ALIAS

analysis of legal and technical implications of the use of software agents

Goal of the research

Properties associated to agents such as autonomy, pro-activity, reasoning, learning, collaboration, negotiation, and social and physical manifestation are properties developed by man. Notions such as anonymity and privacy acquire new meanings in the "digital world." New concepts such as pseudo-anonymity emerge. Until now, much research on deployment of information technology has been done as a separate discipline. Computer Science and AI develop the technical expertise and applications. Law then fits these applications into existing legal frameworks (taking US, European and Dutch traditions into account), proposing new frameworks if and when needed. In this project, members of the two disciplines AI and Law are collaboratively investigating the legal possibilities and limitations of agent technology, ultimately leading to recommendations for both disciplines.

Discussion Forum

Using agents on the internet will eventually lead to many legal questions. Some of those can be foreseen, and specific technical measures may prevent the agent from falling into some legal pitfalls. For this purpose, the ALIAS project analyses legal and technical implications of software agent applications. Much still needs to be discussed. Please join the discussion forum on http://soapbox.cs.vu.nl/ALIAS/.