Objective: to identify the legal issues of ensuring technological sovereignty and to determine scientifically grounded vectors of their solution.

Methods: the study is based on formal-legal, historical-legal, comparative legal methods, as well as the methodology of soft systematicity, legal forecasting, and legal modeling.

Results: the article presents a theoretical and legal approach to understanding sovereignty and differentiating its types. Under modern conditions, a significant role is given to the independence and autonomy of the state in the technological sphere. The correlation of digital and technological sovereignty is considered; the latter notion is outlined taking into account the gaining popularity of the Western concept of digital (technological) solidarity. The regulatory foundation of the state strategic autonomy is legal regulation, in which the concept of technology-centrism has been firmly established in recent years. The technological paradigm of modern legal regulations was identified. It consists in strategizing the scientific and technological innovations in strategic planning documents, as well as in sovereignization and cyclization of the legal sphere, digital transformation of the culture of lawmaking and law enforcement, technologization of the legal language, expansion of the scope of legislative regulation and the volume of subordinate legislation. The analysis of the correlation between the legislative and subordinate law levels of technological positioning of the Russian Federation in strategic areas has allowed to emphasize the important systemic interrelation of the involved traditional and innovative law-making tools as they ensure technological development. The author also identifies the risks of expanding legal experimentation in the digital area of public relations, which should exclude the possibility of circumventing the established critical limitations.

Scientific novelty: the work forms a theoretical and legal model of ensuring technological sovereignty, which is of strategic importance for the preservation of the Russian Federation sovereignty in its classical understanding as the main and most important feature of the state.

Practical significance: the results can be used in law-making activities of public authorities to create legal mechanisms for research, development and implementation of critical and end-to-end technologies and the production of high-tech products based on them in order to ensure national security of the Russian Federation.

Objective: to determine theoretical approaches to the legal regulation of reprogenetic editing, taking into account the risk-oriented approach and the practice of regulation of such breakthrough technologies in different jurisdictions; to outline further regulatory and managerial steps to be taken for the technology development.

Methods: general scientific methods of analysis and synthesis, classification, system and functional approaches; specific scientific methods: formal-legal, comparative-legal, and historical-legal.

Results: the research shows the possible approaches to the regulation of genetic editing for reproductive purposes. The considered variants are evaluated from the viewpoint of risk-oriented approach; conditions and peculiarities of various regulatory mechanisms’ application are determined; the current Russian regulation in this sphere is assessed. The analysis allows concluding that the prohibition or significant restriction of the developing technology of reprogenetic editing has no irrefutable grounds. Moreover, it may lead to the results opposite to those declared by its proponents. In this regard, it is necessary to develop the discussion in a constructive and iterative way and involve all stakeholders in it, including the scientific community.

Scientific novelty: the international practice of legal regulation of reprogenetic technologies within different jurisdictions was generalized and conceptually interpreted; the natural scientific arguments in assessing the implemented regulation effectiveness were analyzed. This not only allows systematically considering the current and hypothetical risks of genetic technologies’ development and use, but also provides an opportunity to use a risk-oriented approach to the analysis of legal regulation of genome editing technologies. The next step in comprehending the phenomenon of genetic editing becomes possible.
Practical significance: the study results can be used for building further constructive dialog on applying legal mechanisms to human genome editing. The study can also be a basis for iterative approach in the future discussion.

Objective: to critically analyze the state of national legislation of Uzbekistan in terms of legal regulation of digitalization and the use of artificial intelligence in the cadastral sphere.

Methods: the research is based on such methods of scientific cognition as formal-legal and comparative-legal analysis, induction and deduction.

Results: the provisions that regulate digitalization and the use of artificial intelligence in the cadastral sphere were analyzed, legal gaps were identified. It was determined that the practical application of artificial intelligence technologies outpaces its legal regulation. The shortcomings of legal regulation in this sphere were noted (lacking legal definition of the legal status of artificial intelligence in the national legislation; regulation of business entities’ participation in the management of artificial intelligence, etc.). The said shortcomings hinder its full application and harmonization with traditional sources of cadastral information. The author substantiated the need for universal digitization of the national cadastre and predicts the possibility of wider application of artificial intelligence in the natural-resource cadastral system. It is argued that the existing system in its current state may lead to wrong decisions and cadastral errors, hence, it is necessary to improve the legal regulation of cadastre.

Scientific novelty: for the first time the results of the national cadastre digitization were assessed. Forecasts were given about the possibility of using artificial intelligence in this area, subject to further improvement of legal regulation. The latter is fundamentally important for reforming the cadastral system, since the technological basis of this system does not fully meet the needs of the digital economy.

