Greening the security council: climate change as an emerging “threat to international peace and security”

Climate change is a security problem that requires global solutions. Despite some important recent advances, current international responses to climate change are inadequate. This paper assesses whether the United Nations Security Council possesses sufficient legal authority to compel states to address the causes and consequences of climate change. While not advocating the immediate adoption of coercive measures, this paper initiates discussion of this issue, with the goal of developing an institutional framework within which to respond to this emerging threat, if necessary. The paper begins with a brief overview of the clear links between climate change and security, and the inadequacy to date of international remedial efforts. This is followed by a detailed analysis of Security Council legal authority, in particular the UN Charter, including a discussion of its evolving invocation in the context of non-traditional threats. Applying this legal framework to the specific issue of climate change demonstrates the substantial authority of the Security Council to take binding decisions relating to this subject, and its wide range of available enforcement measures, recognizing that political will to exercise and support this authority is required for any successful Security Council efforts to address climate change. The paper concludes that the Security Council has the legal authority to address the causes and consequences of climate change, and that its recent counter-terrorism and non-proliferation measures provide an illustrative institutional framework within which to address this emerging ‘threat to international peace and security’.

民族地区引进外资的投资环境分析

促进民族地区经济发展的一个重要渠道是大量吸收和引进外资 ,但长期以来民族地区投资软、硬环境方面存在的一系列不利因素制约了引资的步伐和力度。通过对民族地区利用外资的状况及制约因素的分析 ,提出从加强基础设施建设、改善引资的法治环境、规范政府行为等措施着手 ,营造有利于民族地区引进外资的投资环境。     

Pricing privacy – the right to know the value of your personal data

The commodification of digital identities is an emerging reality in the data-driven economy. Personal data of individuals represent monetary value in the data-driven economy and are often considered a counter performance for “free” digital services or for discounts for online products and services. Furthermore, customer data and profiling algorithms are already considered a business asset and protected through trade secrets. At the same time, individuals do not seem to be fully aware of the monetary value of their personal data and tend to underestimate their economic power within the data-driven economy and to passively succumb to the propertization of their digital identity. An effort that can increase awareness of consumers/users on their own personal information could be making them aware of the monetary value of their personal data. In other words, if individuals are shown the “price” of their personal data, they can acquire higher awareness about their power in the digital market and thus be effectively empowered for the protection of their information privacy. This paper analyzes whether consumers/users should have a right to know the value of their personal data. After analyzing how EU legislation is already developing in the direction of propertization and monetization of personal data, different models for quantifying the value of personal data are investigated. These models are discussed, not to determine the actual prices of personal data, but to show that the monetary value of personal data can be quantified, a conditio-sine-qua-non for the right to know the value of your personal data. Next, active choice models, in which users are offered the option to pay for online services, either with their personal data or with money, are discussed. It is concluded, however, that these models are incompatible with EU data protection law. Finally, practical, moral and cognitive problems of pricing privacy are discussed as an introduction to further research. We conclude that such research is needed to see to which extent these problems can be solved or mitigated. Only then, it can be determined whether the benefits of introducing a right to know the value of your personal data outweigh the problems and hurdles related to it.     

Impact of disruptive technologies on sourcing and outsourcing transactions

The sourcing and outsourcing markets are being challenged by the simultaneous impacts of a number of new technologies and delivery mechanisms; this article addresses the impacts being felt by the market participants and the contractual structures they seek to put in place as a result.     

Digital identity – From emergent legal concept to new reality

Over the past decade, digital identity has gone from a largely unrecognized emergent legal concept to something that is now well known, but still not fully understood. Most individuals now know that they have a digital identity but its legal nature, its transactional functions, and its implications now and for the future, are not generally well understood.This article tracks the emergence of digital identity from the time it was recognized as a new legal and commercial concept to the present time; and outlines its impact and significance for individuals, governments, the private sector and even what is means to be a nation and a citizen in the digital era. The author recounts her experience in recognizing the implications of digital identity in 2006 to its current importance and the implications of future evolutions including an international digital identity, the groundwork for which is being laid now.     

Digital traces and physical activities: opportunities,challenges and pitfalls

The strong integration of consumer electronics in everyday life offers many new investigative opportunities. In particular, digital traces from smartphones, smartwatches and activity trackers can now increasingly be used to infer information about actions performed by their users in the physical world that might not be obtainable from any other types of forensic evidence.While potentially very valuable from an investigative perspective, making forensically justifiable statements about such traces can sometimes be more difficult than expected. Requirements for this have not yet received much attention in the digital forensic literature. To help filling this gap, we describe the principles we use in determining the evidential value of such traces, which emphasize the need for experimental verification. For such research, aimed at determining the evidential value of these traces, we coin the term data2activity.In this paper, we devote attention to the potential and limitations of data2activity traces, focusing on challenges and giving two examples to illustrate potential pitfalls in interpreting data. Finally, future research directions into data2activity traces are indicated that, in our opinion, should be given attention. These include development of future-proof data acquisition and storage methodology, enabling division-of-effort and sharing of information, as well as development of labeling methodology for free-living experiments.     

The use of COVID-19 contact tracing app data as evidence of a crime

This commentary draws attention to the introduction of data collected by COVID-19 tracing apps as evidence in criminal proceedings and the novel considerations this evidence presents for criminal justice agents and digital forensics professionals.     

Examining the transfer of male DNA onto female underwear in simulated non sexual social interaction versus digital penetration to assist in the evaluation of results in casework scenarios

Experiments have been carried out by the UK and Ireland Association of Forensic Science Providers Body Fluid Forum (AFSP BFF) to determine the levels of male DNA, detected during Y-STR analysis, that may be expected on female underwear from non-sexual social interaction and digital penetration, versus non-sexual social interaction only. The data obtained strongly supports the existing assumptions made: whilst low levels of DNA may be inadvertently transferred to the inside surface of a female’s underwear during social interaction with a male, there is a low expectation of detecting a matching Y-STR profile to that male, which is suitable for statistical evaluation, unless he is a co-habitant of that female.