Speaker
Description
Understanding EU data and digital legislations is crucial for research software engineers, as they are constantly faced by the legal implications of developing, licensing, and reusing software. The popularity achieved by working with AI models in research and the use of generative AI tools in software development has further entangled an already complex legal situation.
The aim of the workshop is to begin a discussion on these topics in the German RSE community, understanding common concerns about EU digital laws and pragmatic approaches to legal issues.
The workshop organiser will facilitate the discussion providing an introduction to current EU data and digital laws, and suggesting questions related to four key thematic areas:
- software intellectual property and its relevance when developing and
licensing research software (including the use of generative AI in
coding); - re-using software and properly assessing software Terms of Service agreements;
- legal implications when developing and training AI models;
- sources of legal support for RSEs and pragmatic approaches to the EU data and digital framework.
Structure of the workshop
Introduction (20 minutes)
Brief presentation of the main implications for research software posed by EU current data and digital legislation (Open Data Directive, Data Governance Act, Digital Services Act, Digital Markets Act, Data Act, Database, Directive, Artificial Intelligence Act).
Software intellectual property and licensing options (30 minutes)
Who is the owner of research software, the research software engineer or the institution? What happens when there are cooperation agreements with freelance developers, companies, scientific collaborators working in other institutions? How is the use of generative AI in writing code going to affect software intellectual property?
Break (10 minutes)
Re-using software and reading through software Terms of Service agreements (30 minutes)
What are copyright and copyleft licenses? What do they imply for software reuse? Have you ever read through all the details of the Terms of Service agreements for popular services like Anaconda or Docker? Do you commercialise the software you write as RSE?
Legal implications of developing and training AI models (30 minutes)
What data can you use to train AI models? Are you aware of the requests made by the new EU legislation for AI products and services? How do you think it will affect your work?
Break (10 minutes)
Legal support for RSEs and pragmatic approaches to EU law and regulations (30 minutes)
Do you regularly read EU publications on the legal aspects of data and digital services? Does your institution provide expert support for legal questions in relation to research software? How do you disentangle the complexity of the EU legal framework in your day-to-day job?
Summary of the discussions and questions left open (20 minutes)
| I want to participate in the youngRSE prize | no |
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