“if you were the type of geek, growing up, who enjoyed taking apart mechanical things and putting them back together again, who had your own corner of the garage or the basement filled with electronics and parts of electronics that you endlessly reconfigured, who learned to solder before you could ride a bike, your dream job would be at the Intelligent Systems Center of the Applied Physics Laboratory at Johns Hopkins University. Housed in an indistinct, cream-colored building in a part of Maryland where you can still keep a horse in your back yard, the ISC so elevates geekdom that the first thing you see past the receptionist’s desk is a paradise for the kind of person who isn’t just thrilled by gadgets, but who is compelled to understand how they work.”
Then there are the legal questions: Can the cops make you wear one? What if they have a warrant to connect your brain to a computer? How about a judge? Your commanding officer? How do you keep your Google Nest from sending light bulb ads to your brain every time you think the room is too dark?
A wearable device that can decode the voice in your head is a way’s off yet, said Jack Gallant, professor of psychology at University of California, Berkeley and a leading expert in cognitive neuroscience. But he also said, “Science marches on. There’s no fundamental physics reason that someday we’re not going to have a non-invasive brain-machine interface. It’s just a matter of time.
After an internal investigation, the US Department of Defense (DoD) announced that is standing by its decision to award the $10 billion JEDI cloud computing contract to Microsoft and not Amazon. The probe was triggered after Amazon complained that the integrity of the bidding process was cast into doubt because of statements by President Trump.
The Pentagon affirmed its initial decision awarding the contract to Microsoft, but acknowledged that the legal battle isn’t over. In a press release, it said it “determined that Microsoft’s proposal continues to represent the best value to the government” but added that the contract “will not begin immediately.” That’s because of a temporary injunction issued over an Amazon lawsuit arguing that the contract had “clear deficiencies, errors and unmistakable bias.”
The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) has invested in the development of technologies that allow the human brain to communicate directly with machines, including the development of implantable neural interfaces able to transfer data between the human brain and the digital world. This technology, known as brain-computer interface (BCI), may eventually be used to monitor a soldier’s cognitive workload, control a drone swarm, or link with a prosthetic, among other examples. Further technological advances could support human-machine decisionmaking, human-to-human communication, system control, performance enhancement and monitoring, and training. However, numerous policy, safety, legal, and ethical issues should be evaluated before the technology is widely deployed. With this report, the authors developed a methodology for studying potential applications for emerging technology. This included developing a national security game to explore the use of BCI in combat scenarios; convening experts in military operations, human performance, and neurology to explore how the technology might affect military tactics, which aspects may be most beneficial, and which aspects might present risks; and offering recommendations to policymakers. The research assessed current and potential BCI applications for the military to ensure that the technology responds to actual needs, practical realities, and legal and ethical considerations.
The bags of cannabis were dropped by the “green drone” Telegram group, which advocates for the legalization of cannabis in Israel, with “free love” being the group’s slogan.
Before dropping the cannabis over Tel Aviv, the group published a message on Telegram, hinting at the planned operation.
“It’s time my dear brothers. Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it’s the green drone, handing out free cannabis from the sky… Enjoy my beloved brothers, this is your pilot brother, making sure we all get some free love,” the message read.
The House will vote on legislation next month to remove cannabis from the Controlled Substances Act and erase some marijuana criminal records.
The bill would not legalize the drug, which would be left up to states, but the vote will still be a historic step in the effort to reduce legal penalties related to the drug. House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C.) said in an email to members that the vote will take place during the September work period.
BREAKING: The U.S. House will vote on a bill to remove cannabis from the Controlled Substances Act.
Given all the changes Vladimir Putin is making in these days in the Russian constitutional order, ones that legalize the presidentialist dictatorship he has already created, many may have failed to notice that a law he signed restoring a key feature of the GULAG, the use of convicts as slave laborers, went into effect on January 1.
And while some may be inclined to dismiss this as nothing more than the nearly universal practice of using prisoners to produce things like license plates and road signs as in the United States, it is already taking shape as something worse and more ominous with Russian businessmen calling for setting up forced labor camps in parts of the country.
The law discussed, passed and signed by Putin last year calls for creating two kinds of labor camps: entire colonies where inmates will be put to work either for the state or for businesses on a contract basis and special “correction centers” attached to business sites.
