Right to erasure

On 27 October 2022, the ECJ handed down a ruling on the scope of the right to erasure. In this new episode, research assistants Johannes Müller and Klaus Palenberg report on the decision that every controller must pass on this request to all other controllers. This applies not only to those to whom he has disclosed the data, but also to those from whom he previously received the data himself. In this context, a brief overview of the right of data subjects under Art. 17 GDPR as a whole is also given.

The Infobrief that goes with the episode can be found here (DFN-Infobrief Recht 01/2023 from page 9) and the full text of the ruling here.

Jansen and music copyright

On January 19, 2023, guest researcher Gretchen Jansen presented the research focus of her dissertation to her research colleagues at ITM in a short, informative lecture.

 

Her central topic is the rights of performing artists in the music industry. Starting from the economic and historical origins of the protection of artist performances via the Performers’ Protection Act, Gretchen Jansen explained the challenges faced by South African legislators in this area. These include, on the one hand, the regulation of appropriate remuneration for artists, distinguishing between the on-air playing of tracks and their consumption in the online sphere. Online streaming in particular raises questions about a fair distribution of revenues and user fees. In a next step, this will lead to an examination of the collecting societies acting as intermediaries and the structures prevailing there. Gretchen Jansen brings these research results together and poses the final question as to whether the existing regulations and structures need to be changed in favor of a fair treatment of performing artists that are less well known. During her stay at the ITM, Gretchen Jansen will focus on the protection of performing artists in Germany, collecting societies such as the GEMA, as well as on EU legislation such as Art. 18 of the DSM Directive.

Das Us

Sorry, this entry is only available in German.

Gretchen Jansen at the ITM

A warm welcome for Gretchen Jansen

The ITM is very pleased to announce that Ms Gretchen Jansen will be a visiting scholar at the Institute for the next three months. She is currently a lecturer and PhD student at the University of Stellenbosch (South Africa). She is also a member of the Anton Mostert Chair in Intellectual Property Law in South Africa. Her research and teaching interests include intellectual property law in the digital environment, copyright law and performers’ rights. Ms Jansen’s doctoral research examines the rights of performers, in particular the rights to music royalties in online streaming and radio plays. Ms Jansen is also the South African coordinator of the Stellenbosch Art Law Clinic, which was founded by Prof Hoeren in 2021.

During her visit to ITM, Ms Jansen would like to research aspects of copyright and artist protection in Germany and further develop the Stellenbosch Art Law Clinic project.

We look forward to the interesting exchange and wish Ms Jansen all the best for her time in Münster and at the ITM.

May examinees be monitored online or must they be monitored online?

In the context of the Corona pandemic, e-exams, which had previously only been widely used abroad, spilled over into Germany. This made it possible for students to take exams from home comfortably and without the risk of infection. However, in order to maintain the equality of opportunity under examination law, which is already constitutional, monitoring measures must also be carried out for digital examinations. How far these may go in the light of data protection law is discussed by research assistants Owen Mc Grath and Nicolas John in this episode.

 

The paper on this topic mentioned in the episode can be found here (€) (ZD 2021, 80) and the Infobrief on the legal implementation of the Länder mentioned can be found here (DFN-Infobrief Recht 10/2022, p. 6). The handout of the LDI NRW can be found here.

