Events

10 October 2023, 6:00 pm

The chairs for Science and Innovation Research and for Information and Communication Law at Universität Hamburg hosted the event KI & Kunst: Alles rechtens? (‘AI & Art: Is Everything Legal?’)

Artificial intelligence (AI) has become an integral part of our everyday lives and its advance into our daily lives is also evident in art. AI is able to create images, be it images in the style of a well-known painter or images that distort reality or show a supposedly different reality. And all this can be done with little effort, namely by entering a few keywords into a programme such as ‘Midjourney’. AI-generated images of former US President Trump in prison, the Pope in a rapper's outfit or Vladimir Putin kneeling before Chinese President Xi Jinping are well-known on the internet. There are also already the first exhibitions of AI images, such as Refik Anadol's ‘data sculptures’.

What exactly does this mean for the creative industry? Berlin-based photographer Boris Eldagsen has impressively demonstrated that we should give it some thought: he had an image entitled ‘Pseudomnesia: The Electrician’ generated by an artificial intelligence and won the prestigious Sony World Photography Awards, which he later refused.

It is not only the jury of the Sony World Photography Awards that has to ask itself what demands should be placed on photography. Artists and lawyers are confronted with new, fundamental questions about how to deal with AI in art: What do we mean by art? What does the law understand by art? And how much law does art need?

As part of the event ‘AI & art - is everything legal?’, these questions were discussed together with the speakers Boris Eldagsen, PD Dr phil. Dr Frédéric Döhl, Dr Miriam Martiny and Nils Pooker from both, artistic and legal perspective. The event combined various formats in order to enter into dialogue with one another.

The event, part of the ‘Digital Futures Dialogue’ series, took place on 10 October at 6 pm at Jupiter (formerly Karstadt Sport) Mönckebergstraße 2-4, Hamburg city centre.

20 June 2023

The war in Ukraine terrifies us all and will probably keep us in suspense for even longer. Peace and conflict research can provide insights into which peace strategies could be successful and which scenarios for an end to the war are conceivable.

Prof Dr Ursula Schröder, Professor of Political Science at the University of Hamburg and Director of the Institute for Peace Research and Security Policy, gave a lecture on the topic ‘Theses from peace research on the war in Ukraine’ on Tuesday, 20 June 2023, at 18:00 in the plenary hall of the Hans OLG Hamburg, Sievekingplatz 2, 20355 Hamburg,  The audience had the opportunity to ask questions and make  own contributions during the discussion.

The Gesellschaft Hamburger Juristen, of which Prof Dr Marion Albers is a member of the board, cordially invited to this event. Following the lecture, the audience had the opportunity to ask questions during the discussion. The event took place in German.

A world without search engines is unimaginable today. Search results that would previously have required a rummage in libraries are now just a mouse click away. Case law on the right of expression has had to react to the associated liability issues.

The two decisions of the Federal Constitutional Court ‘Right to be forgotten I’ and ‘Right to be forgotten II’ are groundbreaking in this regard. They clarify the relationship between the dimension of protection under the law of expression and the right to informational self-determination in private law as well as the significance of time under the conditions of the Internet.

Former Federal Constitutional Court judge Prof. Dr Dr h. c. Johannes Masing gave a lecture on the topic

‘Constitutional protection of the general right of personality between private individuals’

on Tuesday, 9 May 2023, 18:00 in the plenary hall of the Hans. OLG Hamburg, Sievekingplatz 2, 20355 Hamburg.

The Gesellschaft Hamburger Juristen, of which Prof Dr Marion Albers is a member of the board, cordially invited to this event. Following the lecture, there was an opportunity to ask questions during the discussion.

The event took place in German.

1 November, 2022

In 1922, exactly 100 years ago, the ‘Act on the Admission of Women to Offices and Professions in the Administration of Justice’ lifted the formal barriers to women's access to the state examination in law and to legal professions.

To mark the 100th anniversary in 2022, the Deutsche Juristinnen Verein (djb) (in English it would be “German Women Lawyers' Association”) organised the campaign “100 years of women in legal professions”, which was financially supported by the Federal Ministry of Justice.

In cooperation with the djb, a festive event was held at the Faculty of Law on to mark the anniversary of ‘100 years of women in legal professions’.

The event took place on 1 November, 2022, from 5:30 pm until around 9 pm

in the Rechtshaus lecture hall and other rooms on the ground floor.

The event was open to the public. It began with a welcome address and an introduction by Prof Dr Maria Wersig, Hochschule Hannover and President of the djb, and Prof Dr Marion Albers, Chair of Public Law, Information and Communication Law, Health Law and Legal Theory, University of Hamburg, among others. This was followed by two lectures: a keynote speech by Prof. Dr Angelika Schaser, Faculty of Humanities, Department of History, University of Hamburg, and a lecture on the current repression of women and female lawyers (judges, public prosecutors, students) in Afghanistan by Dr Karen Bilda, judge at the Amtsgericht Hamburg (District Court Hamburg), lecturer at the OSCE, German representative of the International Association of Women Judges.

