Marcin Wielec: Competition for the best essay on the right of privacy

1 June 2022 – Online conversation

The Institute of Justice in Warsaw, in cooperation with the Scientific Circle of Criminal Procedure at the Faculty of Law and Administration of Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski University in Warsaw, is proud to organize a competition for the best essay on the right to privacy. The event was organized within the framework of the Central European Professors’ Network 2022 research project, which is being implemented in the field of comparative law from January 1, 2022, with the active participation of experts from seven Central European countries (i.e. the Czech Republic, Croatia, Poland, Hungary, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia).

The idea for the event was conceived by dr hab. Marcin Wielec, prof. UKSW – Director of the Institute of Justice, head of the „Right to Privacy” Professorial Group operating within the Central European Professors’ Network 2022 research project, as well as Vice Dean for Student Affairs at Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski University in Warsaw and Head of the Department of Criminal Procedure.

The competition was aimed at students coming from countries participating in Central European Professors’ Network 2022 research project.

The competition was announced on June 30, 2022. Participants had the opportunity to submit entries through a special form between July 1 and October 30, 2022. . Instructions and guidelines were made available on the website of the Institute of Justice in Warsaw. The course of the competition was governed by regulations established by the Director of the Institute of Justice in Warsaw, which specified the formal requirements, the procedure and all legal issues.

According to the regulations, contest entries had to address the following thematic areas related to the right to privacy:

1. The right to privacy in a comparative approach.
2. The right to privacy in the face of new technologies.
3. The right to privacy in the jurisprudence of domestic courts.
4. The right to privacy in the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights.
5. The right to privacy in the jurisprudence of the Court of Justice of the European Union.
6. International standards of the right to privacy.
7. Constitutional framework for the right to privacy.
8. The right to privacy and the challenges of the 21st century.
9. The right to privacy in criminal proceedings.
10. Right to privacy in civil proceedings.
11. The right to privacy in administrative proceedings.
12. Labour law and the right to privacy.
13. The right to privacy in the face of the realities of the information society.
14. The right to privacy and other human rights – a conflict of values.
15. The right to privacy in an interdisciplinary approach.

In addition, the work had to meet the following formal and editorial criteria:

1. It must be written in English;
2. Length: 2-9 pages long;
3. Line spacing: 1.5;
4. Font: Times New Romans 12;
5. Standard paragraphs.

The competition was a great success. It attracted many entries discussing the right to privacy from different perspectives. Participants discussed the right to privacy from both international, constitutional, criminal law, legal and administrative law perspectives. Of particular interest were the legal comparative works, as well as those discussing domestic solutions and providing de lege ferenda conclusions.

The Competition Jury did not have an easy task. After lengthy discussions, it decided to single out one entry by awarding it first place in the competition and rewarding it with a certificate for winning the privacy rights essay contest.

The Competition Jury assessed the Essays in terms of the following aspects:

a) Interpretation of the subject matter;

b) cohesion and consistency of text;

c) substance;

d) coherence of the argument line.

The award went to Luka Vitamvas, representing Slovenia and the University of Ljubljana. According to the committee, his work had an innovative character and captured the problem of the right to privacy in a particularly interesting way. His work titled “(Un)constitutionality of the Zoom era room scans ”was almost scientific in nature and, with minor revisions, could have been published in a top-scoring law journal. The paper met all substantive and formal criteria under the regulations.

Excerpt from the essay: “Years ago, few could have imagined a society where our work or study is monitored by a computer camera. To determine whether a case of such mass surveillance is reasonable, a proportionality test, to weight the conflicting interests, is to be used. Home as the prime of the Article 8 right can only be intruded if there exists a legitimate reason according to law and the reason being one that in a democratic society is necessary. As discussed, an online exam room scan does not fulfil the second criteria. Necessity is a factor sine qua non the legitimate reason could be achieved. Contrary a room scan´s effect on reaching an online exam´s integrity is minimal and replaceable with various other safeguards that bring the same or better outcome. For this reason, it can be concluded that a room scan of a student´s room breaches the Article 8 right and should not be allowed.”

The Competition Jury decided not to award a prize for second and third place.

The formal announcement of the results was made on December 9th 2022, via the Youtube platform. Dr hab. Marcin Wielec, prof. UKSW, in whose speech he said a few words about the idea of the competition and congratulated the winner. The winner will receive a set of prizes and a certificate signed by the Director of the Institute of Justice.