Digisprudence : code as law rebooted / Laurence Diver.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Diver, Laurence, author.

Series:

Future Law

Future Law : FULA

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Computer networks--Law and legislation.

Computer networks.

Computer programming.

Computer programming--Social aspects.

Cyberspace--Social aspects.

Cyberspace.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (276 pages) : illustrations.

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Edinburgh : Edinburgh University Press, [2022]

Language Note:

In English.

Summary:

Reboots the debate on ‘code as law’ to present a new cross-disciplinary direction that sheds light on the fundamental issue of software legitimacyReinvigorates the debate at the intersection of legal theory, philosophy of technology, STS and design practice Synthesises theories of legitimate legal rulemaking with practical knowledge of code production tools and practiceProposes a set of affordances that can legitimise code in line with an ecological view of legalityDraws on contemporary technologies as case studies, examining blockchain applications and the Internet of ThingsLaurence Diver combines insight from legal theory, philosophy of technology and programming practice to develop a new theoretical and practical approach to the design of legitimate software. The book critically engages with the rule(s) of code, arguing that, like laws, these should exhibit certain formal characteristics if they are to be acceptable in a democracy. The resulting digisprudential affordances translate ideas of legitimacy from legal philosophy into the world of code design, to be realised through the ‘constitutional’ role played by programming languages, integrated development environments (IDEs), and agile development practice. The text interweaves theory and practice throughout, including many insights into real-world technologies, as well as case studies on blockchain applications and the Internet of Things (IoT).Whenever you use a smartphone, website, or IoT device, your behaviour is determined to a great extent by a designer. Their software code defines from the outset what is possible, with very little scope to interpret the meaning of those ‘rules’ or to contest them. How can this kind of control be acceptable in a democracy? If we expect legislators to respect values of legitimacy when they create the legal rules that govern our lives, shouldn’t we expect the same from the designers whose code has a much more direct rule over us?

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Expanded Table of Contents

Illustrations

Acknowledgements

1 Introduction

Part I Computational Legalism and the Rule(s) of Code

2 A Design Perspective: Code is More than Law

3 A Legal Philosophy Perspective: Code is Less than Law

Part II What Makes a Good Rule?

4 Criteria for Laws

5 Criteria for Code

Part III Legitimating Code: Theory and Practice

6 The Digisprudential Affordances

7 Operationalising Digisprudence

8 Rebooting Code as Law: Conclusions and Next Steps

Bibliography

Index

Notes:

This eBook is made available Open Access under a CC BY-NC 4.0 license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0 https://www.degruyter.com/dg/page/open-access-policy

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 24. Mai 2022)

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

ISBN:

9781474485340

1474485340

OCLC:

1308954824

Access Restriction:

Open access Unrestricted online access