Remembering and Forgetting in the Digital Age

274 Pages·2018·3.231 MB·English

by  Florent Thouvenin, Herbert Burkert, Peter Hettich, Urs Gasser

Law, Governance and Technology Series 38
Florent Thouvenin · Peter Hettich 
Herbert Burkert · Urs Gasser
Remembering
and Forgetting
in the Digital Age
Law, Governance and Technology Series
Volume 38
Serieseditors
PompeuCasanovas,Barcelona,Spain
GiovanniSartor,Florence,Italy
The Law-Governance and Technology Series is intended to attract manuscripts
arising from an interdisciplinary approach in law, artificial intelligence and infor-
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applicationsforlawyersdevelopingaunifyingtechno-legalperspective.Theseries
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willleadtoinnovativeresearchchartingthecoursefornewinterdisciplinarydevel-
opments in law, legal theory, and law and society research as well as in computer
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scripts for this series may be mainly located in the fields of the Internet law (data
protection,intellectual property, Internetrights, etc.), Computational models ofthe
legal contents and legal reasoning, Legal Information Retrieval, Electronic Data
Discovery, CollaborativeTools (e.g. Online Dispute Resolution platforms), Meta-
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tions(Multi-AgentSystemsandArtificialSocieties).
Moreinformationaboutthisseriesathttp://www.springer.com/series/8808
(cid:129) (cid:129)
Florent Thouvenin Peter Hettich
(cid:129)
Herbert Burkert Urs Gasser
Remembering and Forgetting
in the Digital Age
And with Individual Contributions from
Viktor Mayer-Schönberger, Christine Abbt, Nikos Askitas,
Mark Schelker, Christine Benesch, Matthias Klemm,
Melinda Sebastian & Wesley Shumar, Johannes Ullrich,
Christoph Graf, and Domenico Salvati
FlorentThouvenin PeterHettich
UniversityofZurich UniversityofSt.Gallen
Zurich,Switzerland St.Gallen,Switzerland
HerbertBurkert UrsGasser
UniversityofSt.Gallen BerkmanKleinCenterforInternet&Society
St.Gallen,Switzerland HarvardUniversity
Cambridge,MA,USA
ISSN2352-1902 ISSN2352-1910 (electronic)
Law,GovernanceandTechnologySeries
ISBN978-3-319-90229-6 ISBN978-3-319-90230-2 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-90230-2
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Preface
The following volume is the result of an interdisciplinary research project that has
beencarriedoutjointlybytheResearchCenterforInformationLaw(FIR-HSG)at
the University of St. Gallen, the Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society at
HarvardUniversity, and the Center for Information Technology, Society, and Law
(ITSL)attheUniversityofZurich.Thisextraordinaryendeavor,culminatinginthe
present volume, was made possible by a grant from the Swiss National Science
Foundation.Wegraciouslyacknowledgetheirsupport.
Theprojectunderlyingthisvolumeconsistedessentiallyoffourstages.First,two
doctoral students carried out a comprehensive analysis of the Swiss legal system.
Thisanalysispermittedtheidentificationoftheregulatoryconceptsthatarecurrently
appliedinregulatingrememberingandforgetting.Second,thesenormativeconcepts
werepresentedataninitialinternationalandinterdisciplinaryworkshopthatbrought
together researchers from different fields such as computer science, mathematics,
psychology, philosophy, history, sociology, anthropology, communications, eco-
nomics, ethics, and law. At this workshop, we primarily discussed individual and
collectivefunctionsandmechanismsofrememberingandforgetting.Inaddition,we
soughttoanalyzetheimpactofinformationtechnologyonindividualandcollective
memory and the respective changes that have emerged in society. Third, the very
richanddiverseinsightsfromtheworkshopwereassessedbytheresearchteam.Ata
later stage, and with these insights in mind, each member of the research team
draftedanindividualanalyticalpaperinwhichheorsheproposedpossiblereactions
fromthelegalsystemtothechallengesidentifiedatthefirstworkshop.Fourth,some
ofthepreliminaryfindingsthathadbeenproposedintheanalyticalpapersservedas
a starting point for a second interdisciplinary workshop that—again—brought
together researchers from diverse fields. At this second workshop, we chiefly
focused on the question of what policy-makers must take into account when
regulating remembering and forgetting. In addition, we strove to identify the most
important pressure points, i.e., the areas where an intervention by the legislature is
mostneeded.Lastbutnotleast,wediscussedwhichinterventionmechanismswere
availablewithrespecttoeachofthenormativeconceptsthathadbeenidentifiedand
v
vi Preface
ifadditionalmechanismsmightbeneeded.Theultimategoaloftheresearchproject
was to create a design guide that would provide guidelines on how to best handle
remembering and forgetting of (personally identifiable) information in a legal
framework. On the basis of our analyses and insights gained from the two work-