Practical significance: it is due to the lack of legal regulation of the artificial intelligence concept and legal status in the national legislation, as well as a unified approach to the cadastral system digitalization. Modern technologies are actively used in practice, but lack a sufficient legal basis. The main conclusions, proposals and recommendations of the study can be a basis for further improvement of the legal framework of Uzbekistan in terms of the application of artificial intelligence technologies.

Objective: this paper explores the challenges arising from the conflict between blockchain technology and the “right to be forgotten” as provided by the European data protection framework.

Methods: in the First Section, the author provides a brief description of the evolution of blockchain technology and the most pressing issues between traditional blockchain models and UE’s legislations. Among the latter, the author analyzes the specific issue concerning the clash between the traditional blockchains (both private and public models), typically immutable, and the individual’s right to cancellation or modification of own personal data. This section emphasizes the importance of personal data protection, which has always been one of the main tasks for supranational legislators. The legal regulation of data protection and the relevant judicial practice of the European Court of Human Rights is analyzed. The author raises the problem of expressing the free self-determination of an individual in the form of controlling their personal data on the Internet. The Second Section of this contribution is dedicated to the study of probable ways to solve the existing incompatibility and to make the distributed ledger system compatible with the European data protection legislation. An emphasis is made on the model provided by “Traent” company, which ensures the right to data cancellation or modification. The capability of this model to solve the said contradiction is analyzed.

Results: the study delves into the peculiar features of the new model to understand how it strategically utilizes the advantages of public and private blockchains guaranteeing not only the validity and authenticity of the chain where the transaction was performed, but, most importantly, the modification and granular cancellation of client’s personal data. This innovative solution offers a potential path forward for navigating the complex intersection of data privacy and blockchain innovation in the European context.

Scientific novelty: Traent has implemented a “hybrid” model blockchain that, incorporating both public and private components, to achieve an effective compliance with the European Union regulations, especially those concerning data protection and privacy.

Practical significance: the obtained conclusions and proposals can be taken into consideration in improving the compliance of blockchain technologies with the European Union General Data Protection Regulation.

Objective: to substantiate the promising directions of legal regulation of relations in the use of artificial intelligence technologies in competitive (commercial and public) procurement.

Methods: the study was conducted using induction, synthesis, analogy, decomposition of problems and generalization of conclusions. The reasoning was based on the experience of a complex procurement of high-tech equipment. This real-life example was considered as an experimental model for the study and subsequent prediction of the potential use of artificial intelligence technologies in competitive procurement procedures.

Results: advantages and potential risks of using artificial intelligence technologies in procurement work were formulated; recommendations on regulating such use were given. The authors highlighted recommendations of general legal nature concerning the legal personality and delictual capacity of artificial intelligence and proposed the wordings for new norms and options for regulating the use of new procurement tools. It was proved that artificial intelligence technologies, if used thoughtfully, may not only improve the work quality and significantly reduce organizational costs, but also help to develop the basic principles of regulated procurement: transparency of procedures, development of competition for contracts between qualified suppliers, reasonableness of decisions, and economic efficiency of the customer’s expenditures.

Scientific novelty: despite a large number of works devoted to both the problems of artificial intelligence in general and its use in procurement in particular, the article considers this topic on the basis of mainly inductive reasoning, built on handling a particular case and experience of complex procurement for knowledge-intensive research, refracted through the prism of essential correlation between the basic concepts of “digitalization”, “automation”, “robotization” and so on.

Practical significance: the directions of using artificial intelligence described in this paper can be implemented by corporate and, in the future, by public customers to improve the quality of their procurement. At the same time, the recommendations on the normative regulation of such innovation seem to be in demand both at the legislative and local levels.

Objective: to identify the legal problems of using artificial intelligence in hiring employees and the main directions of solving them.

Methods: formal-legal analysis, comparative-legal analysis, legal forecasting, legal modeling, synthesis, induction, deduction.

Results: a number of legal problems arising from the use of artificial intelligence in hiring were identified, among which are: protection of the applicant’s personal data, obtained with the use of artificial intelligence; discrimination and unjustified refusal to hire due to the bias of artificial intelligence algorithms; legal responsibility for the decision made by a generative algorithm during hiring. The author believes that for the optimal solution of these problems, it is necessary to look at the best practices of foreign countries, first of all, those which have adopted special laws on the regulation of artificial intelligence for hiring and developed guidelines for employers using generative algorithms for similar purposes. Also, the European Union’s and USA’s legislative work in the area of managing risks arising from the use of artificial intelligence should be taken into account.

