Computer law

Computer law or computer law is a set of principles and rules that regulate the legal effects of the relationship between law and computer science. This activity involves matters related to computer contracting, crimes committed through its use, labor relations to which it gives rise, disputes over the ownership of programs or data, etc.

Terminology

The term Computer Law (Rechtsinformatik) was coined by Dr. Wilhelm Steinmüller, an academic at the University of Regensburg in Germany, in the 1970s. However, it is not a univocal term, since a series of terms such as Telematic Law, Law of New Technologies, Law of the Information Society, Iuscibernetics, Technological Law, Cyberspace Law, Internet Law, etc. have also been searched. At present, the term Information and Communication Technology Law has gained strength in Latin America, even taking precedence over the use of Computer Law.

Emergence of computer law

The concepts of technology and the information society are necessary antecedents of computer law, with the purpose of regulating behavior in a technological field. Currently, computer law is not very specific in itself, but is dealt with by matters of criminal law, civil law and commercial law.

Since the appearance of computing as a phenomenon, it has been beneficial in different areas of science and culture, due to ICTs that produce information exchanges. However, the appearance of criminal acts through computing has led to the creation of this branch of law.

In criminal law, a challenge is faced in terms of the sanction and classification of crimes, since the crime is defined as a conduct that is sanctioned by the laws of social defense. However, due to its novelty, the law still does not provide for many illegal computer acts as crimes or the punishment for the same cause.

According to Dr Zelarayan Juri, Federico: this right originated in the Middle Ages with the invention of the knitting needle, the name comes from the needle which means straight, therefore right and computer comes from the points, the way in that we do them, in the way they are transmitted, which is information.

For Latin America, Dr. Julio Téllez Valdés became the father of Computer Law, marking a total conceptualization of it.

Computer Law within the other branches of law

Computer law has, like other branches of law, court rulings and reasoning from legal theorists. The sources of computer law affect the traditional branches of law:

In Public Law

• Right to universal access to the Internet
• International flow of computerized data
• Data protection
• Computer freedom (defense against possible attacks)
• Computer offences (to create an area of criminal law)

In private law

• Computer contracts (hardware, software)
• Legal protection of computer programs

What is still being debated today is whether this law is a new discipline or a series of dispersed rules that encompasses several disciplines.

Autonomy of Computer Law

Computer Law affects different disciplines within Law. This fact raises a theoretical debate on whether we are dealing with a new legal discipline or if, on the contrary, it is a sector of dispersed regulations belonging to different legal disciplines.

In order to speak of the autonomy of a branch of law, the existence of specific legislation (regulatory field), a particular study of the matter (teaching field), research and doctrines that deal with the matter (scientific field) and institutions are required. own that are not found in other areas of law (institutional field), with the purpose of giving a specific treatment of this certain knowledge.

A part of the authors defend that in Computer Law there is specific legislation based on laws, treaties and agreements, which protect the computer field with the purpose of control and lawful application of computer tools (regulatory field). It also has its own institutions that are not found in other areas of Law (institutional field) such as computer contracts, electronic documents, electronic commerce, computer crimes, digital signatures, habeas data, computer freedom, among others, which lead to the need for a particular study of the matter (teaching field), resulting in research, doctrines that deal with the matter (scientific field). It is, therefore, an autonomous law with its own institutions that is responsible for providing legal solutions to the problems raised by scientific progress in the field of its competence.

On the other hand, the position that annuls the autonomy of Computer Law is sustained from the point of view that computer activity is present in each legal branch, thus rejecting the integration of norms in an isolated body. It denies the autonomy of Computer Law by virtue of the fact that there is no clarity regarding its legal area of influence; that is, as Computer Law is related to other legal disciplines such as civil, criminal, labor, administrative law, etc., and it is through the normative spectrum of these the way in which behaviors and legal problems of technological impact can be included.. Finally, this current argues the lack of autonomy of Computer Law by virtue of its constant and necessary recurrence to the legal principles of another branch for the solution of specific cases.