This was followed by a panel discussion on current hurdles and necessary improvements for women's access to legal professions and legal careers such as judges, lawyers and professors. In this discussion, the focus was on hurdles in Germany, but also on the current situation in Afghanistan. The discussion was moderated by Prof Dr Marion Albers. The audience was able to participate with questions.

In addition, from 27 October 2022 to 2 November 2022, there was an extensive exhibition on the topic of ‘100 years of women in legal professions’ at the faculty.

On 26 and 27 October 2018, the interdisciplinary conference on ‘Legitimacy in a multidimensional world’ took place at Helmut Schmidt University, organised by PD Dr Tobias Herbst together with Dr Sabrina Zucca-Soest.

You can find more information on the conference homepage.

Here is the program for the event which took place on 7 and 8 September, 2017.

On 12th and 13th February, 2015, Prof. Dr. Marion Albers organized a workshop on "Data Access and Freedom of Information in the Modern Information Society" within the framework of the network "Welfare State and Globalization (Law, Technology and Innovation). Data access and freedom of information are central elements of the modern information society. In particular, Internet-based access to parliamentary, governmental, administrative and judicial information offers expanding opportunities for democratic participation and influence on the part of citizens (keyword: digital governance). Open Government Data is the new keyword that describes the publication of public sector data on the Internet, free access to this data and its reusability. However, claims to data access and freedom of information are by no means completely clarified in legal terms. On the contrary, they pose a wealth of new problems. Some questions arise both in Brazil and in Germany and are solved partly similarly, partly differently. The workshop addressed some of these questions with lectures that complemented each other on the Brazilian and German sides.

The speakers included Ingo Sarlet, Carlos Alberto Molinaro, Magarethe Schuler-Harms, Draiton Gonzaga de Souza, Martin Eifert, Arnaldo Sampaio de Moraes Godoy, Jörn Reinhardt, Gilmar Mendes, Jens-Peter Schneider, Catarine Acioli, Indra Spiecker gen. Döhmann, Ivor A. M. Hartmann, and Marion Albers.

You can find more information (mainly in German) here.

The digitalization of communication and the Internet are fundamentally changing many fields of our world with increasing speed and dynamism. The public lecture series Recht & Netz, sponsored by the Claussen-Simon Foundation, focuses on particularly striking and current topics.

TIME AND LOCATION

Mondays, 6-8 pm, on 24 Oct, 7 Nov, 28 Nov, 12 Dec, 2016 as well as on 9 Jan 2016 and 30 Jan 2017, ESA 1 W (Edmund-Siemers-Allee 1, west wing), room 221.

The topics presented in the six sessions include

- Changes in the world of life through the "hidden" Internet or through health apps

- Visions of the future in the field of extended reality and legal problems of Smart Glasses/Smart Lenses in public space

- Hate Speech on the Internet

- new advertising and financing mechanisms on the Internet and adblockers in response

- Possibilities and limits of combating crime in the Darknet

- new techniques of music production and the resulting copyright issues.

Two contributions from the perspective of science and practice or contributions from different disciplines are presented in each meeting. They complement each other, discuss a topic first in general and then in depth or offer contrary positions. This offers a lot of material for the subsequent discussion with the audience.

In addition, you will find information on individual appointments with brief information and short videos to prepare for the topics. Have a look at the articles, under the press articles posted and in the current case law for these topics! Have fun!

24 Oct, 2016 Changes in the world through new technologies

Hidden Internet

Dr. Michael Friedewald, Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research, Karlsruhe

Opportunities and risks of health apps

Dr. Urs-Vito Albrecht, Peter L. Reichertz Institute for Medical Informatics, Hannover Medical School

Video: Health apps on the rise

Fitness tracker: opportunities and risks

________________________________________

7 Nov, 2016 Augmented Reality

The Future of Extended Reality

Prof. Dr. Frank Steinicke, Faculty of Computer Science, University of Hamburg

Legal problems of the use of Smart Glasses and Smart Lenses in public spaces

Dr. Thomas Schwenke, LL.M., Attorney at Law, Dr. Schwenke Law Office, Berlin

Video: augmented reality

________________________________________

28 Nov 2016 Hate Speech on the Internet

Hate Speech in linguistic analysis

Prof. Dr. Konstanze Marx, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Mannheim; Institute for German Language, Mannheim