People of the Krummhörn Photographs by Thomas Hoeren at the ITM

A cultural history – told through photographs of the people who live there “The essence of all photography is documentary” – this is how the photographer August Sander (1876 – 1964) described the basic concern of documentary photography. In his epoch-making work “People of the 20th Century”, he documented people from various social classes and professions in 600 portraits. The Krummhörn also deserves such a photographed cultural history. The Krummhörn is an ancient cultural landscape. The specific character of this landscape becomes clear in the people living there, who combine their East Frisian heritage with Krummhörn-specific rites and roles. In the Krummhörn, for example, you will find VW masters as well as undertakers and captains, shipbuilders as well as lawyers and pastors. The Krummhörn in transition – this was to be captured photographically – in documentary form. The aim is to present each of the 19 villages through a representative selection of men and women, young and old. The Krummhörn – a landscape and its history in photos Only half the size of Bremen, the Krummhörn covers an area of 159 square kilometres and includes 19 villages around the main town of Pewsum. Approximately 13,000 Frisians live in the marshland northwest of Emden amid 600 km of canals and 1000 ha of lakes. The region lies at the point where the Ems flows into the North Sea and the North German Wadden Sea begins. The horn-like location explains the Low German term “Krummhörn”, the crooked horn of the Ems estuary. The Krummhörn and its “types” At the top of the Krummhörn hierarchy are traditionally the large farmers, who called themselves “chiefs” and lived, and in some cases still live, in “castles” or large farm complexes, so-called Gulfhöfen. These were opposed by a steadily growing class of farmhands and maidservants, who organised themselves with their own interest groups during the Weimar period. In the 18th century, the Prussians took over the Krummhörn and developed an efficient system of dyking the region. Since 1964, the Krummhörn has also been strongly influenced by the VW plant in Emden. The production site there was an obvious choice because of its proximity to the port of Emden and the high number of job seekers in the region.

 

Category
Exhibitions
Period
10.01.-17.02.2023, 12 h – 18 h

Series

Opening hours
open during building opening hours
Location
Institute for Information, Telecommunications and Media Law Leonardo-Campus 9 48149 Münster
Admission
free
Registration
not required
Organiser/
Contact

AI law: a new project

The ITM at the University of Münster (Germany) dares an unusual experiment. The ITM, the Institute for Information, Telecommunications and Media Law, is a research and teaching institution of the University of Münster in Germany with about 30 researchers led by Professor Dr Thomas Hoeren. Mr Hoeren became a Research Fellow at Tashkent State University of Law (TSUL) in the summer of 2022. Since then, he has been trying to combine questions on Uzbek internet law with European approaches.

Now he has asked his large student audience to develop thesis papers on the question of what a future Uzbek governance strategy for the field of artificial intelligence might look like. So the students will be looking at issues such as copyright and patent protection for algorithms, liability for AI systems, or incorporating ethical principles into the design of automated decision-making structures. In several lectures, professors from TSUL will deal with introductions to the Uzbek discussion. Mokhinur Bakhramova, Islambek Rustambekov and Said Gulyamov will report on new initiatives in Uzbekistan via Zoom on 16 and 23 January 2023; the corresponding Zoom dates are welcome to Uzbek young researchers. By the beginning of February, the Münster students will then write their papers, which will be reviewed by the ITM. They will then be included in a larger study comparing EU law and Uzbek law. Professor Hoeren will then take further action in this direction as part of his fellowship and will be present in person in Tashkent in the summer of 2023.

Interested parties are cordially invited to join the action. Enquiries to hoeren@uni-muenster.de

Gausling on EU AI law

On 19 December 2022, RAin Dr Tina Gausling gave a lecture on “EU and AI law” as part of the Information Law lecture. The aim of the lecture was to give the students an insight into the legal framework for artificial intelligence developed by the EU and to draw a connection to the GDPR.

Dr Gausling, who worked as a research assistant at the ITM and did her doctorate and now works in a large international law firm, began her lecture by giving an overview of the GDPR. She then presented the EU’s strategy on how to deal with data and AI in particular.

Following on from this, the speaker very clearly highlighted the three basic pillars that form the legal framework for dealing with data and AI in the EU (Data Governance Act, Data Act and AI Act). The requirements and problems applicable to the respective regulations were explained in a very practical manner. The AI Act, which is still in the legislative process, was a particular focus of the discussion.

Furthermore, Dr. Gausling brought together aspects of AI and the GDPR and illuminated how the GDPR already imposes certain requirements on the use of AI, but also in which areas the GDPR still has deficits with regard to the use of AI.

Finally, the speaker gave a brief overview of the liability framework for AI systems and how this will develop after the regulations that are still in the legislative process.

The ITM would like to thank Dr Gausling for this stimulating and highly topical lecture. The students were given a very interesting insight into the world of AI law.