Abstract
This seminar looks at the application of the General Data Protection Regulation to blockchain technology. Over the past year, there has been much discussion regarding the compatibility of blockchains with European data protection law. The seminar will highlight the most important points of tension and suggest potential solutions. More broadly, it will be seen that the mapping of the Regulation to blockchains unveils many current uncertainties and inconsistencies in the GDPR and its interpretation.
Biography
Michèle Finck is a Senior Researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition (Munich) and University College London (UK) and a Fellow at the Centre on Regulation on Europe. She previously worked at the London School of Economics and the University of Oxford. Michèle’s research engages with the interaction between law and technology with a particular focus on data (protection) law. She is the author of ‘Blockchain Regulation and Governance in Europe’ (Cambridge University Press 2019) and an editor of the Cambridge Handbook on the Law of the Sharing Economy (Cambridge University Press 2018). Michèle has also been advising national and supranational institutions on the interaction between law and technology and is a member of the European Union’s Blockchain Observatory.