Legal questions concerning the use of Hate Speech on the Internet

PD. Dr. Mathias Hong, Faculty of Law, University of Freiburg

Video: Questions about Hate Speech

________________________________________

12 Dec 2016

Personalised advertising and adblockers: mutual defensive battles

Prof. Dr. Karl-Nikolaus Peifer, Institute for Media Law and Communications Law, Faculty of Law, University of Cologne

Kai Recke, Legal Counsel of Eyeo GmbH, Berlin/ Cologne

Video about Adblockers

________________________________________

09 Jan, 2017

Fighting crime at Darknet

Prof. Dr. Holger Morgenstern, Faculty of Computer Science, Albstadt-Sigmaringen University of Applied Sciences

Rüdiger Spendel, Public Prosecutor, Justice Hamburg

________________________________________

30 Jan, 2017

New forms of music and copyrights

PD Dr. phil. Ass. iur. Frédéric Döhl, Institute for Music and Musicology, Technical University Dortmund

Katharina Voigtland, LL.M, Specialist Lawyer for Copyright and Media Law, Kanzlei Rasch Rechtsanwälte, Hamburg

From the contributions of the lecture series, the anthology "Recht & Netz", edited by Marion Albers and Ioannis Katsivelas, was published by Nomos Verlag in spring 2018. Further information on the anthology can be found here.

A series of lectures organised by the Cyber Law Clinic with the kind support of the Hamburger Rechtsanwaltskammer.

No. 1: A legally compliant online shop - impossible?
Lawyer Dr André Schmidt, Luther Rechtsanwaltsgesellschaft mbH
(Tue, 14 April, 10:15 - 11:45 a.m., EG 18/19)

No. 2: Music piracy - between robe and sneakers
Lawyer Katharina Voigtland, Rasch Rechtsanwälte
(Tue, 5 May, 10:15 - 11:45 a.m., EG 18/19)

No. 3: The lawyer in the field of tension between precautionary examination and subsequent sanctioning
Lawyer Mark Laupichler, Praetoria Attorneys at Law
(Tue, 9 June, 10:15 - 11:45 a.m., EG 18/19)

No. 4: Cyberbullying - liking, sharing, tweeting: personal rights in the digital age.
Lawyer Dr Bernd Fleischer, Rose & Partner LLP.
(Tue, 30 June, 10:15 - 11:45 a.m., EG 18/19)

Everyone interested was cordially invited to the events that took place (in German) in 2015.

On 16 Jan, 2014 and 17. Jan, 2014, Prof. Dr. Marion Albers organized a conference in the Warburg-Haus Hamburg on the topic "Forgetting on the Internet". Forgetting on the Internet and the right to be forgotten are currently at the centre of public and scientific debates. At its core it concerns a specific dimension of the question of the handling of personal data on the Internet, which is controversial in many respects. In contrast to common forms of access in legal research, which focus on individual legal perspectives and possible claims to cancellation, forgetting on the Internet must be understood as an independent regulatory dimension in which the technical and social conditions of forgetfulness are to be reflected on the Internet. In particular, the cultural, social and information sciences have a high level of expertise with regard to forgetting on the Internet as a socially and technically conditioned process. The conference aims to bring together several perspectives. For legal scholarship, the basics of social forgetting and the special modes of forgetting on the Internet are important in order to open up systematic and appropriate access to legal problems. For social, cultural, information or technological research, insights into the various levels of regulation  on the Internet to be worked out are informative in order to capture and process the legal context of forgetting on the Internet.

The speakers included Gerrit Hornung, Peter Wehling, Aleida Assmann, Karsten Weber, Wolfgang Schulz, Indra Spiecker called Döhmann, Mario Martini, Gerald Spindler, Hannes Federrath, Martin Rost and Marion Albers.

A report on the conference by Anna Schimke can be found here.

Conference: Global Law and the Fight against Terrorist Financing

On December 13 and 14, 2012, the conference “Global Law and the Fight against Terrorist Financing” organized by research assistant Lena Groth, LL.M. (Emory) was held in Hamburg. The financing of terrorism is a global problem which cannot be solved by merely national measures. International (or: global) initiatives as well as national lawmakers face problems such as how to engage private actors and how to manage the broad limitations of liberties or the emerging networks of national and international agencies. What is the relationship between theories of global law and the problem of terrorist financing? Can the fight against terrorist financing contribute to the discussions on global law as a further area of reference? How could the fight against terrorist financing become more effective by implementing new structures of rule-making and supervision of the global level?

Scholars of law, economy and political sciences contributed to an interdisciplinary discussion. Experts from a national Financial Intelligence Unit and from the lawmakers’ side (EU Commission, German Parliament) provided valuable insights into practice. The conference was sponsored by the Körber-Fonds Nachwuchsforschung. It was held in German.

Please find the program and information on the speakers here.

