16 May 2022 – conversation
The event featured as many as 11 speakers from different countries. Among the speakers were Assist. Aljoša Polajžar from the University of Maribor, Tomasz Bojanowski, Agata Wróbel, M. Sc. Bartłomiej Oręziak and M. Sc. Klaudia Łuniewska from the University of Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski in Warsaw, M. Sc. Matjaž Drev from the Faculty of information studies in Novo Mesto, JUDr. Ing. Dominika Moravcová and JUDr. Edita Filadelfiová from the Pan-European University and Igor Popovic from the University of Banja Luka.
Two members of the Scientific Committee also gave their talk: Assis Prof Dr. Matija Damjan from the University of Ljubljana and Ass Prof. Dr. David Sehnálek from the Univeristy of Masaryk.
In the Scientific Committee sat next to them also Prof. Dr. Dusan Popovic from the University of Belgrade, Prof. Dr. hab. András Koltay from the National University of Public Service,
Prof. Zoltan J. Toth from the Karoli Gaspar University, Prof. Aleksandra Syryt and Prof. Marcin Wielec from the University of Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski in Warsaw and JUDr. PhDr. Lilla Garayova, PhD from the Pan-European Univeristy.
The main aim of this event was to enable young researchers to present their research results. Privacy is an important element of individual autonomy, as well as essential for individuals to lead full and satisfying lives in the 21st century. Protecting one’s privacy can present challenges when the planes of rights and freedoms and state policies designed to invade privacy to achieve collective goals collide. Developing an acceptable form of the right to privacy thus becomes a challenge today, which was the theme of the Conference.
The event focused on the issue of the right to privacy in a very broad sense. Among other topics discussed at the conference was privacy at the workplace (employee privacy). Due to the possibility that a working computer, internet, e-mail, etc. are used for private purposes, the employer has the interest to monitor the employee’s use of the ICT equipment. The problem is to determine the legal limits of admissible workplace monitoring.
There was also the issue of so-called investigative operations during the event. The issue of investigative operations has been the subject of jurisprudence of the Polish Constitutional Tribunal in the context of the right to privacy. The issue is on a collision course and the current trend in national and international case law leads to an inevitable conflict that will eventually have to be resolved. This is likely to be the task facing the European Court of Human Rights, and its decision will be crucial to the perception of human rights from the perspective of the modern rule of law and Investigative operations.
The conference was a focal point for discussion based on each branch of law. Speakers analyzed the legal risks of cybercrimes such as phishing, spyware, sniffing, e-mail worms, spam or Nigerian fraud.
The use of the internet and related smart devices encourages mass processing of an individual’s personal data, which commonly leads to a reduction in privacy. In the European Union legislators faced this challenge decisively in 2018, when the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) was enforced. Through the idea of data protection by design and by default, GDPR seeks to direct the development and use of information communication technology in a way in which personal data processing, considering the legitimate interest of the public and private sector, interferes as little as possible with the privacy of individuals.
Other speaker showed the correlation of the right to privacy and the need to ensure state security by public authorities. the right to privacy is not absolute and may be limited. Currently, most countries, in justified cases, after meeting the conditions set out by law, allow the possibility of interference by state bodies with the right to privacy of the citizen. This may occur in the event of a threat, inter alia, public order, health, public morality or the freedom and rights of others. The interference and attempt to limit the right to privacy must be legal and proportionate. The interference of public authorities in the private sphere of an individual may take place, inter alia, in through the use of telecommunications data control, operational control, the use of control and recording the content of telephone calls (process wiretaps), as well as a number of other activities. As part of the presentation, the issue of the right to privacy will be presented in opposition to the powers of Polish state authorities in the scope of the possibility of surveillance of citizens. Specialized state authorities may obtain classified data about citizens, including, inter alia, telecommunications data (including subscriber and billing data, geolocation data, data from websites), as well as materials in the field of operational control (including out-of-process wiretaps). landline, cellular and satellite telephony, wiretapping of people and rooms, GPS, electronic wiretapping, acquisition and recording of the content of correspondence, access and control of the contents of parcels). Modern technologies have created a number of possibilities to control citizens.
Among the topics there was also no lack of analysis of the ECtHR’s approach to the protection of the right to privacy. Similarly, there was no lack of approaches based on the analysis of this protection in the legal system of a particular country – Polish, Slovak, and Czech laws were analyzed.
During the conference we could also hear about the approach to the issue of recordings made secretly as evidence in court proceedings and about the possibility of making an audio or video recording of another person without their knowledge and consent. The admissibility of such a recording as evidence in court proceedings was examined. The issue was examined through the lens of Czech law with a focus on civil, labour and criminal law and will be based on judicial decisions of Czech highest courst.
Finally, the conference touched on the law of new technologies. Locational privacy protects individuals’ expectation that they will not be systematically tracked as they move through public space. Yet, smart devices that we carry with us continuously transmit details of our location, and location services based on this information are deeply ingrained in modern digital services, such as Google Maps, Uber, Wolt, Facebook, etc. Although the functionality is practical for the users, it also allows service providers to create and store vast digital records of people’s movements through public space. Contextual advertising is a relatively innocent, although irritating example of use of such records. The use of information technology encourages mass processing of individual’s personal data, which often results in a reduction of privacy. Although strict European legislation (GDPR) promotes the idea of data protection by design and by default, this tendency is relatively vague.
In terms of the promotional materials created and the promotion of the event itself, everything went well. The event was recorded and posted on the Justice Institute’s YouTube platform in the form of three separate videos of the panels with a breakdown of each speaker’s talk separately. The videos and a post-conference update were posted on the Institute’s website. The event itself was well attended and reached a large audience by using widely available social media sites for promotion. The event reached as many as 1,440 recipients. A poster, agenda, conference flyer, and Book of Abstracts were produced as promotional materials prior to the conference – all available on the IWS website.
To sum up, the conference was held as planned. Its subject matter is extremely actual, the discussion which the conference created a basis for resulted in many proposals for the directions of amending the law, comparative legal analyses of already existing mechanisms as well as evaluations and de lege ferenda proposals. Creating a platform for such dialogue is very important, because when regulating urgent and current issues it is important to discuss them in advance.
