Unit 1 - Introduction to Technological Advancements in the Legal Field
1.1. Definition and meanings of Common Terms
(I) “Technology”
Technology, which is derived from the Greek term, techne, “art, skill, the cunning of hand”, and (logic,) “-logia,” is the collection of tools, including machinery, modifications, arrangements, and procedures used by humans. Engineering is a discipline that seeks to study and design new technologies.
Technologies significantly affect human as well as other animal species’ ability to control and adapt to their natural environments. The term can either be applied generally or to specific areas- examples include construction technology, medical technology, Legal Technology and information technology.
It is the practical application of knowledge especially in a particular area. A manner of accomplishing a task especially using technical processes, methods, or knowledge. The specialized aspects of a particular field of endeavor.
Theorist’s definitions of Technology
According to J. Bloomer, “Technology is the application of scientific theory to practical ends.”
According to Hierra, "Technology is the set of instruments and skills which are used to satisfy the needs of the community.”
According to Page, T. (1976), "Technology is the application of scientific knowledge to a practical purpose (problem)."
Technology is the application of scientific and engineering principles to create useful tools, techniques, and systems that enhance and improve various aspects of human life. Technology refers to the tools, techniques, and systems to solve problems, improve efficiency, and create new products and services.
Technology includes both physical objects and digital systems that are designed to perform specific tasks and functions. Technology has been used throughout human history to enhance and improve various aspects of life, from the development of the wheel to the invention of the computer. Today, technology is used in almost every aspect of modern society, from communication and transportation to healthcare and entertainment.
Technology is driven by innovation and is constantly evolving to meet the needs of society. It has played a crucial role in the advancement of science, medicine, industry, and many other fields, enabling individuals and organizations to achieve new levels of productivity, efficiency, and creativity.
It can be broadly classified into two types -
General Technology, machinery, and equipment developed from the application of scientific knowledge.
Legal technology, also known as Legal Tech, refers to the use of technology and software to provide legal services and support the legal industry
(II) “Informatics”
Informatics is the science of how to use data, information, and knowledge to improve human life. Legal informatics is an area within information science. The American Library Association defines informatics as "the study of the structure and properties of information, as well as the application of technology to the organization, storage, retrieval, and dissemination of information."
Legal informatics, therefore, pertains to the application of informatics within the context of the legal environment and as such involves law-related organizations (e.g., law offices, courts, and law schools) and users of information and information technologies within these organizations.
Informatics studies the representation, processing, and communication of information in natural and engineered systems. It has computational, cognitive, and social aspects. The central notion is the transformation of information - whether by computation or communication, whether by organisms or artifacts.
Informatics studies the structure, behaviour, and interactions of natural and artificial systems that store, process, and communicate information. Informatics is the study, design, and development of information technology that generates, stores, processes, and presents information. Often, informatics is referred to as the science of information. The field of informatics considers the interaction between information systems and the user, as well as the construction of the interfaces between the two, such as the user interface. For example, Westlaw and LexisNexis are classic examples of legal informatics tools — vast databases allowing lawyers to search case law, statutes, and legal articles in seconds instead of days.
(III) “Artificial Intelligence (AI)”
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is the simulation of human intelligence in machines that are programmed to perform tasks that typically require human cognitive abilities. AI systems learn from data, identify patterns, make decisions, and perform tasks with minimal human intervention.
AI systems leverage intelligent algorithms that classify, analyze, and make predictions from large amounts of data. These algorithms are trained using large datasets (i.e. “training data”) so that they can identify patterns in data, make predictions, and recommend actions.
Article 3(1) of EU AI Act defines ‘AI system’ means a machine-based system that is designed to operate with varying levels of autonomy and that may exhibit adaptiveness after deployment, and that, for explicit or implicit objectives, infers, from the input it receives, how to generate outputs such as predictions, content, recommendations, or decisions that can influence physical or virtual environments.
