Objective: to define the degree of influence of such developing technological field as metaverse on various spheres of society and to identify the need for reaction on the part of law.

Methods: the key method used for the research is the systemic-structural method, which allows establishing connections between various elements of the society as a complex system, analyzing the regularities generated by the spreading influence of metaverse prototypes in one sphere on other ones. Additional methods used are formal-logical, comparative-legal methods, as well as the methods of legal modeling and forecasting.

Results: the practical implementation of the metaverse concept will open new opportunities for people, but will be accompanied by drastic changes in the economic subsystem of the society, in particular, the multifold growth of the share of virtual economy and structural changes in employment. The changes will also occur in the social subsystem: the social links and the education models will transform, new personal demands will occur. Changes in the economic and social spheres will entail the need to adapt law to them, in order to preserve the effective legal regulation of social relations. Also, it should be noted that the metaverse will increase the capabilities of not only people but also the artificial intelligence, for which virtual environment is actually the “natural” one. Legal norms must provide protection of a human under the increased virtual component in people’s lives, accompanied by intellectualization of the environment.

Scientific novelty: the author has systematically analyzed the changes taking place in various spheres of the modern society in connection with the development of the technological field of metaverses; highlighted the key issues arising due to the said development and requiring legal solution both at the constitutional level and at the level of sector legislation; and proposed the necessary changes in legal regulation.

Practical significance: the research materials can be used when preparing proposals on changes and amendments in the current legislation, as well as in pedagogical activity, in particular, for implementation of educational courses or modules related to law under digital transformation of the society.

Objective: In recent years, the need for regulation of robots and Artificial Intelligence has become apparent in Europe. European Union needs a standardized regulation that will ensure a high level of security in robotics systems to prevent potential breaches. Therefore a new regulation should make clear that it is the responsibility of producers to identify the blind spots in these systems, exposing their flaws, or, when a vulnerability is discovered in a later stage, to update the system even if that model is not on the market anymore. This article aims at suggesting some possible revisions of the existing legal provisions in the EU.

Methods: The author employed the Kestemont legal methodology, analyzing legal text, comparing them, and connecting them with technical elements regarding smart robots, resulting in the highlighting of the critical provisions to be updated.

Results: This article suggests some revisions to the existing regulatory proposals: according to the author, although the AI Act and the Cyberresilience Act represent a first step towards this direction, their general principles are not sufficiently detailed to guide programmers on how to implement them in practice, and policymakers should carefully assess in what cases lifelong learning models should be allowed to the market. The author suggests that the current proposal regarding mandatory updates should be expanded, as five years are a short time frame that would not cover the risks associated with long-lasting products, such as vehicles.

Scientific novelty: The author has examined the existing regulatory framework regarding AI systems and devices with digital elements, highlighted the risks of the current legal framework, and suggested possible amendments to the existing regulatory proposals.

Practical significance: The article can be employed to update the existing proposals for the AI Act and the Cyber-resilience Act.

Objective: to formulate the bases for quantum law as the law of the future, based on the study of quantum phenomena and features of quantum technologies determining the risks and challenges associated with the emergence of these technologies, as well as the analysis of legal regulation of quantum technologies in the Russian Federation and abroad.

Methods: to carry out this research, the authors applied a complex of general scientific methods of systemic analysis and specific methods of engineering and legal sciences. The use of comparative-legal method allowed revealing the main directions of developing legal regulation of quantum technologies in the Russian and foreign law orders based on the analysis of their international and national regulation. The method of legal modeling allowed forming a concept of quantum law, revealing the main vectors of its development and the complex of its ethical-legal principles.

Results: the features and properties of quantum technologies were revealed which can change the development of law with the advent of these technologies; the main risks and challenges were identified which are associated with the development of quantum technologies; the features of quantum technologies regulation in some foreign countries were specified; the trends of developing the quantum technologies regulation in the Russian Federation were identified; the conceptual bases of quantum law were formulated, as well as the vectors of its development.

Scientific novelty: for the first time in the legal science, a complex analysis of the current national (both Russian and foreign) regulation of quantum technologies was carried out, based on which an attempt was made to substantiate the need to form quantum law and to outline the main vectors of its development.

Practical significance: the research results lay the foundation for forming the concept of quantum law; in this regard, the authors’ conclusions and proposals for improving the current regulation of quantum technologies can be used in law-making and law enforcement in this sphere, and may lay the bases for further research in the sphere of quantum technologies.

Objective: to form doctrinal bases and mechanics of legal regulation of using medical nanorobots; to conceptualize the idea of nanorobotics law within the frameworks of its basic definitions, safety norms, risks, typology of devices, and legal parameters of technological terminology.

Methods: the cognition tools are represented in the form of integration between general scientific and modern special legal methods (including the methods of comparative legal studies, legal modeling and juridical forecasting, NBICS-convergence), which, taken as a whole, allow distinguishing in the study object not only juridical proper, but also anthropological, biomedical, informational, and mechanistic research projections.