Forms of linking legal science

• Computer law covers the legal sciences that are responsible for observing the behavior in the computer field that affects society; that is why it is necessary to properly implement and regulate them.
• Legal computing is the study and legal analysis that legal science must perform for its correct application, and this is defined as the set of techniques intended for logical treatment.
• Legal information exists to modernize the law according to the way technology advances.

Civil Society in Law and New Technologies in Latin America

• The Ibero-American Federation of Law and Information Associations (FIADI) is one of the pioneer NGOs in the region in the promotion, study and development of Legal Information and Information Law and was founded in 1984 on the occasion of the First Ibero-American Congress of Legal Information, held in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.

• The Latin American Institute of High Technology, Computers and Law (ILATID), an organization that has been bringing together law professionals in Latin America and the Caribbean since 1984, who cooperate in research and development projects related to legal aspects of Information and Communications Technologies, is almost co-hosted with the previous one.

• Alfa-Redi, established in 1998 is a civil society organization, based in Latin America, dedicated research, discussion, formulation of proposals and action on issues of Information Society Policy. It is also part of the work of Alfa-Redi the training and training in these topics.

• The Mexican Academy of Information Law, A.C. (AMDI), is the first Civil Association in Mexico made up of lawyers, computers and academics interested in computer law. It is the first agency in Mexico dedicated to the study, promotion and dissemination of legal aspects related to the Internet, electronic commerce and information and communication technologies. It was constituted in 2001 in Monterrey, Nuevo León. It currently has its base in Mexico City.

• The Multidisciplinary Academy of Law and Technology (AMDETIC) Archived on 2 October 2016 at Wayback Machine., a founding member of the FIADI and established in 1984 under the name of the Multidisciplinary Academy of Law and Computer Science, was consolidated as a civil association in 2015. It is based in Mexico and within its objectives is to contribute to the construction, design, implementation and monitoring of public policies on information and communication technologies.

• La Red Iberoamericana ElDerechoInformático.com (http://www.elderechoinformatico.com) Born in 2009, based in Argentina, it generates an Ibero-American Network of Correspondents that seeks to spread the study and be a center of information of the topic and related. It publishes a Free Digital Magazine that is published 3/4 times per year, and dictates a postgraduate degree in computer law, under the Abog Directorate. Guillermo M. Zamora, certified by the Universidad Nacional de la Patagonia San Juan Bosco of the Argentine Republic from 2010 to June 2015 and from July 2015 to the Universidad Nacional de Río Negro de la República Argentina. It has correspondents in Brazil, Mexico, Ecuador, Chile, Uruguay, Colombia, Nicaragua, Guatemala and Spain. -

Periodics

Regular publications, in order of appearance:

• The Ibero-American Journal of Law and Information published by FIADI since 1992
• The Revista Derecho y Nuevas Tecnologías, founded in February 1999 by Pablo A. Palazzi, and published by Editorial ADHOC
• The journal Law and Technology, founded in 2002 by Mariliana Rico Carrillo (Catholic University of the Táchira, Venezuela)
• The Chilean Journal of Information Law, founded in 2002 by Carlos Reusser Monsálvez (Universidad de Chile, Chile)
• The Revista de Derecho Comunicaciones y Nuevas Tecnologías founded in 2005 by Nelson Remolina Angarita (Universidad de los Andes, Colombia).
• La Revista Digital ElDerechoInformatico.com - Directed by the Abog. Guillermo M. Zamora - (http://issuu.com/elderechoinformatico.com) - Argentina

Regular broadcasts

Regular broadcasts, in order of appearance:

• The Digital Lawyer Television Program, created in 2015 by Joel A. Gómez Treviño (Academia Mexicana de Derecho Informático, A.C. (AMDI), Mexico).

Graduate and Postgraduate Programs

Regarding formal studies of the discipline in Ibero-America, the pioneer was the missing master's degree in Computer Science and Law (1994-2004) from the Complutense University of Madrid, led by Emilio Suñe Llinás.

For more than 10 years, the University of Paris-Sud with the Institute of Space and Telecommunications Law (IDEST) have offered a Master 2 in Space Activities and Telecommunications Law. This master's degree is supported by numerous companies in the telecommunications and space sector.

