Oreste Pollicino and the Defense of Rights in the Algorithmic Age

THE PROFESSOR OF CONSTITUTIONAL LAW REPRESENTS ITALY IN THE EUROPEAN UNION AGENCY FOR FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS AND IN THE GLOBAL PARTNERSHIP ON ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE. THE MEDIALAWS PLATFORM WILL BE AN OBSERVER AT THE COUNCIL OF EUROPE'S AD HOC COMMITTEE ON ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE MEETINGS

Two international appointments for Oreste Pollicino and a recognition for the Medialaws.eu platform, that he founded in 2010, affirm the centrality of Bocconi on the protection of fundamental rights in the digital arena.
 
Pollicino, Full Professor of Constitutional Law, has been appointed Italian representative on the management board of the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA), based in Vienna. The five-year term of office begins today, 13 July, 2020. Within the Agency that promotes and protects fundamental rights in Europe, the management board is responsible for defining FRA's priorities and program of activities, as well as its budget. Alternate member for Italy is CNR’s Marco Fasciglione.
 
“My first commitment will be to promote the establishment of an independent National Commission for Human Rights in Italy. We are the only country in the Union that does not yet have one, despite the numerous legislative proposals over the last decade, and despite a United Nations resolution that obliges us to do so," says Professor Pollicino.
 
The second effort will be to write European guidelines for the protection of digital rights. “The right that comes easily to mind is the right to privacy,” comments the Professor, “but artificial intelligence and the so-called algorithmic dimension are also important: the right to transparent algorithms, the right to human self-determination in an automated world and so on”.
 
Prof. Pollicino is also the only jurist to represent Italy in the "Data Governance" working group of the Global Partnership on Artificial Intelligence (GPAI). GPAI is a global alliance launched on June 15, 2020 with the aim of  “supporting the responsible and human-centric development and use of AI in a manner consistent with human rights, fundamental freedoms, and our shared democratic values”, as stated in the Joint Declaration of the founding members (Australia, Canada, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Republic of Korea, Singapore, Slovenia, United Kingdom, United States of America, European Union). “The main purpose”, says Prof. Pollicino, “will be the development of a unitary language for the protection of rights in the algorithmic dimension, beyond national priorities and values. It will be Europe speaking to the world”.
 
Finally, still in the field of artificial intelligence, the Council of Europe has accepted the Medialaws platform  in the capacity of observer at the meetings of the Ad hoc Committee on Artificial Intelligence (CAHAI). Medialaws (Law and Policy of the Media in a Comparative Perspective), was founded and directed by Prof. Pollicino with another Bocconi scholar, Marco Bassini as managing editor, and will participate as a representative of civil society and the academic and research community. CAHAI is the committee that will evaluate the possibility of establishing a unitary regulatory framework on artificial intelligence in the 47 countries of the Council of Europe.

by Fabio Todesco