DPDP Act 2023 Section 2(b) defines“automated” as any digital process capable of operating automatically in response to instructions given or otherwise for the purpose of processing data.
[X] General Future Trends in AI
AI will increasingly be monitoring and refining business processes which will lead to mass-automation
More and more personalization will take place in real-time
AI becomes increasingly useful as data becomes more accurate and available
More devices will run AI-powered technology
Human and AI cooperation and interdependence increase
AI is taking place at the "edge," close to the point where data is gathered and used.
AI is increasingly used to create films, music, and games
AI will become ever more present in cybersecurity
AI policing and the rollout of facial recognition technology
[X] Uses of AI in Law
Contract review and analysis (identifies risks in contracts automatically)
Legal research (searches millions of cases in seconds)
Predictive analytics (predicts case outcomes based on historical data)
E-discovery (sorts through millions of digital documents for relevant evidence)
Chatbots for legal advice (basic legal queries answered automatically)
Compliance monitoring (flags regulatory violations in real-time)
Tools like tax-preparation software (e.g., TurboTax) translate complex tax codes into executable computer logic.
Financial or commercial agreements expressed in computer-understandable form to automate the execution of contract terms.
[X] Challenges of AI and Law
AI lacks the concept of grasping human intuition, social norms, and abstract concepts (which have significantly decreased, however, with the use of LLMs)
Machine learning models can subtly encode and amplify biases present in their training data.
Many AI mechanisms are "black boxes," where even the programmers cannot fully explain how a specific decision was reached. This raises transparency concerns when AI is used for high-stakes decisions like criminal sentencing.
There is a risk that judges or administrators will inappropriately defer to automated scores, viewing them as "mechanically infallible" while ignoring the subjective human choices and data uncertainties involved in their creation.
Effective AI requires high-quality, machine-processable data, which is currently scarce in many legal niches compared to other fields.
Data processing and collection can also raise privacy issues and challenges with IPR.
1.2. Intersection of Law and Technology
The concept of 'Technology Laws' covers all laws which: (a) regulate the development of technology; (b) are driven by technology; and (c) have evolved with the growth of technology. Law in the world of the Internet is a constantly changing and evolving beast. It has neither parental guidance nor memory genes to guide its path to the lighter horizon. It had to rely on existing logic and purposive interpretation in its formative years.
A study of this broad category of laws, i.e., laws which regulate the development of technology and are also driven by it, and, most importantly, which have evolved with the growth of technology, could be broadly classified as “Technology Laws”. Change, definitely, is the only constant in this field of law and is constantly evolving with the times. Technology change is not only necessary but is an absolute necessity for law to be relevant in this ever-changing domain.
Technology Laws lay scattered throughout the larger fabric of law and the justice delivery system. The limitless universe of Technology Laws, which includes the criminal, corporate, intellectual property, and most significantly, the constitutional, sovereignty, and territoriality aspects that touch upon our everyday life.
Constitutional Law: The primary source of all laws, with the evolving technology, has also had to adjust. Problems like Freedom of Speech and Freedom of Profession online, Right to Privacy under Article 21, Surveillance issues, Net Neutrality, Right to be Forgotten, Drone Attacks, and so on.
Criminal Law: Cybercrimes are a growing field primarily governed under IT Act which include hacking, breach of data, source code tampering, offensive messages, identity theft, cyberterrorism, CSAM, pornography, and so on.
IPR: Technology has also been driven by IPR with growth in Patents on inventions, copyright in software and games, personality rights, fair use doctrine, AI and copyright, Digital Rights Management, “John Doe” orders, trademarks on meta tags, domain names, and even e-commerce.
Contract Law: Technology has also led the evolution of digital and e-contracts. E-commerce, cryptocurrency, online modes of payment also facilitate contractual obligations.
Evidence Law: Electronic evidence, records and chain of custody are also important examples of the interplay of technology and law.
