The legal duty of IAPs to preserve traffic data: a dream or a nightmare?

This paper describes, from the perspective of a defence attorney, the role and the limitations of IAP involvement in digital evidence collection in Italy.     

多民族共存与民族歧视——当代东南亚族际关系的两个侧面

互为依存的经济生活使各民族共生共荣,历史文化的差异又使民族歧视普遍存在,当代东南亚族际关系的两面性和复杂性与政治、经济发展的不平衡相互交织,共同作用于战后本地区的历史进程,并使东南亚成为当今世界族际关系变幻莫测的地区之一.     

Ballistic fingerprinting databases

This article discusses a number of questions regarding the setting up of ballistic fingerprinting databases, consisting of ammunition components fired by all the firearms held in legal possession. These questions can be classified into three categories--the efficiency of the database, forensic issues, and practical issues to be dealt with. The current New York State legislation is used as an illustration of the choices to be made when setting up a ballistic fingerprinting database. Three important arguments are formulated against the installation of a ballistic fingerprinting database.     

Information Aggregation and Optimal Structure of the Executive

We model two aspects of executives in parliamentary democracies: Decision‐making authority is assigned to individuals, and private information is aggregated through communication. When information is relevant to all policies and communication is private, all decisions should be centralized to a single politician. A government that holds cabinet meetings, where information is made available to all decision makers, outperforms one where communication is private: A multimember cabinet can be optimal; it need not be single peaked around the most moderate politician or ideologically connected. Centralization is nonmonotonic in the degree of ideological divergence. In a large cabinet, all power should be given to the most moderate politician. Even when uncertainty is policy specific and a single politician is informed on each policy, power should never be fully decentralized. Our model provides a justification for centralized authority and cabinet meetings that enhance the quality of policy.     

Self‐Determination in the Constitutional Future of the EU

This article analyses three prominent proposals for the functional and political transformation of the EU from a constitutional perspective. It argues that existing EU reform proposals, to varying degrees, entrench rather than reverse the challenges to individual and political self‐determination brought about by the EU's response to its Euro crisis. As the article will conclude, challenging ‘authoritarian liberalism' in an EU context may require the development of a constitutional structure for the Union able to contest, rather than set in stone, the EU's existing economic and political goals.     

Robotic prostheses as products enhancing the rights of people with disabilities. Reconsidering the structure of liability rules

The term ‘robot’ refers to a wide variety of devices, serving very different purposes. The case of robotic prostheses is considered here. After defining such devices, and briefly describing the technical peculiarities that characterize their functioning and distinguish them from traditional implants, their relevance with respect to the fundamental rights of people with disabilities is considered. Pursuant to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, a claim is made that favouring the development of said applications may be required to subscribing states. In light of such considerations, the liability regime – namely that emerging from the Defective Product Directive – is analysed, in the attempt to determine – with a prospective analysis – the impact that said rules are likely to have on their development. The technology-chilling effect and the anticipated extremely complex evidentiary burden the user would have to face in order to obtain compensation lead us to conclude that legal reform is advisable. Some alternatives are considered, and in particular that of the development of a – partially – state-funded no-fault plan, intended to allow more ex ante certainty for producers and researchers (favouring the development of said devices), and prompt and adequate compensation to the victim in case an accident occurs.