Scientific novelty: the article contains a comprehensive study of legal problems arising from the use of artificial intelligence in hiring and foreign experience in solving these problems, which allowed the author to develop recommendations to improve Russian legislation in this area. As for the problem of applicants’ personal data protection when using artificial intelligence for hiring, the author proposes to solve it by supplementing the labor legislation with norms that enshrine the requirements for transparency and consistency in the collection, processing and storage of information when using generative algorithms. The list and scope of personal data allowed for collection should be reflected in a special state standard. The solution to the problem of discrimination due to biased algorithms is seen in the mandatory certification and annual monitoring of artificial intelligence software for hiring, as well as the prohibition of scoring tools for evaluating applicants. The author adheres to the position that artificial intelligence cannot “decide the fate” of a job seeker: the responsibility for the decisions made by the algorithm is solely on the employer, including in cases of involving third parties for the selection of employees.

Practical significance: the obtained results can be used to accelerate the development and adoption of legal norms, rules, tools and standards in the field of using artificial intelligence for hiring. The lack of adequate legal regulation in this area creates significant risks both for human rights and for the development of industries that use generative algorithms to hire employees.

Objective: the article deals with modern scientific approaches to the “digital society”, identifies new criminological perspectives, such as that of digital criminology in an ever-changing hybrid world, in the scientific study of the potential use of AI by criminals, including what is referred to here as AI crime.

Methods: this article is an essay commonly used in humanities and social sciences, as the author aims to present provocative arguments to encourage readers to rethink AI issues in relation to criminality in the “hybrid world” based on a non-systematic literature review. The arguments should be supported by relevant references to “digital criminology” and its non-binary way of thinking in favour of a techno-social approach.

Results: the era of divided perspectives is coming to an end, and it’s time for synergies, especially at the interdisciplinary level. The «mirror of artificial intelligence» can help identify flaws and solutions, ensuring the future of AI and human society is decided by the people. In a digital society, technology is integrated into people’s lives, including crime, victimization, and justice. Digital technologies blur the boundaries between online and offline realities, creating a human-technological hybrid world where crimes occur in virtual networks. AI has potential for social good and Sustainable Development Goals, but concerns about human rights violations need to be addressed. Multidisciplinary approaches are needed to ensure safe use, address education inequalities, enhance justice, and identify online behavior as deviant or criminal. In the context of emerging technoethics, the idea that this unofficial norm, derived from a popular belief, will be the ‘touchstone’ for characterising online mediated behaviour as deviant/ crimninal, is missing - or rather in the process of being formed.

Scientific novelty: the author aims to provide some insightful thoughts on formulating the right questions and interesting reflections from a technoethical perspective on the phenomenon of the use of information and communication technologies for criminal purposes under the catalytic influence of AI, recognising the social challenges arising from technological disruption (e.g. prediction and prevention through the transformation of policing, increased surveillance and criminal justice practises) in “digital society”.

Practical significance: some of the initial ideas of this theoretical material can be used in the elaboration of proposals for amendements and additions to the current crime legislation, as well as in pedagogical activity, especially in the implementation of educational courses or modules on crime in the context of the digital transformation of society.

Objective: to study the concept of newsmaking criminology and its relevance in the current conditions of mass media development.

Methods: the methodological basis of the work consists of general scientific, social, and special-legal methods of cognition. The conducted research is based on the dialectical method (in determining the general direction of the study), methods of formal logic (analysis, synthesis, induction, deduction, analogy), system method (in comparing and generalizing the information collected for the research).

Results: the functions of newsmaking criminology in its classical manifestation, as well as its additional functions in the study of mass media in the Internet, were revealed. It is suggested that with the emergence of the World Wide Web, the relevance of newsmaking criminology has increased: social networks, blogs and video hosting as alternative media have a strong influence on public opinion, while an unlimited number of people have access to content generation, contrary to traditional media. Many states understand the importance of interaction between mass media and law enforcement agencies and are actively implementing their methods of promoting newsmaking criminology online. This article points out the risks that arise in media coverage of law enforcement and crime. One of such risks is the cancel culture, which is spontaneous, unpredictable in nature, and may jeopardize the quality of life of the victim or business reputation and activity of organizations.

Scientific novelty: the functions performed by newsmaking criminology in the study of traditional and alternative media were identified. So far, such doctrine has not been sufficiently researched taking into account modern forms of mass communication. Examples of interaction between law enforcement agencies of different states and the media were analyzed.

Practical significance: the study contributes to understanding the correlation between criminological phenomena and modern media platforms. The Internet and social networks provide new channels of information exchange that differ significantly from traditional media such as printed media or television.

Objective: to illustrate the challenges to international law and the shortcomings of current regulation caused by the rapid development of drone technology, by the example of using unmanned aerial vehicles (drones) in airspace.

