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Structuring Big Data to Facilitate Democratic Participation in International Law

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 February 2019

Roslyn Fuller
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Abstract

This is an interdisciplinary article focusing on the interplay between information and communication technology (ICT) and international law (IL). Its purpose is to open a dialogue between ICT and IL practitioners that focuses on the ways in which ICT can enhance equitable participation in international legal structures, particularly through capturing the possibilities associated with big data. This depends on the ability of individuals to access big data, for it to be structured in a manner that makes it accessible and for the individual to be able to take action based on it.

Type
Articles
Information
International Journal of Legal Information , Volume 42 , Issue 3 , Winter 2014 , pp. 504 - 516
Copyright
Copyright © 2014 by the International Association of Law Libraries. 

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References

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2 See, e.g., Massimo Pugliucci's critique of Anderson's article in “The End of Theory in Science?” Embo Reports, 10(6) June 2009, 534 and Mark Graham's emphasis on the importance of contextualization in “Big Data and the End of Theory?” Guardian Data Blog, 9 March 2012, http://tinyurl.com/oac7gro.Google Scholar

3 A good example would be tracking the spread of contagious disease in order to take precautionary measures in a timely, but not unnecessarily hasty, manner.Google Scholar

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7 For example, through international treaty provisions, such as Art. 17 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights; the processes of international institutions, such as the United Nations’ Guidelines for the Regulation of Computerized Personal Data Files, adopted by the General Assembly on 14 December 1990 through GA Res, 45/95; or the studies of recognized think tanks, e.g. Bollier, David, The Promise and Peril of Big Data (The Aspen Institute, Washington D.C., 2010).Google Scholar

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24 The Free Trade Agreement was the precursor to the North American Free Trade Agreement which also includes Mexico.Google Scholar

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31 For example, ostensibly the General Assembly controls the UN financial apparatus, as it sets membership dues, establishes the budgets for the specialised agencies and examines their spending habits. However, this task is delegated to the Fifth Committee (Malone, David, “Eyes on the Prize: The Quest for Non-Permanent Seats on the UN Security Council”, in (2000) 6 Global Governance, 3 at 3), which, in turn, tends to act blindly on the recommendation of ACABQ (the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions) which is “composed of sixteen members elected on the basis of regional representation with demonstrated experience in administrative and budgetary matters” (Martinetti, Irene, “Secretariat and Management Reform”, in Managing Change at the United Nations, at www.centerforunreform.org/node/308).Google Scholar

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33 In practice, responses are also issued to petitions that receive fewer than 25,000 signatures.Google Scholar

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