Speakers:

Colman Curran, Mason Hayes & Curran

Prof. Robert Clarke, UCD Law Faculty

There can be no doubt that just as computers have affected our lives to an unquantifiable degree, so too have they created a plethora of legal issues that demand resolution. From issues of privacy to the rights infringed by a computer hacker and the proper remedy, the law has been slow to reach legislative resolution of the ensuing conflict. It is proposed to consider generally some of the issues both large and small that are of note in the area and provide a springboard for further research and study. We may accept some basic principles, such as that computer programs are protectable by copyright but what to make of the latest cases ongoing in Scotland and Australia which seek to apply the protection of copyright to the address system which forms the basis of the world wide web? Beyond the minefield of publication on the internet, we can already witness the evolution of subsidiary problems in the area. It falls to be decided now whether it is in the general interest to extend copyright protection to this kind of nascent object. Cursory examination of the Data Prot-ection Act 1988 shows clearly that there are serious burdens placed on those denominated as data controllers and processors. This act, in ratification of the Council of Europe Data Convention, depends on the finer definition in context by the courts of its requirements of fairness beyond what may be accepted as commonsense. Furthermore, the act impacts on business practices in enforcing a duty of correct disclosure as to the purposes for which data is being collected. Familiarity is also required with the various means of avoiding the provisions of the act including hard-copy document storage and the exemptions provided for in the act relating to the obtaining of legal advice.

The spectre of computer crime in this country is made more potent by the potential failure of our law to actually criminalise such activities; while still as repugnant to justice they go without punishment in this jurisdiction: unauthorised use of a computer being a prime example. While most offences in this category are find punishment inone way or another it is fair to say that the resulting patchwork of legislative protection does little to inspire confidence in the efficacy of the system. So the prosecutions obtained in a 1993 computer fraud case involving Telecom Eireann were not founded on any legislation more advanced than general conspiracy provisions. Can we truly say that an information society can safely proceed without these legal supports? The future calls us forward notwith-standing our lack of preparedness for what lies ahead and the only way to be successful must be to arm ourselves with information now. If information is to be the armament of the future then secure networking may be said to be a powerful arsenal indeed. The attraction of this has led to the co-operation of the Incorporated Law Society with government departments to provide to legal practitioners a reference of undoubted usefulness. It is an undeniable fact that this will be a primary resource of the end of this decade and into the next millenium in its future evolutions. We now have the benefit of the experience of someone who has implemented this system and can tell us the nightmare it involves.

General Bibliography

Guide to the Data Protection Act 1988
R. Clarke, Computer related crime in Ireland
Peter Blume, Comments on the amended proposal for a council directive on the protection of personal data
Jon Bing, Reflections on a data protection policy for 1992
M. McDonagh, Legal protection of information privacy in Australia: thePrivacy Act 1988
R. Clarke, Data protection law in Ireland
See also discussions of computer intellectual property protection in many textbooks and specialised manuals.

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