Later, in 2007, the University of Cuenca (Ecuador) began a Master's Degree in Computer Law with a mention in Electronic Commerce and was followed by the University of the Americas-UDLA (Ecuador) and CETID with the University of Cuenca (Ecuador). with a Master's Degree in Computer Law, mention in Electronic Commerce.

In Mexico, the pioneer postgraduate course in this matter is that of INFOTEC, called the Master's Degree in Information and Communication Technologies Law (MDTIC), created with the support of the consulting group of Lex Informática Abogados, S.C. and the Legal Research Institute of the UNAM. The Universidad Panamericana Campus Aguascalientes has a similar program, the Master's Degree in Industrial Property Law, Copyright and New Technologies.

The Diploma in Information and Communication Technology Law that is taught entirely online with the option of obtaining the "Digital Lawyer" is the one offered since 2018 by the Mexican Academy of Computer Law, A.C. (AMDI).

The Advanced Master of Laws (LL.M.) in Information & Communications Technology Law from the Catholic University of Louvain (Belgium), the Master's Degree in Law of New Technologies from the Pablo de Olavide University, in Seville (Spain), the Master in Telecommunications Law and Information Technology from the Carlos III University of Madrid (Spain), the Master in Diritto delle Nuove Tecnologie e Informática Giuridica from the University of Bologna (Italy), the Master of Laws in Information and Communication Technology Law from the University of Oslo (Norway), the Master of Law and IT from Stockholm University (Sweden), among others.

As postgraduate and/or specialization programs, the Pontificia Universidad Católica Argentina Santa María de los Buenos Aires (UCA) pioneered in 1997 a Specialization in High Technology Law; Since 2003, the University of Chile has offered a Master's and Diplomas in Information Technology and Telecommunications Law and the Externado de Colombia University, in association with the Complutense University of Madrid, has offered since 2007 a specialization and Master's program in Law Computer Science and New Technologies since 2015.

Situations in which computer law is involved

For some examples of situations in which computer law is used are:

• The disposition of an asset, without the consent of the owner of the asset, carried out through computer equipment.
• The seizure of information contained in electronic records.
• Destruction of information

Regulation

Peru

In Peru, computer law is in full development, currently as a result of the use of ICT and the application of Electronic Government by public organizations, it has led many professionals to be interested in specializing in this branch of law. Right.

Likewise, the classification of computer crimes has recently been included in the Peruvian Penal Code.

Also, within the organic structure of the Peruvian State, there is the Digital Government Secretariat (SeGDi) which is in charge of: formulating and proposing national and sectoral policies, national plans, norms, guidelines and strategies in Information Technology and Electronic Government. Likewise, it is the governing body of the National Information System and provides technical assistance in the implementation of technological innovation processes for the modernization of the State in coordination with the Ministry of Public Management.

Fields of study

• Access to information
• Access to ICT
• Administration of Justice and New Technologies.
• Banking and digital money
• Censorship on the Internet and Freedom of Expression online
• Clearly
• Electronic commerce
• Computer contracts
• Public purchases through the use of NTICs
• E-mail
• Consumer Defense
• Computer offences
• Right in the Digital Era
• Telecommunications law
• Labour and Computer Law. Telework.
• Electronic Document, Data Messages, EDI and Electronic Billing
• Online Editorials of Law.
• E-government
• e-Learning of Law and New Technologies
• Electronic signature
• Habeas data
• Taxes and the Internet
• Legal Information
• Legal Information
• Manifestation of Will by Electronic Media
• Cautionary measures on computer equipment
• Domain and IP Address Names
• Bibliographic and Events Notes
• Electronic Media Notification
• Privacy
• Data protection
• Law Professionals in the Digital Era
• Intellectual Property and Industrial Property and Internet
• Programs: Legal Software. Databases and Buffet Management
• Protection of Personal Data
• Advertising and Internet
• Relationship between Law and Information
• Computer security
• Civil society and the Internet
• Information Society
• Free software
• Telephone and Voice over IP
• Telematics
• Wireless Application Protocol (WAP)