Universität zu Köln

Burr, Isolde and Dillmann, Ruben (2022). (Data) Altruism and the Law. In: LegislEUlab der Europäischen Rechtslinguistik 2021 (EU-Rechtsetzungslabor "LegislEUlab". Dossier), pp. 389-434. Verein zur Förderung der Europäischen Rechtslinguistik an der Universität zu Köln.

PDF (Data) Altruism and the Law_KUPS.pdf Download (600kB)

Abstract

The paper provides an overview of current conceptions and discussions on altruism in philosophy and law as well as an introduction to the linguistic history of the term. We first examine philosophical debates surrounding the definition and normative desirability of altruism and conclude that while none of the debates can be conclusively resolved, that there is a social phenomenon that can plausibly be called “altruism” and that powerful arguments speak in favour of such behaviour. We argue that even under (hard) positivism, philosophical perspectives influence both the making and the interpretation of law. In light of that, we investigate how altruism can be incorporated by law, both in theory and practice, using examples from German and EU law. Subsequently, the linguistic history of the term "altruism" is explored, finding that it is a deliberate French neologism from the early 19th century that has become an internationalism adopted into many languages. The term “data-altruism” as a novel compound was likely coined by Intel in 2013 in the context of medical research. The European Commission has transferred this term to a broader legal context in the European Data Strategy and later in the new Data Governance Act (DGA). We then combine our philosophical, legal and linguistic insights to evaluate this novel concept of "data altruism" and its reception in the academic literature. We conclude that lawmakers need to clearly define what type of behaviour they refer to with the term “altruism” analyse the motivational structure underpinning the behaviour in question as well as its practical effects. Even though the published reasoning for the inclusion of “Data Altruism” into the DGA has been insufficient in that regard, we believe that it represents a sensible regulatory strategy that may set the tone for the future data economy and foster wider availability of data.

Item Type:	Book Section, Proceedings Item or annotation in a legal commentary
Creators:	Creators Email ORCID ORCID Put Code Burr, Isolde burr@uni-koeln.de UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED Dillmann, Ruben r.dillmann@uni-koeln.de UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED
Editors:	Editors Email ORCID ORCID Put Code Burr, Isolde burr@uni-koeln.de UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED Dillmann, Ruben r.dillmann@uni-koeln.de UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED Heinemann, Ellen eheinema@uni-koeln.de UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED Mattissen, Johanna johanna.mattissen@uni-koeln.de orcid.org/0000-0002-8328-5472 UNSPECIFIED
URN:	urn:nbn:de:hbz:38-719427
Title of Book:	LegislEUlab der Europäischen Rechtslinguistik 2021 (EU-Rechtsetzungslabor "LegislEUlab". Dossier)
Series Name at the University of Cologne:	Kölner Publikationsreihe Europäische Rechtslinguistik
Volume:	2
Page Range:	pp. 389-434
Number of Pages:	492
Date:	2022
Publisher:	Verein zur Förderung der Europäischen Rechtslinguistik an der Universität zu Köln
ISSN:	2748-5765
Language:	English
Faculty:	Faculty of Arts and Humanities
Divisions:	Faculty of Arts and Humanities > Fächergruppe 5: Moderne Sprachen und Kulturen > Romanisches Seminar > Professur für Europäische Rechtslinguistik
Subjects:	Philosophy Law Language, Linguistics
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Keywords Language Altruism; Data Governance; DGA; Data Protection; Data Altruism English Altruismus; Data Governance; DGA; Datenschutz; Datenaltruismus German
Related URLs:	Conference
Funders:	Kölner Gymnasial- und Stiftungsfonds
Projects:	Cologne Summer School der Europäischen Rechtslinguistik 3, 2021
Refereed:	Yes
URI:	http://kups.ub.uni-koeln.de/id/eprint/71942