Results: the author’s definition of the medical nanorobot concept was formulated; the legal content and quasi-legal aspects of the definition that are important for the theoretical and applied development of terminology were investigated; the signs of related concepts (biomedical robot, nanorobotic system, medical nanorobotic system) were identified and logical connections between them were established; the classification of the main types of risks associated with the practical use of medical nanorobots was carried out; the list of theoretical and legal contradictions that are potentially capable of negatively affecting the future development of regulatory practice was revealed; the Russian and foreign experience of legal regulation and doctrinal understanding of the problems of medical nanorobotics (by the examples of the USA, Japan, Europe, China) was considered.

Scientific novelty: under the lack of interdisciplinary research, an attempt was made to comprehensively consider the concept of a medical nanorobot in a technological, legal and communicative way (“human robot” on a nanoscale) based on the advanced scientific research that defines the foundations of the future nanorobotic law. It is recommended to supplement the synergetic development of biomedical and related technologies, reflected in the models of robot law and robot ethics, with relatively independent concepts of nanorobot law and nanorobot ethics.

Practical significance: based on the analysis of the legal regulation system in force in Russia and abroad, mechanisms for improving domestic legislation were identified, including taking into account the achievements of juridical crowdsourcing. Within the framework of socio-humanitarian issues, a contribution to the development of legal, sociological, and psychological science is formed. A scientific and methodological basis was prepared for further legal research and law-making activities in the field of medical nanorobotics.

Objective: to substantiate the need to create a universal mechanism of legal regulation of digital currencies and tokenized assets, based on a uniform categorization of digital assets and the author’s interpretation of the conception of digital assets risk, in order to ensure their safe circulation with legal means and effective development of the global digital economy in the future.

Methods: the research was carried out with a combination of cognition techniques of various levels: from philosophical to private scientific; the key position among them belongs to a systemic approach, a comparative legal method and a formal-juridical analysis of normative materials.

Results: the present research lays the conceptual basis for building a global system of legal regulation of digital assets circulation and facilitates identifying and resolving the key issues, necessarily emerging in the analysis of the current mechanisms of legal regulation at national level and in the estimation of various types of digital assets.

Scientific novelty: consists in a comprehensive consideration of the essence and features of the legal nature of various types of digital assets, possessing, alongside with significant advantages, high risks from legal and financial viewpoints. Based on contradictory approaches and revealed gaps in the legal regulation of various types of digital assets, the author proposes a uniform categorization of digital assets, substantiates the concept of digital assets risk, attempts to substantiate the need to create a universal mechanism of legal regulation of digital currencies and tokenized assets, which would allow forming an effective system of means to protect property right to them and ensure safety of their circulation.

Practical significance: is due to the current absence of a unified approach and a possibility to apply the existing legal norms in relation to innovative digital assets, taking into account their specificity, despite their trans-border character. The main provision and conclusions of the research can be used to improve the mechanisms of legal regulation of digital assets circulation.

Objective: by revealing the legal nature of the nonfungible token (NFT), to propose a solution for the topical issues of legal regulation of relations emerging in the sphere of online market and Internet platforms, associated with reproduction and further use in the virtual environment of tokenized digital copies of original pieces of art.

Methods: the research was based on formal-legal and comparative-legal analysis, applied together with methods of law interpretation.

Results: a conclusion is made that reproduction of a museum object in the digital form of NFT is not equal to reproduction of a museum object in the simple digital format, as it does not contain such mandatory criteria as uniqueness, indivisibility and scarcity of the specific token. An NFT object acts as a digital original of an analog original of a museum object in the digital environment and the metaverse, not as a new form of media art. Expressed in the form of a uniqueness certificate of a digital object, an NFT object, by its legal nature and for the purpose of legal regulation of deals with it, refers to “other property” among the objects of civil law, which allows the museums to apply the respective contract constructs when structuring such deals.

Scientific novelty: the author proposes a new approach to considering and improving the legal regulation, accounting and storing NFT objects as virtual museum objects, the so-called digital equivalents of an item, which possess the signs of individual-definite character and uniqueness, differing from simple digital copies, digital pieces of art, 3D mapping, etc.

Practical significance: the research results can be used for improving legal regulation of museum activity, correcting the civil and museum legislation, in particular, for defining virtual museum objects; for implementation of law, for example, when signing deals on using and selling NFT objects, in terms of specifying the content and volume of authorities of the right holders of the nonfungible token.

Objective: technology and digitalization play a converse role in these two fields of study of criminal sciences. On the one hand, they are used by agencies of criminal justice system in order to control, manage and prevent crime and criminals. On the other hand, criminals enjoy technology in carrying out their plans to commit crime. Thus, from the criminal sciences’ perspective, technology may be used or misused, and this is an interesting topic, and at the same time, an important research area for criminologists.

