Il diritto civile a confronto con le nuove tecnologie: wireless community networks e responsabilit\ue0 extracontrattuale

Il contributo si occupa di inquadrare le WCNs sotto il profilo giuridico, cercando di fornire risposte agli interrogativi derivanti dal conflitto delle norme di responsabilit\ue0 civile con la tecnologia delle reti comunitarie. Al disegno del panorama normativo di riferimento, segue una disamina delle soluzioni prospettabili in ipotesi di illeciti civili nascenti dalla diffusione e dall\u2019uso delle WCNs. L\u2019indagine pone in evidenza come questa tecnologia metta \uabsotto scacco\ubb le attuali norme in tema di responsabilit\ue0 civile. Conseguentemente, l'Autrice ipotizza alcune soluzioni e propone possibili interventi legislativi, che si renderebbero necessari per una tutela di eventuali diritti lesi

Enforcement del diritto d'autore nell'ambito di Internet vs. protezione dei dati personali: bilanciamento tra diritti fondamentali e contesto culturale = Copyright enforcement in the Internet vs. personal data protection: balance between fundamental rights and cultural context

The starting point of this research are a number of selected lawsuits in which copyright holders have tried to enforce their rights against Internet users suspected of illegal file-sharing. In so doing, copyright enforcement collided with users’ information privacy. Employing a comparative and multidisciplinary approach, my aim is to understand the way judges solve the mentioned conflict between information privacy and copyright enforcement. The comparison involves the European system (with particular regard to Italy) and the North American ones (US and Canada). The idea behind my analysis is that technology affects society, which in turn affects lawmakers, and even judges. Indeed, judges do not live a secluded life, but operate within a society. Therefore, it is at least plausible, if not necessary, that their decisions reflect the values of that society. Many studies illustrate the way courts decide and if and how they can be influenced by the society and culture in which they operate. To assess if my statement is sound, I shall consider the perception of copyright in the three normative systems. The same analysis is undertaken with regard to information privacy. Importance is given also to the policies adopted for the two rights. Unsurprisingly, technology has affected in many ways the substance of both privacy and copyright norms, as well as people’s lives and people’s way of behaving. This has led to a different perception of the need to protect the aforementioned rights. The question I mean to answer is the following: could this be a reason why, despite similar legal frameworks, the outcomes of lawsuits are quite different among the considered legal systems? This is the goal of my research, conscious of the fact that anyway my answer can be just one of the many possible explanations

Wireless Community Networks: inquadramento legislativo e questioni di responsabilit\ue0 civile nel sistema italiano

Wireless Community Networks (WCNs) are wireless networks based on outer reach technologies managed by local communities, without a centralized structure. WCNs are territorial infrastructures which allow, also through Internet connectivity, the inclusion of people and places which would otherwise be left out of telecommunications market. Engineers and sociologists have been studying these networks for many years, while legal scholars have paid very scant \u2013 if none \u2013 attention to the phenomenon. The article attempts to fill this gap, analyzing the legal context applicable to WCNs, as well as the possible implications of the diffusion of these networks in terms of civil liability

Effect of thyroglobulin autoantibodies on the metabolic clearance of serum thyroglobulin