On 22 and 23 November 2012, in the context of the Hamburg Center for Bio-Governance, which was currently being founded, the Chair hosted a conference at the Warburg-Haus Hamburg on the topic of "Bioethics, Biorecht, Biopolitik: eine Kontextualisierung". The aim of the interdisciplinary conference was to clarify and contextualise "bioethics", "bio-right" and "biopolitics" with their backgrounds, their different implications and their characteristics in greater depth, to analyse common key problems - the universalisation of certain basic values, consensus-building processes in value decisions, dealing with knowledge, uncertainty and ignorance, legitimation and legitimation mechanisms - and finally to discuss interdisciplinary approaches in view of the fundamental disciplinary differentiation. Speakers included Marion Albers, University of Hamburg, Johann Ach, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, Stefan Huster, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Ulrich Willems, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, Silke Schicktanz, Universität Göttingen, Stefan Beck, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Ulrich Gassner, Universität Augsburg, Renate Martinsen, Universität Duisburg-Essen, Petra Gehring, Technische Universität Darmstadt, and Heiner Fangerau, Universität Ulm. The conference was sponsored by the Fritz Thyssen Foundation.

Further information on the conference can be found in the flyer. 

Conference reports were published (in English) by Lena Groth, in the German Law Journal 2013, 434, (PDF), (in German) by Anna Schimke, JZ 2013 (PDF), and by Julia Berdin, MedR 2013 (PDF).

Following the conference, Nomos-Verlag published an interdisciplinary anthology on biological law. It is edited by Prof. Dr. Marion Albers:

This interdisciplinary volume combining contributions from ethicists, medical scientists, lawyers and political scientists deals with the entire spectrum of problems in the field of bioethics, biolaw and biopolitics. The contributions discuss the meaning and the subjects of bioethics, biolaw and biopolitics as well as their backgrounds and implications. They comprise deliberations on how disciplines can learn from each other and how convincing inter- or transdisciplinary approaches can be established. Additionally, key issues such as the handling of knowledge, uncertainty and the unknown, appropriate decision-making procedures in case of fundamental value
conflicts or patterns of legitimation with regard to new biotechnological challenges are discussed thoroughly.

With contributions by: PD Dr. Johann S. Ach, Prof. Dr. Marion Albers, Prof. Dr. Heiner Fangerau, Prof. Dr. Ulrich M. Gassner, Prof. Dr. Stefan Huster, Prof. Dr. Renate Martinsen, Prof. Dr. Ulrich Willems

More details on the anthology can be found here.

Is there beauty in law? Or, at least, should there be? What connections exist between aesthetics of law and criticism of law? On the 23rd and 24th of February 2012, the chair of public law, information and communication law, health law and legal theory held an interdisciplinary conference at the Warburg-Haus Hamburg regarding fundamental questions of legal and aesthetic normativity. It was designed and organised by Jörn Reinhardt. Contributors were Jörn Reinhardt (Hamburg), Reinold Schmücker (Münster), Sabine Müller-Mall (Berlin), Andreas von Arnauld (Hamburg/Münster), Eva Schürmann (Magdeburg), Katrin Trüstedt (Erfurt), Emmanuel Alloa (St. Gallen), Francesca Raimondi (Frankfurt a.M.), Fabian Steinhauer (Weimar) and Rainer Maria Kiesow (Paris). 

Further information is available on the flyer (PDF). 

Reports on the meeting can be found in JZ 2012, p. 567 (Anna Schimke) and DVBl 2012, p. 1155 (Lena Groth).

In the summer semester 2015 a lecture series took place on the topic "Bio-Governance - New developments in gene technology, biotechnology and information technology as a regulatory challenge".

Further information can be found here.

Please also visit our website of the Hamburg Center for Bio-Governance for more information about current research and events.

In the context of the XXV. World Congress of Philosophy of Law and Social Philosophy in Frankfurt am Main (Germany), 15. - 20. August 2011, dealing with the general issue „Law, Science, Technology“, Prof. Dr. Marion Albers, Dr. Thomas Hoffmann, Otto-von-Guericke University Magdeburg, and Dr. Jörn Reinhardt have organized and chaired the Workshop "Human Rights and Human Nature". Natural sciences have not only changed our understandig of what the human being is. They have also made it possible to change the very nature of the human. Medical and biotechnical interferences as well as the developments in the life and neuro-sciences are questioning central legal concepts and categories. This applies especially to the human rights discourse. It is obvious that the recourse to human nature as a line of argument becomes problematic if human nature itself is the subject of continual transformation and transgression. The vanishing line between the natural and the artificial challenges common (metaphysical) explanations of human rights as natural rights. Nevertheless, "human nature" is still an attractive argument in contemporary human rights theory. How do the transformations of the human affect the idea of a human right? How do they change our understanding of particular basic and human rights?