From most people’s perspectives, space law is a fairly niche field. Even more niche are particular sub-fields of space law, such as space human rights law. Despite being so niche, though, one can argue that space human rights law is extremely important. It defines how humans treat each other as they expand into new off-planet environments. It thus fundamentally shapes how humanity engages with space. To learn more about the intersection of human rights and space exploration, we spoke to Jonathan Lim, a solicitor at the law firm WiseLaw. He is also the founder of Jus Ad Astra, a project at WiseLaw that develops legal principles pertaining to space exploration.
What role do human rights play in space exploration?
Human rights are inalienable and universal values that recognize the inherent value of each person. They are based upon the common values of dignity, equality, and respect shared across all cultures, religions, and philosophies. The intersection between human rights and outer space can be viewed through two perspectives.
There is little in the way of law or custom to restrain this new arms race. Alarmed by the risks, several groups of diplomats and lawyers are trying to change that, and work out how to extend the laws that cover Earth-bound war into orbit.
Experts want to clarify how the laws of war on Earth apply beyond it.
Covid-19 did not only cause a health crisis around the world; It led to severe economic, social, and political challenges in various countries.
In response to the World Health Organization recommendations, governments imposed various precautionary measures in the course of managing its risks. Measures varied from mere social distancing to total lockdown and isolation in quarantine centers.
Public services were hindered in some states, and private institutions have closed their doors, while jobs were remotely performed. However, the luxury of remote working could not be enjoyed by everyone around the globe due to technological restraints. That much likely applied to law practitioners who limited their practice to a single jurisdiction, which lacked the technological infrastructure and a technological-based judicial system. Thus, the situation has compelled legal practitioners in those jurisdictions, to innovate and find solutions to circumvent the faced challenges and face the post-COVID uncertainty. It has also compelled practitioners in the most advanced jurisdictions to overcome post-COVID repercussions and plan for a long-term sustainable practice amid the rise of Artificial Intelligence, which would undermine the human presence in this industry.
Legal practitioners faced hurdles to cope with the new situation as public services in most jurisdictions were hindered during the quarantine time. However, access to justice was not interrupted in jurisdictions with advanced digitized judicial systems and technologies’ based public infrastructures.
Taking the UAE as an example, legal practitioners did not face the same challenges. The UAE’s leadership that managed the public health risk with rational public policies succeeded in mitigating the pandemic spread and minimized its negative impact on the socioeconomic spheres. Consequently, the first ranked country in the Arabic world to succeed in the management of the pandemic, and 18th globally, according to a study made by the British research center “Deep Knowledge Group,” maintained the continuity of public services. Notably, the access to justice was upheld, and legal professionals remotely worked, as they conducted their activities via Information Communication technologies (ICT), whereby court hearings could be held virtually via the judicial system’s platforms.
Unlikely, others whose practice was limited to a single jurisdiction that lacked technological support faced severe hurdles. Such a struggle was evidenced during the discussions held with colleagues practicing in North African and Middle Eastern jurisdictions at the Tunisian Lawyers’ Association Virtual Conference 21–22 May 2020. During the Conference, law practitioners from various jurisdictions discussed their harsh reality and severe damages caused by the pandemic on the socioeconomic dimensions across their jurisdictions in general and their professional dimension in particular. They stressed the need to find practical solutions to mitigate these damages and to join efforts to develop a modernized legal industry across their jurisdictions. Some speakers who experienced a total loss of income expressed their disenchantment about the primitive judicial systems within their jurisdictions. Nonetheless, all participants agreed that the starting point toward improving their situation is to innovate and propose unconventional solutions to overcome the pandemic damage and plan the way forward. They emphasized the need to focus on developing Alternative Dispute Resolutions (ADR) to minimize their dependency on the old-fashioned judicial systems and demand their reform and digitization.
However, the pandemic was not the precursor of many legal practitioners’ skepticism about many old-fashioned judicial systems. Technological progress and globalization have disrupted the global legal industry.
The latter was challenged since before the pandemic outbreak, as it has witnessed an unprecedented rate of change for the last several years.