Methods: the present article seeks to provide a descriptive-analytical discussion about digitalization of criminology and criminal justice in the light of modern technologies, internet and cyberspace. It introduces new areas and sub-disciplines including administrative criminology based upon actuarial justice and risk management/assessment theory, cyber criminology and cyber victimology, as two sub-disciplines of the new century, and algorithmic or computational criminology, as one of the latest area in criminal sciences, which all are influenced by digitalization and technology.

Results: authors concluded that due to the digitalization atypical work emerges but legislator defines the scope of work regulated by law and that makes atypical work relationship becomes a typical work relationship. At the same time some areas fall into the gray zone. To fix that legislator should provide an interpretation that will not become empty in a year or two due to technological changes.

Scientific novelty: the applicability of technology and digitalization in criminology and criminal justice has widely increased and developed, specifically since the beginning of the third millennium.

Practical significance: digitalization and Technology has become increasingly important to criminology and criminal justice at both the theory and practice within the sphere of social and criminal sciences. The nature and types of crime and criminals, and also the methods and mechanisms of control and preventing them in the light of requirements of criminal policy and criminal justice are highly dependent upon technology and digitalization.

Objective: to study the theoretical and legal bases of crowdfunding and to elaborate scientifically grounded proposals for improving the Republic of Belarus legislation in this sphere.

Methods: the methodological basis of the research is a system of principles, methods and techniques of studying the general regularities of emergence, formation and development of social-legal phenomena. In the research, general and specific methods of scientific cognition were used: analysis, synthesis, comparative-legal, logical, systemic, formal-legal, dialectic and other methods.

Results: the history of emergence and formation of crowdfunding was analyzed. The social-economic and technical-technological factors were revealed, which facilitate the popularization of crowdfunding among the Internet users. The origins of the “crowdfunding” notion were discussed, as well as its filling with a definite meaning. The types of crowdfunding were listed, depending on the goal of investment on the part of investors. The main subject composition of legal relations in crowdfunding was established, which consists of the following persons: funding seeker; funder; operator of online-funding service. The overall algorithm of legal relations between the main subjects of crowdfunding was described. The positive and negative aspects of crowdfunding were characterized. An overall analysis of foreign legislation in the crowdfunding legal regulation was performed. Based on the analysis, the general trends of legislation development were presented. The program and normative legal acts on developing crowdfunding in the Republic of Belarus were reviewed. The probable contract models of the parties’ legal relations registering were named. The technical and legal requirements to the functional of an online-funding service were determined. The minimal necessary set of measures was proposed, which may prevent risks and threats associated with procurement and extension of funds through onlinefunding services. Based on the operator functions, specific requirements to the rules of online-funding service were determined.

Scientific novelty: the author comprehensively studied the notion, legal nature and features of legal regulation of crowdfunding. The factors were revealed, which influence the formation of the legal norms regulating the procurement and extension of funds through online-funding services. The author elaborated proposals for improving the Republic of Belarus legislation in the sphere of social relations under study.

Practical significance: the research results are significant for developing the studies in the sphere of civil, economic, and informational law. The obtained results may be used in teaching a course in civil, economic, and informational law, as well as be applied by law subjects when elaborating and introducing the respective drafts of laws and be an object of further scientific research on the issue.

Objective: to define the key trends in the development of criminology and criminal justice under significant broadening of digitalization and using modern technologies.

Methods: the priority of analytical method combined with descriptive method provided an optimal set of tools for searching and revealing the main digital trends in the development of criminology and criminal justice in the 21st century.

Results: the growing dependence was revealed between criminal-legal science and digital technologies, which leads to the change in essence and types of contemporary criminality, models of criminals’ behavior, methods and mechanism of crime control and prevention in the light of requirements of criminal policy and justice. The dual role of the global digitalization trend is highlighted, the achievements of which are used both by the agencies of criminal justice system (in particular, for crime control, management and prevention) and criminals when implementing their criminal intents. It was determined that the essential transformation of criminology and criminal justice is largely caused by a dramatic development of digitalization in the 21st century, as well as by the modern technologies created on its basis, which appear to be more effective than the standard methods of traditional criminology, including quantitative and qualitative estimations, observation, interviews, polls, etc.

Scientific novelty: new spheres of criminal-legal knowledge are introduced, as well as the corresponding disciplines formed exclusively under the influence of digitalization, such as cyber criminology and cyber victimology; algorithmic (computational) criminology, based on actuarial justice and the theory of risks, is highlighted as the most recent trend in criminological science.