Food Law: Technology helps develop gadgets or advanced weather systems which would help farmers to prepare for a disaster if it strikes. Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO) is used in farms and is a biotechnology that has been genetically engineered to have traits like herb resistance, pest resistance and increased nutritional value. The Internet of Things is very important to food technology. This technology helps farmers and others to interact with each other by transferring data which is done by sensors already embedded in farms.
Medicine Law: Laws are both permissive and restrictive, defining the scope of medical practice, public health, and the safety standards for new technologies.
E-Courts: E-Courts are bridging the gap between technology and law by embedding Information and Communication Technology (ICT) into judicial processes. This digital integration allows for efficient case management, reducing procedural bottlenecks and making legal services more transparent.
The technological advances have thrown a strong challenge to existing norms and beliefs. They question and test the malleability of existing laws, concepts, and interpretations, and encourage governments, legislators and enforcement mechanisms to push boundaries to evolve law to meet technology’s challenges.
Technology has further unsettled “settled laws and principles” and emboldened the judiciary to become more adventurous by venturing into uncharted territories. It has erased boundaries not only with the reach of technology but also with respect to enforcement. Judicial pronouncements today do not merely look for guidance up the National Judicial ladder but beyond that to pronouncements from territories far and wide.
There are two approaches for examining the interface between the law and technology:
To examine how technological developments are transforming the functioning of the legal system
To examine how the laws try to keep up with the pace of technological development
The first aspect involves technological developments and their incorporation into the legal system, including blockchain, artificial intelligence, e-discovery, e-filing, case management systems, and so on. The second aspect involves cyber laws, data privacy laws, intellectual property laws, and other technological laws, as well as the requirement for laws in general to keep up with evolving technologies.
Four perspectives of law during technological change:
There is often a perceived need for new laws or special laws for regulating a particular technology. Whenever there is a new technology in the market, there is a demand for a specific law to regulate the technology.
Uncertainties involved in employing an existing law as it is on a new technology
Over-inclusivity/Under-inclusivity – while applying existing laws on relationships and practices shaped by new technologies
Laws, rules, or regulations may become obsolete when the intended objective ceases to be relevant/ if the technology ceases to be in usage
1.3. Technology-Driven Laws
Technology-driven laws are those that have come into existence specifically because technology created a need for them. Unlike traditional laws, these statutes must constantly evolve because technology changes faster than the legislative process.
Information Technology Act, 2000 (IT Act): The primary legislation governing electronic commerce, digital signatures, cybercrime, and data protection in India. Amended significantly in 2008 to expand its scope. It permits authentication of electronic records by digital signatures, e-filing, rules in relation to electronic records, establishes a Cyber Appellate Tribunal and even prescribes extra territorial jurisdiction for cyber offences.
Information Technology (Amendment) Act, 2008: Added new provisions on cybercrime (Sections 66A-66F), intermediary liability, blocking of websites, and data protection.
Information Technology (Reasonable Security Practices) Rules, 2011: Rules governing protection of sensitive personal data by companies.
Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 (DPDP Act): India's comprehensive data protection legislation governing how personal data is collected, processed, and stored. The Act grants individuals control over their personal data. Defines obligations for data fiduciaries (organizations collecting personal data) regarding data collection, storage, and usage. Establishes a Data Protection Authority to oversee compliance.
MeitY Rules and Regulations: The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) issues supplementary rules under the IT Act, addressing specific areas like Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 outlines content moderation responsibilities and grievance redressal mechanisms for social media platforms and online intermediaries.
E-Commerce Laws: Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines for Sale of Goods Online) Rules, 2017 set guidelines for online marketplaces and e-commerce platforms. The Consumer Protection Act, 2019, protects consumer rights in online transactions.
Technological change affects the law by altering the cost of violating/enforcing existing legal rules, by altering underlying facts that justify legal rules, by changing the underlying facts implicitly assumed by law and making existing legal concepts and categories obsolete. Therefore, it raises the question whether technological developments require a new law to address them.
