This document discusses several legal issues related to big data, including intellectual property rights, contract law and licensing, privacy and data protection, due process, liability, and jurisdictional problems. It notes that big data raises issues around rights clearing for copyrighted data, outdated exemptions, legal fragmentation across jurisdictions, enforceability of clickwrap licenses, definitions of personal data, ensuring transparency and auditing of decision-making logic, assigning liability in converged cloud services, and managing multiple applicable laws across jurisdictions. The document argues that harmonization of laws may help address some of the jurisdictional problems with applying legal frameworks to large-scale, multi-jurisdictional uses of big data.

1. BYTE:
Big data roadmap and cross-disciplinary community for
addressing societal externalities
Legal Issues in Big Data
Hans Lammerant – VUB
@BYTE_EU www.byte-project.eu

2. Overview
• Intellectual Property Rights
• Contract law and licensing
• Privacy and Data Protection
• Due Process
• Liability
• Jurisdictional Problems
@BYTE_EU www.byte-project.eu

3. Intellectual Property Rights
Relevant forms of IPR:
• Copyright on data
• Copyright on database
• Sui generis database
Issues:
• high transaction costs due to rights clearing
• is IPR too restrictive due to overprotection?
• outdated system of exemptions
@BYTE_EU www.byte-project.eu

4. Contract law and licensing
IPR is default framework → deviation is possible through contracts
Licenses as authorisations ↔ licenses as contracts
Issues:
• Fragmentation of contract law over jurisdictions → legal interoperability
• Enforceability of 'clickwrap'-licenses
@BYTE_EU www.byte-project.eu

5. Privacy and Data Protection
Issues:
• Definitions of personal data, anonymous and pseudonymous data
• Data protection principles (e.g. purpose limitation, data minimization)
• Consent
• Implementation rights of data subjects: transparency, access and rectification
General discussion: is data protection framework still compatible with big data or do we need a
new, risk-based approach
@BYTE_EU www.byte-project.eu

6. Due Process
• Decision making based on big data → can people contest decisions or their grounds?
• Certain decisions are not allowed: e.g. non-discrimination legislation → How to check?
• Procedural safeguards: transparency is key element, not just of personal data but also of logic.
This logic must be open for auditing and testing.
• Implementation: from consent-based model to protection by supervisory authorities?
@BYTE_EU www.byte-project.eu

7. Liability
• Data protection in directive 95/46: data controller ↔ data processor => implies that data
processor knows he is dealing with personal data
• e-commerce: limited liability for internet intermediaries / e-privacy → black box-approach:
intermediary is considered not to know what he transfer or stores, and has no liability for
content except when he knows.
Cloud computing: technical convergence and reordering of services blurs border between these
models → where do we shift?
@BYTE_EU www.byte-project.eu

8. Jurisdictional Problems
Large-scale combining of data sources + technical convergence of services: a wide range of
jurisdictions can become involved
'Light' application mechanisms → nothing escapes, but inflation of applicable laws
Main solution: harmonisation
@BYTE_EU www.byte-project.eu