Course Description and Main Topics
The course explores the relationship between key concepts of legal informatics and the protection of rights, with the aim of understanding both the opportunities and risks of the digital sphere, as well as the legal instruments currently in force or under discussion. Case studies will also be analysed to deepen this perspective.
The main topics addressed during the course include:
i. Fundamental rights and the role of institutions (digital citizenship, access to the internet, and net neutrality); ii. Personality in the digital sphere: personal data protection, digital identity, and the right to be forgotten; iii. E-democracy: forms and challenges of digital participation (e-democracy and e-government; e-democracy and electronic voting); iv. The “right to the internet”: reasons and principles for democratising the network (the digital divide; critical digital education);
v. eHealth: legal and IT perspectives (artificial intelligence and algorithmic medicine; healthcare information systems and Electronic Health Records; the Electronic Health File; telemedicine and mHealth); vi. Cybersecurity (from computer security to cybersecurity: paradigms of information security; cyber incidents; directions and objectives of cybersecurity; cyber threats); vii. From copyright to copyleft; viii. Digital transformation in the world of work (remote work; the right to disconnect; remote work and the principle of voluntariness); ix. Public administration and digital rights (digital rights; digital administration; transparency, openness, and data protection; from “digital first” to digital exclusivity); x. Digital life and death: the electronic body and its legal protection (digital footprint; personal identity and digital identity; digital identity and self-representation; digital death; the life and death of the electronic body); xi. From electronic signatures to smart contracts (handwriting and handwritten signatures; identity verification of the signatory; proof of the date of signature; digital “documentality”; writing, electronic signatures, and digital signatures; smart contracts); xii. Forensic computing: legal and technical aspects of handling digital evidence; xiii. Artificial intelligence; xiv. Focus I: computer crimes and the phenomena of cyberstalking, cyberbullying, and revenge porn; xv. Focus II: online hate speech.

Th. Casadei – S. Pietropaoli, Diritto e tecnologie informatiche. Questioni di informatica giuridica, prospettive istituzionali e sfide sociali, Wolters Kluwer, Seconda edizione 2024