Technological Determinism is a theoretical framework that suggests technology is the primary driver of societal change and development. This concept has been influential across various disciplines, including sociology, philosophy, and law. The core principles of Technological Determinism can be summarized as follows:
Technology is the primary driver of societal change
Technological advancements are autonomous and beyond human control
Societal development is shaped by technological innovation
The implications of Technological Determinism for legal theory and practice are significant. If technology is the primary driver of societal change, then law must adapt to these changes. This raises questions about the role of law in regulating technology and the potential consequences of failing to do so.
Some of the key implications for legal theory and practice include:
Changes in legal norms and practices: Technology challenges traditional notions of law and its application, requiring new approaches to regulation and enforcement.
Challenges to traditional legal frameworks: The rapid pace of technological change can render existing legal frameworks obsolete, necessitating new frameworks and regulations.
The future of law in a technologically driven society: The increasing reliance on technology raises questions about the role of law in ensuring that technological advancements align with societal values and norms.
Technological Exceptionalism (Ryan Calo): Happens when a new technology forces a systemic legal change to maintain or alter existing value balances in society.
Essential Qualities: According to Calo, Post, and Lessig, technologies have inherent traits that significantly influence law and policy responses.
Legal Responsibility: Legal scholars and policymakers must identify these traits early and adapt laws accordingly.
Tim Wu’s Perspective: Argues that exceptionalism is relative—it depends on what norms or systems the new technology is considered to be an "exception" to.
1.4. Overview of Disruptive Technologies in Law
Technology may be propelling us into a “new century with no plan, no control, no brakes” and advises reprising control before we cross the “fail-safe point”. Disruptive technologies are innovative solutions that challenge and alter the traditional system and habits for efficient and productive processes and experiences.
Clayton Christensen termed “disruptive technologies” usually start out as "inferior" or niche products for a small set of customers, but they eventually improve so rapidly that they take over the entire market. Mostly, these technologies are superior to older ones. E-commerce, Online news sites, GPS systems, and ride-hailing apps are some of the top examples of solutions using disruptive technologies that have changed our lives for the better. Disruptive technologies include business models or technologies that challenge incumbent businesses and successfully target overlooked market segments.
In the field of law, the following can be considered as disruptive technologies:
Cloud storage apps that removed the need for extra storage
The employment of artificial intelligence for low added value tasks which enables easier access to information and is interactive in nature
Blockchain which can design and automate contracts and can facilitate alternative dispute resolutions through anonymous panels
eDiscovery for due diligence, disclosure, document review and Analysis.
Technology has persistently and consistently brought about paradigm shifts in legal enforcement processes. Law, by its very nature, is antithetic to disruption. It grows and develops in a slow and sustained manner, meandering its way into a position of strength, relying heavily on the judicial rudder to guide its path. Disruptions through technologies, which have changed the way we live and conduct our lives, have however shaken law from its self-induced stupor.
Disruptions could be attributed initially to reducing distances through evolving means of transport. Early communication technologies or the telephone to be precise and wireless technologies thereafter made transportation redundant. Modern day communications have however made transportation irrelevant and reduced distances to split second transportations.
Contract law went through change with changing communications technology, wherein Courts were called upon to decide on issues of offer and acceptance as a first step. In Entores Ltd. v. Miles Far East Corporation (1955), it was held that there is no clear rule about contracts made by telephone or by Telex. Communications by these means are virtually instantaneous and stand on a different footing. Unlike postal communications, where acceptance is deemed effective upon dispatch, instantaneous communication requires acceptance to be received. If a message of acceptance is not received due to a fault in communication, no contract is formed. The offeree bears the responsibility of ensuring their acceptance reaches the offeror.
The predicament for law has been and continues to be whether it should restrict itself to its sustained growth, i.e., incremental improvements to law either through a slow process of amendments to existing laws or through interpretations by precedents or if the pace should be disrupted to not just keep pace with technology but to be ahead of the times. Purposive interpretations may save the day in the short run, but if one of the tenets of good jurisprudence were to be sustained, i.e., “certainty – not only in the laws but in the interpretations thereof,” then law may require a disruptive approach rather than a pedantic and sustained movement.
