Analysis of relationships between states and citizens has almost monopolized the Human Rights legal discourse. In my thesis I start from the position that Human Rights is a philosophical and historical victory of humankind, whose application cannot be limited to dictating norms in traditional forms of governance; Human Rights primarily define the human being as an individual, as a group, as a societal entity. Therefore, when we discuss Human Rights we do not pursue what governing states 'ought' or 'ought not' to do, but how human beings 'should' endure their lives in a dignified manner, how they should be treated independently of who their acting opponent might be. The Internet, on the other hand, has evolved through the years into an uncharted virtual structure of uncounted online operations and services run by private commercial actors. Within this setting, where the online application platform performs as a land parallel and the private commercial host as its de facto ruler, online identity is mirrored into service accounts. Hence the human being’s digital existence seems to be depending to a certain degree on the private initiative. Whilst exploring various relevant themes, the thesis revisits the issue of the application of Human Rights in private relationships through the lenses of online electronic communications. According to my conclusions, a simple projection of the state/citizen model onto ISPs/users relationships does not give sufficient ground for contesting Human Rights within that context. What we need is to deconstruct predominant dogmas in modern Human Rights theory and legislation and readjust our focus back on the human being and its universal manifestations. Publications (2007), "The 20 Questions Game: The Journey to Personhood", Masaryk University Journal of Law and Technology, Vol. 1, No. 1, pp. 155 - 185 (2005), “How to Derive an ‘Ought’ from a ‘Can not’: Virtual Laws, Artificial Societies and the Idea of Designing out Crime in Cyberspace” (with B. Schäfer), Proceedings of the Cyberspace 2004 Conference, Brno, Czech Republic (2004), “In Search of the Value of Online Electronic Personae: Commercial MMORPGs and the Terms of Participation in Virtual Communities”, Journal of Information Law and Technology, Issue 3, 2004, online at http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/law/elj/jilt/2004_3/gervassis/ (2004), “From Laws for Cyberspace to Cyber Laws (literally): Integration of Legal Norms into Internet Protocols & Law for Closed Digital Management Communities”, SCRIPT-ed, Vol. 1, Issue 2, 2004, pp. 307 – 318, online at http://www.law.ed.ac.uk/ahrb/script-ed/issue2/cyberlaw.asp
Presentations “Game Over: An Example of Equivocal State Legislation”, VI Computer Law World Conference, Edinburgh, September 2006 “Legal Facts and Fan Fiction: Intellectual Property Implications of Derivative Literature”, GikII Workshop, Edinburgh, September 2006 “The Unfortunate Greek Law 3037/02 and the Implications in the Computer Games Software Market”, Cyberspace 2005, Brno, Czech Republic, November 2005 “Cyber-Resistance: a Legal Perspective”, Stream Presentation with Dr. R. Polcak, Critical Legal Conference, Kent, September 2005 “Virtual Laws and Cyberlaw: How to Design out Crime in Cyberspace”, Cyberspace 2004, Brno, Czech Republic, October 2004 “Human Rights for Virtual Personae?: a Different Perspective over the Terms of Participation in Commercial Online Communities”, BILETA 2004, Durham, March 2004 |