Practical significance: the account of trends and positive experience gained in the sphere of digitalization determines the successful solution of the tasks associated with crime counteraction, transformation of approaches to the content, goals and methodology of applied criminology and criminal justice. The global megatrend of digitalization essentially changes the appearance of the criminal-legal science, sets the new theoretical and applied directions of its development. Timely upgrade and adaptation of knowledge, skills and capabilities in compliance with the achievements of digitalization will allow criminology and criminal justice to correspond to the tasks of the new millennium.

Objective: to elaborate recommendations on counteraction against terrorist crimes committed in the digital (cyber-) space and/or using digital technologies.

Methods: the methodological basis of the research are the universal dialectic method of cognition, the integrity of general and specific scientific methods such as analysis, synthesis, logical method, ascent from the abstract to the specific, induction, deduction, etc.

Results: it was determined that the development of the digital (cyber-) space and digital technologies promotes the intensity of terrorism and has led to the change of the mechanism of terrorist crimes commitment. A conclusion was made that, to provide the efficiency of measures for counteracting terrorist crimes committed in the digital (cyber-) space and/or using digital technologies, a distinct strategy is necessary, as well as the appropriate regulatory basis.

Scientific novelty: the article analyzes such forms of criminal activities of terrorist groups, committed in the digital (cyber-) space and/or using digital technologies, as dissemination of the ideology of violence and propaganda of terrorist activity, recruiting new members and their training, implementing digital technologies for preparation and immediate terrorist activity, and funding. The advantages were revealed of the use of digital space and/or digital technologies when committing terrorist crimes. In the author’s opinion, the change of the mechanism of terrorist crimes commitment associated with the use of digital technologies should be taken into account during criminalization (change of the intensity of penalization) of publicly dangerous deeds. The important areas of state policy in the sphere of counteraction against these crimes are education and enlightenment activity, training of the personnel of law-enforcement agencies, broadening their authorities to ensure a clear and effective control over digital content.

Practical significance: is due to the possibility to use the formulated conclusions and proposals for further scientific elaboration of the state criminal policy in the sphere of counteraction against terrorist crimes committed in the digital (cyber-) space and/or using digital technologies.

Objective: elucidating the potential of digital transformation for elaborating the optimal means and methods of collecting evidences and introducing scientific organization of labor of the officials implementing criminal procedure. The scientific approach within the concept consists in minimizing the costs of collecting evidentiary information in criminal cases in electronic form and by electronic means, as well as storing the criminal case materials in electronic form.

Methods: dialectic method occupies the leading position among the research methods, the issues of electronic documentation being considered in the interaction and interdependence with information-technological development of the society. The set of scientific cognition methods within the research creates prerequisites for objective and comprehensive approach to the problems under study.

Results: the authors’ concept of electronic evidence is a system of information-technological and legal views on the criminal-procedural form, which is intended for optimizing the process of collecting, registering and preserving them in the criminal case materials. The concept development is aimed at elaborating new approaches to organizing the work of investigation agencies and courts, taking into account the achievements in the sphere of information technologies, providing new techniques of collecting criminal-relevant, criminal-procedural, criminological significant information when investigating and hearing of a criminal case. The proposed concept is also aimed at improving interaction and in-service communication of the officials of the preliminary investigation bodies with the officials of information-technological systems for the purposes of collecting evidentiary information in electronic form.

Scientific novelty: the changes were systemically analyzed, which are taking place in the contemporary information society, through the prism of the emerging problems between the sectoral criminal-procedural evidentiary law and more modern technological means of collecting evidentiary information. The article demonstrates a new approach to creating technological interaction using digital technologies, on the scientific base of organization of proving activity, intended to optimize and rationalize the process of proving in criminal procedure.

Practical significance: the research materials can be used to prepare proposals on making changes and additions in the current legislation with a view of implementing the practice of already functioning models of criminal-procedural activity of foreign countries, an inexhaustible potential of information-technologies, software, and artificial intelligence to rationalize proving in criminal cases.

Objective: to assess the scientific contribution of Illaria Lavrentyevna Bachilo into forming the science of informational law in Russia; the role and significance of I. L. Bachilo’s scientific works for the Russian informational law.

Methods: the methods used in the work are: retrospective scientific and bibliographical analysis, analysis and synthesis, comparison and cross checking, bibliographical study of documents.

Results: a brief analysis of scientific activity of an outstanding researcher Illaria Lavrentyevna Bachilo was carried out; the most significant works were described, which, in the authors’ opinion, appeared to be fundamental in the formation and development of the science of informational law.

Scientific novelty: the article presents the main stages and achievements of I. L. Bachilo’s academic life and reflects the personal estimations and impressions of the authors, formed during mutual work with Illaria Lavrentyevna Bachilo.

Practical significance: the information presented in the article will allow scientists, especially young researchers, to get acquainted with the personality and activity of a prominent scientist, a deep and intelligent person, whose memory will always dwell with the hearts of the people working in the Section of Informational Law of the Institute of State and Law of the Russian Academy of Sciences.