Disruptions are not alien to law. Whenever boundaries have been breached, the law has had to modify its approach towards the resolution of conflicts.
The growth of maritime trade resulted in the development of admiralty laws, as the high seas were otherwise no man’s land.
Enforcement of intellectual property rights led to the disruptions of municipal laws through harmonisation with global laws and trends for ensuring global protections for intellectual properties.
Civil enforcements have faced changes through international conventions, including for recording and collection of evidence and for recognising foreign judgments.
Arbitrations changed the way law was enforced in a Court of law. It went through further disruptions, with the exponential growth of cross-border commerce. The UNCITRAL Model Laws have ensured uniformity across borders for arbitration processes.
In modern times, disruptive technologies can be of the various forms
Cloud computing provides critical advantages to lawyers but only 38% currently use it.
Lawyers that specialise early in Blockchain will capitalise on the new areas of legal practice this will create.
Big data is making the process of discovery more complex, lawyers need to know what to ask for.
Artificial Intelligence can highlight pattern recognition from big data and hence can offer predictions of future behaviour.
Changes in the business model as 114,000 legal jobs likely to be automated in the next 20 years.
Disrupting intellectual property law — anyone can now replicate protected designs at home.
Cryptocurrency and Blockchain disrupting financial regulation, taxation, and anti-money laundering laws.
Augmented Reality / Virtual Reality creating new questions about defamation, harassment, and property rights in virtual spaces.
Automated Document Assembly are systems which generate documents for example a contractual lease or tenancy agreement.
“Relentless connectivity” is a term or a phenomenon employed to describe the constant engagement of professionals with their clients (Susskind, 2010). The current technology-based Internet society makes it near impossible for legal practitioners to disengage with their clients (Susskind, 2008).
The Electronic Legal Marketplace creates the possibility of legal practitioners offering their services on an online portal enabling consumers to secure their services online (Susskind, 2010). An electronic marketplace, a virtual location where clients can visit to find and select their legal practitioners.
E- Learning is acknowledged that e-learning undeniably has a disruptive effect on the legal profession. The techniques associated with e- learning refers to online web-based tools and multimedia techniques. The disruptive aspect of e-learning is that it will essentially challenge the way lawyers are educated and trained.
Online Legal Guidance services are termed as “virtual lawyers” legal advice systems or online legal guidance systems (Susskind, 2010) are web-based resources which removes the interface of human lawyers between clients and the law (Susskind, 2010). These virtual systems provide expert legal advice and may generate documents or provide legal updates.
Technology has merely augmented this phase of erasing borders and laws restricted by such ephemeral lines. The virtual marketplace extending its tentacles to every corner of the world has merely taken commerce to a domain, where the only adventure the Internet farmer faces are online privacy, data aggregation and violation issues and of course the invisible criminal lurking a click away.
In view of rapidly growing disruptive technologies, Judicial Precedents have set legal principles to adapt such new forms of technology
Anvar P.V. v. P.K. Basheer (2014, SC): The Supreme Court evolutionized how electronic evidence is handled. It held that secondary evidence of electronic records (like CDs or printouts) is inadmissible unless accompanied by a mandatory certificate under Section 65B of the Indian Evidence Act.
Mobley v. Workday (2024, US Supreme Court): A landmark ruling where the court held that AI software vendors can be liable for "disparate impact" discrimination. Even if a company doesn't intend to discriminate, if their hiring algorithm screens out candidates based on age or race, the developer of that AI can be sued as an "agent" of the employer.
B2C2 v. Quoine (2020, Singapore International Court of Appeal): It ruled that for a smart contract, the "intent" is determined at the time of programming. If the code executing a trade is based on a glitch, the programmer’s state of mind when they wrote the code is what matters legally.