Methods: the study is based primarily on a set of methods for interpreting the provisions of international law, which allow analyzing the provisions in the field of using unmanned aerial vehicles (drones).

Results: based on international air law and humanitarian law, the article examines the issues of unmanned aerial vehicles (drones) using airspace. The main sources of law in this area are analyzed, including the provisions of international air law, especially the Paris, Madrid, Havana and Chicago Conventions. An attempt is made to answer the questions arising from the development of unmanned technologies as to which rules of international law apply to their use and whether existing international law is capable of responding effectively to them. The article shows the current understanding of the legal status of airspace over the territory of a state. The author puts forward the question whether the sphere of unmanned aerial vehicles, automatic and autonomous weapons, which combines scientific and military achievements with new technologies, is exceptional. In this regard, the problem of using unmanned aerial vehicles as a universal weapon in international conflicts is touched upon. A conclusion is made that the use of intelligent, guided and robotic weapons capable of automatic decision-making, such as drones, requires the revision of existing conventions or the establishment of new legal standards for these weapons. It is proposed to consider such drones as military aircraft of a special type.

Scientific novelty: international legal responsibility of states for the military use of drones has not received an unambiguous assessment in the doctrine. However, much in this issue depends on the legal interpretation of the most important international legal categories. Further development of this issue is directly related to the issues of international responsibility and the concept of state sovereignty over airspace.

Practical significance: the development of unmanned aviation at the present stage demonstrates the imperfection of the existing legal framework, which is designed to regulate these relations. With regard to the study of the global trend in the current international law, the identification of the shortcomings in the provisions of the latter is important primarily for their further modernization, taking into account modern scientific achievements and the development of the concept of a state sovereignty over its airspace.

Objective: to analyze the competence and procedure of case handling by the courts of integration associations, allowing them to resolve disputes related to information technologies, and to identify the prospects of handling of this category of disputes by the courts of integration associations.

Methods: the main research methods were analysis, synthesis, and problem-theoretical method.

Results: the article identified the main features of the “disputes related to digital technologies” category in relation to resolving disputes involving individuals by the courts of integration associations. It reveals opportunities for some courts of integration associations to resolve disputes related to information technologies. The said opportunities are provided by the courts competence, allowing the appeal of individuals, as well as by the dispute resolution procedure involving experts. By analyzing international treaties and practice of courts of integration associations, the author proves that the changes in the category of “disputes related to digital technologies” are related not only to technologies, but also to information and communication systems. By own judgments, the author reveals the content of disputes related to digital technologies in the courts of integration associations.

Scientific novelty: the paper reveals the peculiarities of the category “disputes related to digital technologies” in relation to the courts of integration associations and the prospects of resolving disputes related to information technologies by the courts of integration associations.

Practical significance: the conclusions provided in the article can be used to improve the practice of courts of integration associations.

Objective: to present the results of a systematic review of research on the impact of neurotechnology on legal concepts and regulatory frameworks, addressing ethical and social issues related to the protection of individual rights, privacy and mental autonomy.

Methods: The systematic literature review was based on the methodology proposed by a renowned British scholar, a professor emerita of computer science at Keele University Barbara Kitchenham, chosen for its flexibility and effectiveness in obtaining results for publication. Thorough searches were carried out with the search terms “neurotechnology”, “personal data”, “mental privacy”, “neuro-rights”, “neurotechnological interventions”, and “neurotechnological discrimination” on both English and Spanish sites, using search engines like Google Scholar and Redib as well as databases including Scielo, Dialnet, Redalyc, Lilacs, Scopus, Medline, and Pubmed. The focus of this research is bibliometric data and its design is non-experimental with a cross-sectional and descriptive, using content analysis based on PRISMA model.

Results: the study emphasizes the need to establish clear ethical principles to protect individual rights and promote responsible use of neurotechnologies; a number of problems of mental autonomy were identified, such as improper handling of information, lack of legal security guarantees, violation of rights and freedoms in the medical sphere. The author shows the need to adapt the existing regulatory legal framework to address the ethical and social problems arising from the new neurotechnologies. It is noted that a broad study of neurotechnology issues will contribute to the protection of human rights.

Scientific novelty: an expanded understanding of the five neurorights within the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is proposed; neurorights are viewed as a new category of rights aimed at protecting mental integrity against the misuse of neurotechnologies. The author justifies the adoption of such technocratic principles as personal identity, free will, mental privacy, equal access and protection against bias.

Practical significance: the obtained results are relevant for understanding modern legal concepts related to neurorights and for adapting the existing normative legal acts to solve ethical and social problems arising from the emergence of new technologies, protection of human neurorights and liability for their violation. The study of these issues is key for provision of further responsible development and use of neurotechnologies.