Taking a stance to analyze the legal industry’s development globally, it could be stated that it has been witnessing a business model shift. ICT has unlocked new dimensions for the legal practitioners, enabling their practice to expand from a single-jurisdictional practice to a multi-jurisdictional practice. Disruptive technologies and globalization have increased the cross-border transactions and transformed the conventional legal market into a globalized market. ICT enabled the legal practitioner to overcome many of the legal requirements imposed by the national authorities on foreign lawyers, as they could offer direct legal assistance to cross-border clients or through local collaboration in the foreign jurisdiction.
The legal professional had to face challenging changes within the industry. He had to circumvent the increased competition and sophisticated legal issues through innovating unconventional solutions.
Thus, traditional skills, based on legal knowledge, negotiation, problem-solving, analytics, management, and communication have to combine non-traditional skills based on innovation, system thinking, people’s skills, cross-collaboration, complex problems’ solving, multidisciplinary knowledge, technologies and data, leadership and time management, to face the challenges as mentioned earlier.
It could be stated that to keep pace with the disruptive global legal industry’s development, the law practitioner must master a non-conventional legal practice by gaining in-depth knowledge of emerging disruptive technologies and managing their implications on laws and policies in various jurisdictions in light of the international laws governing their related activities. Even though it is not always easy to start learning new disciplines while having full-time employment and other commitments, it is a bittersweet challenge that could bring new opportunities and position the legal practitioner on a new level, with access to new disciplines. Thanks to ICT, it is never late for any professional to acquire knowledge through online classes and training to unlock new dawns for his carrier. Legal practitioners shall circumvent their judicial systems dependency from one hand, and they have to be creative and innovative on the other hand.
To face the technological development in light of the rising Artificial Intelligence’s threats, the legal practitioner shall not merely adapt to the new legal industry’s reality, but to lead his way through an uncertain future. Such an approach, from personal experience, has proven its efficiency during the Covid-19 turbulent times to come to terms that exponential thinking, innovation, and a multidisciplinary knowledge are essential to circumventing both the Covid-19 challenging situation and the legal industry metamorphosis amid crises.
The year 2020 will not only be associated with the Covid-19 pandemic outbreak and its socioeconomic and political challenges; it will mark a turning point in the history of humanity’s evolution. The pandemic has challenged our lives as it altered the way we interact, the way we work, and the way we think. Covid-19 did not only unmask the challenges the global civilization has been witnessing due to the technological revolution but also the need to embrace those technologies. It has also called exponential thinkers to find disruptive solutions to circumvent the current and future challenges while excelling their way through toward the future. Since laws are the common denominator among all human activities, law practitioners should lead the way forward in this change through having a futuristic insight, while grasping the technological development from a multidisciplinary approach.
Photos Credit: Pixabay (The use of the above photos conforms with Pixabay terms & conditions and falls under the scope of “fair use” doctrine).
Four Canadians battling incurable cancer have been approved by the Minister of Health, Patty Hajdu, to use psilocybin therapy in the treatment of their end-of-life distress. These 4 patients mark the first publicly-known individuals to receive a legal exemption from the Canadian Drugs and Substances Act to access psychedelic therapy, and the first known patients to legally use psilocybin since the compound became illegal in Canada in 1974. The decision comes after over 100 days of waiting for a response.
“I would like to personally thank the Hon. Minister Hajdu and the team at the Office of Controlled Substances for the approval of my section 56 exemption. This is the positive result that is possible when good people show genuine compassion. I’m so grateful that I can move forward with the next step of healing” says Thomas Hartle, one the section 56 applicants battling cancer, from Saskatoon Saskatchewan.
Laurie Brooks, another applicant from British Columbia facing end-of-life distress states: “I want to thank the Health Minister and Health Canada for approving my request for psilocybin use. The acknowledgement of the pain and anxiety that I have been suffering with means a lot to me, and I am feeling quite emotional today as a result. I hope this is just the beginning and that soon all Canadians will be able to access psilocybin, for therapeutic use, to help with the pain they are experiencing, without having to petition the government for months to gain permission. Thanks also to TheraPsil for helping the four of us in this fight. To Thomas Hartel and the other two patients – I think of you often and wish you only good things, especially good health!”
