On 7 September 2016, Melanie Fink and Merinda Stewart presented at a Research Forum organised by the European Society of International Law (ESIL) Interest Group on the Law of the Sea. The Research Forum took place in the framework of the Annual ESIL Conference held in Riga from 8-10 September 2016 to…

Can a computer give just as good a judgment as a judge? Professor emeritus Law and IT believes it can and talks about using computers in the courtroom in a podcast of the Universiteit van Vlaanderen.

The Dutch Data Protection Authority is concerned about the way in which businesses in the hospitality sector are registering contact details of customers.

Women, the elderly, LGBT people and children are all at risk because artificial intelligence, algorithms and exoskeletons are tailored to the straight white male. Research conducted by Leiden University aims to ensure that new developments work for everyone.

On Monday 14 December the yearly research colloquium of the research programme ‘Effective Protection of Fundamental Rights in a Pluralist World’ (EPFR) took place.

It is becoming increasingly common to collect data from children and young people through digital means. The impact of this so-called ‘dataveillance’ on children, who are monitored from birth via smartphones and Fitbits, is great.

The Dutch public broadcasting organisation NPO has asked State Secretary for Culture and Media Gunay Uslu to revoke the licence of Ongehoord Nederland. Wouter Hins, emeritus professor of media law, explains how unique the NPO’s request is.

Researchers Bibi van den Berg and Ionica Smeets are featured in the Opzij Top 100, the yearly list of most influential woman in the Netherlands.

On Thursday 21 September the first monthly ILS lunch of the academic year took place. Prof. Jannemieke Ouwerkerk, from the Department for Criminal Law and Criminology, presented her research on “The Exercise of EU Criminalisation Powers after Lisbon”, showing an insight in the motives behind the harmonization…

Media outlets Investico, de Groene Amsterdammer and Trouw reported on the wide-scale collection by the Dutch police of personal data of demonstrators and their family members. Bart Schermer, Professor of Privacy and Cybercrime, commented on the issue.

The more people are vaccinated, the more society can slowly reopen. Technological developments, like the Covid passport and other apps, can play a role in this. Artificial Intelligence could help greatly in developing the vaccine passport and the Covid-19 exposure notification app, Anne Meuwese and…

Twee jaar geleden klaagde promovendus Danny Mekić het socialmediaplatform X aan, omdat zijn account, zonder toelichting, onvindbaar werd gemaakt. Hij kreeg gelijk van de rechter, maar X verzet zich ertegen: ‘Twitter wil niet transparant zijn.’

The Dutch police must stop storing personal data indefinitely. This was decided by the Council of State following several publications by investigative journalism platform ‘Follow the Money’ (FTM). Bart Schermer, Professor of Law and Digital Technology, assisted in the investigation.

Door de totale anonimiteit van online servers is het erg lastig om cybercriminelen op te sporen. Dat moet anders, vindt Femke Halsema. Universitair docent Jan-Jaap Oerlemans en hoogleraar Law and Data Science Bart Custers spraken met de Volkskrant.

Two professors from China joining the research and education in Leiden, two Leiden professors going to China to share their knowledge and experiences in return. This is the exchange professorship between the Faculty of Science and Xi'an Jiaotong University (XJTU). This week, all four professors got…

Leiden University, Delft University of Technology and Erasmus University Rotterdam are important players in the world of self-learning machines that can work together with people. Moreover, the three have close ties in the field of AI and hope to further strengthen this collaboration in the future.…

Als universitair hoofddocent Ethiek en Digitale Technologie is zij verbonden aan het centrum voor Recht en Digitale Technologie (eLaw) waarvan ze ook hoofd onderwijs is. Daarnaast is Francien initiatiefnemer en coördinator van de universiteitsbrede minor AI & Society en neemt ze deel aan de universitaire…

Eduard Fosch-Villaronga, Associate Professor at eLaw, presented his work on ‘Aligning rules and actions in digital innovation’ at the conference on Technology and Sustainable Development, This event explored whether technology can be used to fix the very problems caused by technology, encompassing social,…

This week the regional court in The Hague gave a ruling that has attracted international attention. The State of the Netherlands (Ministry of Social Affairs) was taken to court by two famous writers, Wieringa and Februari, several NGOs and a trade union.

Self-driving cars, surgery robots, and stock market algorithms: the use of robots and Artificial Intelligence (AI) is rapidly increasing. What are the opportunities for this development, and what the dangers? The Honours Class ‘Robot Law: Regulating Robot and AI Technologies’ prepares students for the…

At the end of November, eLaw - Center for Law and Digital Technologies at Leiden University, welcomed leading international scholars with interdisciplinary backgrounds addressing how humans interact with robots and AI-driven technologies. The seminar entitled “Interacting with Robots and AI” built a…

The use of virtual girl Sweetie, used by the police to investigate pedofiles, is problematic in the Netherlands. Researchers of Leiden University and Tilburg University conclude that this is due to the criminal law applicable at the moment.

Prof. Mark Leiser and a team of thirteen law students from Leiden University’s Advanced LLM programmes in European and International Human Rights Law as well as in Law and Digital Technologies together drafted a report for the UN Special Rapporteur on the Promotion and Protection of the Right to Freedom…

The development of smart cars, video games that adapt to your gaming behaviour, law enforcement assigning your neighbourhood a risk score, insurance rates determined by your behaviour, finding your perfect match via an app: Artificial Intelligence (AI) is rapidly and radically transforming our interactions…

X’s guidelines prohibit manipulated and misleading media. And yet owner Elon Musk recently posted a video of Kamala Harris with an AI voice. Professor of Law and Digital Technologies Gerrit-Jan Zwenne talks to Dutch newspaper ‘de Volkskrant’ about what Musk is and is not allowed to post.

Over the past year, many students and staff members of Leiden Law School have been lauded for their extraordinary achievements. For instance: a grant received, an award won, or an appointment by a special committee. We have combined all these achievements in our Honours Gallery 2022:

On 24 November 2022, Simone van der Hof delivered the annual Mulock Houwer Lecture. The title of the lecture was ‘Niet om de knikkers maar om het spel – Over de digitale versie van een vergeten kinderrecht’.

On November 24, 2017, Esther Keymolen gave a presentation on Trust in the Networked Era, as part of the annual Philosophy of Technology Lab. This lab is organized by a.r.t.e.s. Graduate School for the Humanities Cologne and CFCU (Centro de Filosofia das Ciências da Universidade de Lisboa). The general…

Angry politicians, angry journalists: the initiative of Forum for Democracy politician Gideon van Meijeren during which he secretly filmed a reporter portraying them as a ‘sewer rat’, caused a lot of anger. Where does all this commotion come from? Wouter Hins: ‘Calling a journalist a

On Safer Internet Day (Tuesday 6 February), UNICEF Netherlands organised a symposium on the theme of 'Children's rights in the digital world' in collaboration with Leiden University and Kennisnet. Simone van der Hof and Ton Liefaard contributed to the symposium.

The monthly ILS Lunch Seminars present the perfect opportunity to unite the different Institutes situated within Leiden Law School. On Thursday 28 November, the ILS Lunch Seminar of November took place. Melanie Fink and Tycho de Graaf both presented their current and future research.

More and more companies are watching while you surf the internet. Robbert van Eijk, dual PhD student on the program of Leiden University Dual PhD Centre, wrote his dissertation on this subject. On 29 January, 2019, Van Eijk obtained his doctorate for his research on online privacy.