Background: In order to establish whether thyroglobulin autoantibodies (TgAb) influence the metabolic clearance of thyroglobulin (Tg) in humans, serum Tg and TgAb were correlated shortly after radioiodine (131I) treatment. Methods: Samples were collected from 30 consecutive patients undergoing 131I activity for Graves' hyperthyroidism at the time of treatment and every 15 days thereafter, up to 90 days. Tg and TgAb were measured by immunometric assays (functional sensitivities: 0.1 ng/mL and 8 IU/mL). Results: Tg was detectable in all patients at day 0. Tg concentrations rose from a mean of 33.2 ng/mL [confidence interval (CI) 17.8–61.0 ng/mL] at day 0 to a mean of 214.6 ng/mL [CI 116.9–393.4 ng/mL] at day 30 and then steadily decreased, reaching the lowest concentration at day 90 (M = 10.9 ng/mL [CI 5.5–20.9 ng/mL]). Compared to their levels at day 0 (M = 23.6 IU/mL [CI 10.5–52.9 IU/mL]), TgAb remained stable through day 15 and then gradually increased up to a mean of 116.6 IU/mL [CI 51.9–262.2 IU/mL] at day 90. Patients were then split into two groups according to their TgAb status at day 0: undetectable (<8 IU/mL; 9 patients) or detectable (≥8 IU/mL; 21 patients) TgAb. Compared to the other cohort, patients with detectable TgAb showed significantly lower Tg concentrations at day 0 (M = 20.3 ng/mL [CI 10.1–40.2 ng/mL] vs. M = 101.8 ng/mL [CI 36.6–279.8 ng/mL]), similar at day 15, lower levels at day 30 (M = 146.5 ng/mL [CI 74.3–287.8 ng/mL] vs. M = 514.8 ng/mL [CI 187.8–1407.9 ng/mL]), at day 45 (M = 87.5 ng/mL [CI 43.1–176.6 ng/mL] vs. M = 337.9 ng/mL [CI 120.1–947.0 ng/mL]), at day 60 (M = 61.6 ng/mL [CI 31.0–121.4 ng/mL] vs. M = 255.8 ng/mL [CI 79.0–823.8 ng/mL]), and at day 75 (M = 24.5 ng/mL [CI 11.9–49.2 ng/mL] vs. M = 249.5 ng/mL [CI 63.5–971.1 ng/mL]), and similar levels at day 90. Patients with detectable TgAb showed a lower (M = 182.5 ng/mL [CI 92.0–361.0 ng/mL] vs. M = 514.8 ng/mL [CI 187.8–1407.9 ng/mL]) and an earlier (day 15 vs. day 30) peak of Tg. The mean Tg concentration was lower in patients with detectable TgAb than in those with undetectable TgAb (area under the curve: 17,340 ± 16,481 ng/mL vs. 36,883 ± 44,625 ng/mL; p = 0.02). Conclusions: TgAb influence the changes in Tg concentrations observed immediately after 131I treatment, inducing lower levels and an earlier peak of Tg. These observations indicate that TgAb significantly influence the metabolic clearance of Tg, supporting the concept that their interference in the measurement of Tg is mainly due to an in vivo effect

Intellectual Property, Open Science and Research Biobanks

In biomedical research and translational medicine, the ancient war between exclusivity (private control over information) and access to information is proposing again on a new battlefield: research biobanks. The latter are becoming increasingly important (one of the ten ideas changing the world, according to Time magazine) since they allow to collect, store and distribute in a secure and professional way a critical mass of human biological samples for research purposes. Tissues and related data are fundamental for the development of the biomedical research and the emerging field of translational medicine: they represent the “raw material” for every kind of biomedical study. For this reason, it is crucial to understand the boundaries of Intellectual Property (IP) in this prickly context. In fact, both data sharing and collaborative research have become an imperative in contemporary open science, whose development depends inextricably on: the opportunities to access and use data, the possibility of sharing practices between communities, the cross-checking of information and results and, chiefly, interactions with experts in different fields of knowledge. Data sharing allows both to spread the costs of analytical results that researchers cannot achieve working individually and, if properly managed, to avoid the duplication of research. These advantages are crucial: access to a common pool of pre-competitive data and the possibility to endorse follow-on research projects are fundamental for the progress of biomedicine. This is why the "open movement" is also spreading in the biobank's field. After an overview of the complex interactions among the different stakeholders involved in the process of information and data production, as well as of the main obstacles to the promotion of data sharing (i.e., the appropriability of biological samples and information, the privacy of participants, the lack of interoperability), we will firstly clarify some blurring in language, in particular concerning concepts often mixed up, such as “open source” and “open access”. The aim is to understand whether and to what extent we can apply these concepts to the biomedical field. Afterwards, adopting a comparative perspective, we will analyze the main features of the open models – in particular, the Open Research Data model – which have been proposed in literature for the promotion of data sharing in the field of research biobanks. After such an analysis, we will suggest some recommendations in order to rebalance the clash between exclusivity - the paradigm characterizing the evolution of intellectual property over the last three centuries - and the actual needs for access to knowledge. We argue that the key factor in this balance may come from the right interaction between IP, social norms and contracts. In particular, we need to combine the incentives and the reward mechanisms characterizing scientific communities with data sharing imperative

Immagini pedopornografiche, privacy del lavoratore e protezione costituzionale: il punto della Corte Suprema canadese

Il presente commento riguarda la sentenza R. v. Cole (2012 SCC 53) della Corte Suprema Canadese in tema di ragionevole aspettativa di privacy del lavoratore sulle informazioni contenute in un computer di lavoro. La questione principale risiede nella possibile illiceità di un’ispezione di un pc da parte di un agente di polizia avvenuta senza mandato e quindi contraria alla sezione 8 della Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. La Corte Suprema decreta l’irrilevanza del consenso all’ispezione fornito dal terzo-datore di lavoro, considerando l’esistenza di una seppur affievolita aspettativa di privacy del lavoratore nel computer di lavoro utilizzato anche a scopi personali. Nella sua parte finale il commento compara lo scenario canadese in materia di privacy del lavoratore a quello statunitense, delineando analogie e differenze fra i due ordinamenti