The Institute at "Sirius"

Skolokov-HSE Institute for Law & Development staff Kirill Molodyko, Maxim Bashkatov, and Maxim Karlyuk took part in the 2nd Academic-Scientific School for Financial Technologies of the Digital Economy of Russia.  

The school, uniting gifted students from leading Russian universities, is a joint project of the Talent & Success Foundation and the Higher School of Economics. The school unites gifted students from leading Russian universities, and is a joint project of the Talent and Success Foundation and the Higher School of Economics. It was supported by the Bank of Russia and is manifested via the

Sirius Educational Center in the city of Adler (Krasnodar Territory).  Almost all students of the school are recipients of presidential grants or are in the database of the State Information Resource about children who have shown outstanding abilities.

The Institute organised a panel session "Legal Risks and Opportunities of the Digital Economy", and our staffalso gave personal lectures.   Kirill Molodyko, during the panel session, acquainted students with current projects of the Institute in such areas as antitrust regulation for the new digital economy, protection of the rights of economic entities for parallel imports, and national food security. Particular attention was paid to the problems of technological development of law.

According to Kirill, technological development and the building of the digital economy along with numerous advantages also creates a number of new potential threats to fundamental human rights. During his personal lecture "Crypto-currencies: a look from lawyers, economists and ecologists" Kirill acquainted students with a wide range of diverse public and private interests that interact in a society around the turnover of crypto-currencies. Insisting on an inter-disciplinary approach, Kirill drew particular attention to the often observed misunderstanding and unwillingness to study by representatives of some professions from the point of view of other professions. The latter is very clearly seen in the analysis of public discussion related to crypto-currencies.

 Maxim Karliuk noted that the "Digital Agenda" is being implemented in the Eurasian Economic Union. This is a step in the right direction, since the digital boundaries of states in the digital age can be almost fictional. However, despite ambitious goals, the main obstacle to the implementation of the "Digital Agenda" is, according to Maxim, the lack of real supranational power in the EAEC. Maxim Karlyuk also delivered the personal lecture "Problems of regulation of technologies using artificial intelligence methods". The lecturer noted that modern legal systems are not sufficiently equipped with tools to solve problems arising in connection with the use of new technologies. The lecture considered possible options for regulation, especially regarding the ability of systems using artificial intelligence technologies to act independently and often unpredictably for their creators and users. The regulatory options proposed today have significant drawbacks, and therefore the possibility of the direct responsibility of such systems is considered. Maxim concluded that the alleged differences between a person and an autonomous agent do not mean that only a person can be held responsible, but there remains the question of determining the goals that are pursued when such responsibility is introduced.

Maxim Bashkatov, in his speech at the panel session and a personal lecture on "Regulation of the turnover of crypto-active assets in a comparative perspective: an analysis of legislative initiatives", analyzed in detail three pending bills of the Russian Parliament concerning the circulation of digital assets. Also Maxim acquainted students with the latest stories of legal regulation of the turnover of crypto-active assets in various foreign jurisdictions.

Author: Kirill Molodyko