffer from fatal flaws of this nature.     

A critique of the Global Pact for the environment: a stillborn initiative or the foundation for <Emphasis Type="Italic">Lex Anthropocenae</Emphasis>?

In May 2018, the process which may ultimately lead to the negotiation of a legally binding Global Pact for the environment formally commenced under the auspices of the United Nations General Assembly. Expectations for the Pact are high, evidenced in particular by its multiple and overlapping objectives: to serve as a generic binding instrument of international environmental law (IEL) principles; to integrate, consolidate, unify and ultimately entrench many of the fragmented principles of IEL; and to constitute the first global environmental human rights instrument. In the wake of the impending intergovernmental process, the paper offers a thorough critique of the draft Pact in its present iteration. We do so with the aim of evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of the present draft Pact by interrogating: (a) its diplomatic and symbolic relevance and possible unique contribution at the policy level to global environmental law and governance, and (b) its potential at the operational level of IEL and global environmental governance, focusing on the extent to which the draft Pact accommodates both existing and more recent rules and principles for environmental protection. As the Pact’s primary ambition is to become a universally binding global treaty, it would be churlish not to recognise its potential for innovation, as well as the considerable opportunity that the negotiation of the Pact will have to generate broad-sweeping and positive impacts. However, our central thesis is that only if the Global Pact were to incorporate ambitious normative provisions to strengthen those public and private global governance efforts that aim to halt the deterioration of Earth system integrity, as well as to maintain and improve integrity, will it be able to offer a firm foundation of the type of Anthropocene Law, termed here as the Lex Anthropocenae, required to confront head-on the deep socio-ecological crisis of the Anthropocene.