Short description:

Focusing on four key aspects of Web3, the book explores metaverses, data governance, public and private law interfaces, and access to justice, presenting new research on the impact of data analytics on transactions within law. It will be essential reading for scholars in law, business studies, economics, public administration and regulation.

Long description:

Focusing on four key aspects of Web3, the book explores metaverses, data governance, public and private law interfaces, and access to justice, presenting new research on the impact of data analytics on transactions within law, on regulatory activities, and on the practice of law.

Artificial intelligence (AI) and data analytics have played a key role in the development of Web3, transforming the governance of existing digital platforms and enabling the formation of new platforms. Web3 is increasingly used for commercial and social interactions and is predicted to be the future of the internet. As a blockchain-based web, Web3 provides a platform for cryptocurrencies, non-fungible tokens (NFTs), decentralised autonomous organisations, and decentralised finance. Web3 users can read, write, and even own their own version of the web, which has transformed the space for commerce and social interaction, but brings inherent risks. This book identifies the principles in law and policy which can be used as the basis for the development of Web3 activities and their regulation with a focus on security, scalability, and sustainability. Though digital platforms and underlying technologies have reshaped our daily lives and business practices, they have also caused numerous legal problems. The book considers the interaction of data analytics with well-established fields of study such as financial law, tax law, intellectual property, data protection, private international law, and internet law.

Addressing the current knowledge gap in the legal literature on Web3, including blockchain, AI, and data governance in commercial and social activities, it develops new baseline frameworks which will form the foundation for new research into data governance, FinTech, and RegTech, as well as social and market infrastructure, and will be essential reading for scholars in law, business studies, economics, public administration, and regulation.

In this admirable collection, contributors probe the governance challenges and opportunities that are presented by the transition from Web2 to Web3, offering readers important insights about not only the governance of Web3 artefacts?NFTs, smart contracts, DAOs, and the like?but also about the interface between, on the one side, law and policy and, on the other, the latest online technologies that support decentralisation, co-production, and user-centricity.

Roger Brownsword, Professor of Law at King?s College London and Bournemouth University

This remarkably informative and insightful volume offers lawyers and policymakers a thorough roadmap into the possible futures in which we will likely find ourselves in the age of Web3. As the learned contributors demonstrate, the existing knowledge in the field remains highly relevant for understanding and responding to novel issues. The sources of creativity and innovation, however, are nowadays increasingly more diversified and widely distributed across actors and places in the world.

Xin Dai, Associate Professor and Vice Dean, Peking University Law School

Web3 law and policy has evolved as quickly and diversely as the technological environment it seeks to govern. Featuring examples from multiple jurisdictions, this timely and comprehensive volume tackles a wide range of topics that are important to understanding this new environment. Whether you are into crypto assets, cybersecurity, data regulation, the platform economy, online disputes or jurisdictional questions, this book will provide a one-stop reference for the changing legal landscape surrounding Web 3.0. Highly recommended!

Peter K. Yu, University Distinguished Professor, Texas A&M University

Table of Contents:

Roadmap to Legal Implications of Web3: An Introduction

Part A: Property and Contract

1. Deciphering the Legal Enigma of NFTs 

2. Taxation of Cryptoassets and Web 3.0 

3. The Sense and Nonsense of Smart Contracts 

Part B: Reorganising Organisations 

4. Law and Regulation for Decentralised Autonomous Organisations (DAOs) 

5. Resource Dependency Theory and Cybersecurity Regulation 

Part C: Data Governance

6. Data Law in China 

7. Copyright Law and the Use of Big Data for Computer Vision? 

Part D: Disputes and Liabilities in the Platform Economy

8. What?s the Gig? Tort Liability of Platforms for Physical User-to-User Harm 

9. Envisioning the Future of Online Dispute Resolution from the Case of China 

Part E: International Law Perspectives

10. Navigating the Cryptosphere: Jurisdictional Uncertainty in Emerging Cross-Border Cryptocurrency Disputes 

11. Rethinking Jurisdiction of Online Defamation 

12. Grounding a Right to Internet Access in the Right to an Adequate Standard of Living