shops, an initial version of a design guide was presented in the online journal
Information Research. The final version appears here as the conclusion to this
volume.
Numerous individuals contributed to the development and realization of this
volume, including the attendees of the two expert workshops mentioned above. In
addition to the interdisciplinary perspectives, the following authors contributed to
the production of this volume: The Introduction was provided by Urs Gasser and
Herbert Burkert. The chapter concerning legal framework was penned by Florent
Thouvenin, Patrick Eggimann, and Rehana Harasgama. Florent Thouvenin, Peter
Hettich, Barbara Kaiser, Nicole Ritter, Katharina Dyck, and Nicola Orlando pro-
vided the chapter on technological developments, with the part on mobile internet
drawingfromRolfAufderMauerandThomasSteiner’sinsightfulgroundwork.The
design guide is a collaborative production between Florent Thouvenin, Herbert
Burkert,PeterHettich,andRehanaHarasgama.Inadditiontoactingascopyeditor
fortheentirevolume,JamesM.Thurmanalsoprovidedsubstantialcontributionsto
the chapters on technological developments and legal lramework. Damian George
acted as copy editor and produced the introduction to the interdisciplinary
perspectives.
All contributors have our heartfelt gratitude for their efforts in making this
publication possible. Unless indicated otherwise, literature and case law were con-
sidereduntilendof2016.
Zurich,Switzerland FlorentThouvenin
St.Gallen,Switzerland PeterHettich
Cologne,Germany HerbertBurkert
Cambridge,MA,USA UrsGasser
2018
Content Overview
PartI Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
PartII NormativeConceptsofInformationManagement. . . . . . . . . . 15
PartIII TechnologicalDevelopments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
PartIV InterdisciplinaryPerspectives. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
1 Remembering(to)Delete:ForgettingBeyondInformational
Privacy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
ViktorMayer-Schönberger
2 Forgetting:InaDigitalGlasshouse. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
ChristineAbbt
3 OntheInterplayBetweenForgettingandRemembering. . . . . . . . . . . 135
NikosAskitas
4 OntheEconomicsofRememberingandForgetting
intheDigitalAge. . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . 148
MarkSchelker
5 APoliticalEconomicAnalysisofTransparencyinaDigitalWorld. . . . 161
ChristineBenesch
6 DigitalizationandSocialIdentityFormation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
MatthiasKlemm
7 TheDigitalAgeandtheSocialImaginary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
MelindaSebastianandWesleyShumar
8 TheRoleofTemporalConstrualinOnlinePrivacyBehaviors. . . . . . . 199
JohannesUllrich
vii
viii ContentOverview
9 RememberingPrevailsOverForgetting:ArchivingofPersonal
DataintheAnalogandintheDigitalAge. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208
ChristophGraf
10 Longevity:RememberingandForgettingPersonalMemories. . . . . . . 216
DomenicoSalvati
PartV DesignGuide. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237
Contents
PartI Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1Overview,Purpose,andScope. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
2Structure,Contents,andKeyIssues. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
3FutureDirections. . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 12
PartII NormativeConceptsofInformationManagement. . . . . . . . . . 15
1Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
2OverarchingProvisionsofSwissLaw. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
2.1TheSwissFederalActonDataProtection(FADP). . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
2.2TheFederalActonFreedomofInformation
intheAdministration. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
2.3TheFederalActonArchiving. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
3Preservation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
3.1Purpose. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
3.1.1GeneralRemarks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
3.1.2IllustrationBasedonSelectedExamples. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
3.2Design. .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
3.2.1GeneralRemarks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
3.2.2IllustrationBasedonSelectedExamples. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
4Deletion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
4.1Purpose. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
4.1.1GeneralRemarks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
4.1.2IllustrationBasedonSelectedExamples. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
4.2Design. .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
4.2.1GeneralRemarks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
4.2.2IllustrationBasedonSelectedExamples. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
ix