Law & Privacy International Conference

March 14, 2021

21st April 2021 

Online congress via BBC

ASCL Members interested in participating are welcome to send a title and a short abstract to the following email address: mlkubica@uloyola.es as soon as possible, but no later than 1st of April. Abstracts out of deadline will be considered if the extension of the program allows it.  

Scientific director                                 Luz M. Martínes Velencoso (luz.martines@uv.es)

Technical secretary                               Marina Sancho López (marina.sancho@uv.es)

Scientific Committee                Javier Plaza Penadés, Maria Kubica, Jakub Szczerbowski

The aim of this International Congress is, in the realm of the R&D and Innovation Project CONTRACTS, TRANSPARENCY AND PROTECTION OF DATA IN THE DIGITAL MARKET (Ref. RTI2018-097354-B-I00) led by the Professors of the UV Javier Plaza Penadés and Luz M. Martínez Velencoso, to contribute to the outreach of the results of research regarding the challenges that technological advancement poses in the protection of people’s privacy.

For this purpose, various thematic blocks are established:

A) Privacy&Biotechnology

Biotechnology is a relatively new field that has great potential for boosting medical progress that can generate great advances in so-called personalized medicine. The principal aim is to allow that patients receive the treatments most in line with their specific conditions, taking into account their genetics and other medical characteristics. 

For the advancement of these therapies, research is carried out which systematically collects genetic data so that researchers can assess, for example, whether different responses to a medicine can be explained by genetic factors. 

The European Data Protection Regulation defines genetic data as “data relating to the inherited or acquired genetic characteristics of a natural person which give unique information about the physiology or the health of that natural person and which result, in particular, from an analysis of a biological sample from the natural person in question” (art.4.13). These are highly sensitive data that have a high level of protection. In order to resolve the conflict of interest that arises between the necessary scientific advancement, on the one hand, and the protection of privacy, on the other hand, the law provides for instruments of anonymization and “pseudonymisation” of data with certain guarantees.

B) Privacy&Robotics

In the realm of robotics, it is necessary to establish rules with the aim, among others, of protecting people against possible privacy violations that may arise due to the processing of personal data by so-called artificial intelligence. Thus, for example, the “European Parliament resolution of 16 February 2017 with recommendations to the Commission on Civil Law Rules on Robotics (2015/2103(INL))” states as one of the ethical principles the necessary protection of the right to privacy. Researchers and designers must ensure that private information will be kept secure and will only be used appropriately. Artificial Intelligence undoubtedly poses challenges for the protection of personal data as a technology based on predictive algorithms that, for its operation, requires huge amounts of personal data which are screened by data mining systems, and whose results can lead to certain biases or discriminations.

C) Privacy&Technology

The European Personal Data Protection Regulation certainly means a paradigm shift in the security and privacy of personal data. However, it is based on centralized digital data storage and transmission models. Having this in mind, Blockchain’s new decentralized paradigm presents new challenges that must be solved by the common framework of European data protection regulation.

Taking into account a number of factors, technology may itself be a limitation on the effective fulfilment of certain rights. Additionally, we must not disregard its constant evolutionary nature, which may result in a fleetingness in the effectiveness of the legal measures taken. This seems to be the case of the Blockchain technology. Based on a distributed and encrypted database, built on data chains designed to circumvent its modification, its content is visible to everybody. Nowadays, it can be affirmed the Blockchain’s application has spread into financial services sector, giving rise to use of Bitcoins, and expanded into others, mainly through smart contracts, such as telecommunications or health industry. This can cause, in certain cases, problems with its compatibility with data protection regulations, as the data chains that make up that technology cannot be modified, deleted, or reconstructed.

Online congress via BBC

9:00	[Congress opening]Javier Plaza Penadés, Data Protection Officer of the UV, Civil Law Professor
9:20	[Inaugural Conference]Wojciech Wiewiórowski, European Data Protection Supervisor

10:00-14:00	[Panel: Protection of Privacy in Biotechnology]
	Pedro Jesús Pérez Zafrilla, President of the Ethics Commitee UV“Strengthening of the Committee of Ethics in new data protection regulations”Federico de Montalvo, presidente del Comité de Bioética de España“Secondary use of health data in the context of Big Data: is the Helsinki paradigm still in force?”Marta Pérez Rando, Harvard/UV“Data protection in biomedical research: theoretical and practical differences between the US and Spain”Cristina Gil Membrado, UIB“The remote medical act: legal challenges of telemedicine”Isabel de la Iglesia Monje, UCM“Right to privacy, data protection in cases of COVID patients”Ana I. Herrán Ortiz, Universidad de Deusto“Personal data, medical diagnosis and health management: Who controls the algorithm?”Maria Elena Cobas Cobiella, UV“Health research and personal data protection”Javier Cagigas Benlloch, Tax & Legal Director Igenomix“Whole Exome Sequencing and the problems arising from the business models ’23 and me’”Ana Ferrer Albero, Ph.D., International Programs, Health Research Institute INCLIVA“Our experience in international research projects: BigMedilytics and Bodypass”Maciej Czepulonis, Ph.D candidate, University of Lodz“Privacy or safety? The dilemma of contact tracing apps in the era of COVID-19”Benjamín Arroquia, VIU“Big data, open data and privacy for the fight against Covid19 ¿do we have adequate data?”
[Moderator]	[Luz M. Martínez Velencoso. Civil Law Professor UV]

10:00-13:30	[Panel: Artificial Intelligence, Robotics and Privacy]
	Francisco Lledó Yagüez, Universidad de Deusto“About the wrong robotic law”Teresa Rodríguez de las Heras, UC3M“AI: the working experts groups of the European Commission” Juan Vicente Oltra, UPV“Privacy as the axis of professional ethics in emerging technologies”
	Francisca Ramón Fernández, UPV“The New Challenges of Artificial Intelligence: Ethics and Responsibility”Maria Kubica, Universidad Loyola Andalucía“Privacy protection in AI ruled world”María Luisa Atienza, UV“Damages caused to privacy by artificial intelligence systems”Raquel Guillén Catalán, UV”Article 82 of the GDPR: possible paradigm of European compensation law?”Albert Ruda, UdG“Damage in the surveillance capitalism”Kamil Szpyt, Ph.D, Andrzej Frycz Modrzewski Krakow University  “Watch out, because your sex-robot might cheat on you with… its producer. The right to privacy and processing of personal data by sex toys”
[Moderator]	[Marina Sancho López. Civil Law Professor UV]

10:00 – 13:00	[Panel: Legal implications of Blockchain Technology]
	Maria Del Sagrario Navarro Lerida , UCLM”Blockchain, supply chain and privacy”Alfredo Muñoz García, UCM“Blockchain, payment privacy and digital euro project”Carmen Jerez Delgado, UAM, Coordinator of ELI’s Spanish Hub“Compensation for damage to privacy. Special reference to blockchain”
	Christiana Fontoulakis, Fribourg University “Privacy and digital contracts”Carmen Muñoz García, UCM“Providing Personal Data: Scope of Consideration in the Use of Artificial Intelligence”
[Moderator]	[Jakub Szczerbowski. Law Professor. University of Lodz]

10.00: 13.00                                              [Panel: General Data Protection Implications]

Javier Plaza Penadés, UV

“Transparencia en Internet y Big Data: el Nuevo marco legal europeo”

Marek Salamonowicz, University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn 

“The open access to research data and the right to privacy as its restriction. The perspective of public universities’ policy”

Rossana Ducato, University of Aberdeen

“EdTech: current data protection challenges and the    future of (postpandemic) university”

Florian Möslein and Clara Beise, Marburg University

“Data sovereignty and private law”