The role of the Millennial lawyers and the recent incorporation of Artificial Intelligence (“AI”) in law firms are current trending topics. As a 27-year old associate of a law firm based in Guatemala City, every time I read about AI and that global law firms are incorporating AI to their practice, I ask myself, will I be replaced by it (or IT) ...
Yesterday, Shoosmiths hosted an event by The Fashion Network titled ‘The Future of Social Commerce: Connecting Business with Community’. During this event we heard from fashion industry leaders on social commerce's transformative impact on fashion and FMCG ecommerce - in partnership with The Ecommerce Club ...
What is Fintech? The term fintech refers to the technologising of the financial industry. Fintech has become ever more recognized in the past few years, especially amidst COVID-19 in which demand for cashless payments and quick transactions have increased. Fintech exists in our daily lives from online banking to blockchain and to cryptocurrencies ...
At the turn of the 21st century, various high-ranking Federal Trade Commission (FTC) officials stated that the Federal Trade Commission Act does not create requirements for what data-security measures companies must enact to ensure that private information is protected. The FTC Act’s catch-all prohibition against “unfair” or “deceptive” acts or practices, 15 U.S.C. § 45(a), was not believed to cover the data-breach and cyber security domain ...
If your trademarks and business names contain letters with accents and you are the owner of domain names linked with them, it is important to familiarize yourself with the following. With a view to offering owners the possibility of registering domain names that comply with French spelling, the Canadian Internet Registration Authority (the « CIRA »), the organization that manages the register of ...
Our recent interview in The Lawyer sets out why the future of lawyering is all about tech and EQ. Its our recipe to thrive. We’ve been thinking about emotional intelligence, or EQ, a lot recently. After all, lawyering is a people business. It requires not only a high IQ—that’s a given—but also a highly-developed EQ ...
While lawmakers in Canada1 and elsewhere2 are endeavouring to regulate the development and use of technologies based on artificial intelligence (AI), it is important to bear in mind that these technologies are also classified within the broader family of information technology (IT). In 2001, Quebec adopted a legal framework aimed at regulating IT. All too often forgotten, this legislation applies directly to the use of certain AI-based technologies ...
In the turmoil of adjusting and living day-to-day in this time of the COVID-19 virus, the public has become more attuned to the reality of the term “Supply Chain.” We are gaining a better appreciation that before products reach the consumer, an extensive network of shippers and transportation entities of all types and modes of commerce, as well as freight brokers and any other functions essential to the delivery cycle, are at play 24/7 ...
On 16 May, a letter was signed by over 50 participants and groups from the digital asset industry. They sent it to the Speaker and Minority Leader of the U.S. House of Representatives, urging them to back a Bill (HR 4763, the Financial Innovation and Technology for the 21st Century Act or “FIT 21”). FIT 21 is expected to be debated and voted on this week ...
Artificial intelligence (AI) will shape our digital future. Self-driving cars, smart cities, digital factories, and more precise medical diagnoses - the opportunities of AI are endless. However, its use also triggers significant risks. Algorithms or deep learning tools which are not accurate might severely affect people. In specific cases, it might even raise complex ethical questions, for example when it comes to decisions about life or death ...
In last quarter’s issue, we discussed the rise of digital currencies and the blockchain, or distributed ledger, technology that supports them. We now turn our focus to how the financial industry and governments have embraced this technology and are working to adapt it to traditional banking services and applications as far ranging as recording property transfers and safeguarding nuclear missiles ...
The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) recently published a report on its 12-month review of the Revised FATF Standards on Virtual Assets and Virtual Asset Service Providers, and a report on so-called stablecoins which highlighted associated risks of money laundering/terrorism financing (“ML/TF”) ...
It's the final countdown to the new Consumer Duty. After what feels like a lifetime of consultations, responses and commentary on the FCAs new Consumer Duty, the final countdown is upon us. With just over 5 months to go before the Consumer Duty comes into force, the big question is.. ...
New regulations that ban businesses from imposing excessive fees on consumers making payments will extend to small businesses from 12 June 2014. The Consumer Rights (Payment Surcharges) Regulations 2012 (the 'regulations') - the first of many legislative changes that form part of the major ongoing overhaul of consumer protection legislation - came into force for most businesses on 6 April 2013 ...
Your biometric data tells the tale of who you are in intricate detail. Often, your biometric data is used to verify your identity at work or school. Currently, Illinois has the most comprehensive biometric privacy law in the country with the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act. Maryland and Mississippi look to join Illinois in protecting their citizens’ biometric data ...
In its judgment of 4 May 2023 (Case C-487/21), the European Court of Justice (“ECJ”) specified the scope of the right to obtain a “copy” of personal data in the context of the right of access. The ECJ ruled that the copy must be used to provide the data subject with a faithful and intelligible reproduction of all personal data that are the subject of the processing ...
The EU published a report on 18 April 2024, ‘Much More than a Market’.1 The reasons behind the call for the report are the EU’s concerns that just over 30 years after its creation there are important aspects of the Single Market that are not complete, and that the world is very different to what it was 30 years ago ...
At the end of November 2020, the European Commission published a plan for getting the EU out of the mess that it’s in as a result of COVID-19. The report is entitled “.” Although the report is aimed at European authorities and businesses, there are aspects of the plan that have general application ...
The Digital Markets Act (DMA) – which is underpinned by competition law - allows access to third parties to data previously held only by ‘Gatekeepers’, namely, large digital platforms, such as Google or Facebook ...
On 23 February 2022, the EU Commission proposed measures regulating the use and access of data, not being ‘personal data’ as understood by the GDPR, within the European Union across all economic sectors. The regulation of the use of data is essential given that data continues to be generated yet underutilised. The draft Regulation is to be read in conjunction with the EU’s Data Governance Act ...
The new year, 2022, will be the year in which cryptocurrencies gain more legitimacy worldwide through government regulation, oversight and further acceptance. Indeed, in December 2021, the Dubai World Trade Centre announced that it will become a crypto zone and a regulator for cryptocurrencies and other virtual assets - including digital assets, products, operators and exchanges. In September 2021, the country of El Salvador officially recognized Bitcoin as legal tender ...
On the 28th of February 2023, the European Data Protection Board (hereinafter referred to as the “EDPB”) issued its Opinion on the European Commission’s draft adequacy decision regarding the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework ...
