Legal Reforms in the Age of Digitization: Setting Realistic Goals

Abstract:

The anomalies surrounding the legal regulation of digital technologies and products that have emerged as a result of such technologies are the focus of this article's investigation. The active development of digital services and digital financial assets necessitated the selection of this topic, as did the need to adapt modern legislation to the demands of the digital economy. International organizations are developing different strategies for digital law, but neither in theory nor in reality there a uniform understanding of the legal nature of digital technologies and their legal control. In this article, the findings of a review study of the most important legal characteristics of digital technologies are presented. One of the conclusions is that the technical aspects of digital technologies are not sufficiently taken into account, and that an international plan for developing civil and intellectual law that addresses digital technology has to be devised. The authors assess the viability of incorporating new legal categories into the traditional rule of law on contracts, responsibility, and intellectual property protection by evaluating the legal personality, security, and tort categories of digital technology and products, comparing them to analogous legal institutions. The authors contend that the application of traditional law to digital technologies is severely constrained, and that many of these innovations require the development of qualitatively new legal frameworks. The article's conclusions have substantial methodological and practical importance, and they can be taken into account when attempting to change the law as it currently stands.