Digital Rights – New Horizons or a Legal Impasse

Abstract

Introduction. 2019 in the domestic legal space is positioned as a period of global legal reform, as a breakthrough in the regulatory regulation of promising public relations. The instrument of regulation of the functioning of the “digital society” is declared to be the institution of “digital law” introduced into legal circulation (doctrinal, law enforcement...). Is this reform really a legal revolution (as it is presented in scientific periodicals) or a “cosmetic repair” of the building of domestic private law, which is in disrepair? Theoretical Basis. Methods. The study conducted by the authors is based on domestic doctrinal sources that reveal the content and specifics of regulatory regulation of digital assets turnover, as well as on the theoretical developments of foreign lawyers and economists devoted to the nuances of legal regulation of the issue and turnover of cryptocurrency. In this article the authors on the basis of systematic, logical and legal analysis of national normative material, but also on the basis of the comparative study the best foreign experience of legal regulation of the turnover of digital assets reviewed current reform of the national civil and investment law occurring as a result of adoption of Federal law No. 34-FZ of March 18, 2019 and No. 259-FZ of August 2, 2019, which entered into legal turnover of the new concept of “digital law”. First of all, doctrinal sources – the works of foreign lawyers specializing in the study of problems of regulation of cryptocurrency turnover-are subjected to comparative analysis. Results. The scientific analysis Carried out by the authors allowed to reveal serious gaps and conflicts in the Russian law, and also to define perspective directions of development of legal regulation of turnover of digital assets. The reform of the domestic civil and investment law, which consists in the introduction of a new Institute of “digital rights” into legal circulation, has not generally achieved the declared goals and scientific expectations. At its core, the analyzed reform, declared as a breakthrough of domestic jurisprudence, the consolidation of a new type of civil law objects-digital rights, and the construction on their basis of revolutionary principles of investment in the Russian economy, is only a unification of traditional legal material; moreover, the unification is unsuccessful, conflicting with a large volume of regulations both in the field of investment law and in the field of information law. Discussion and Conclusion. This article demonstrates the analysis of the new legal concept of “digital rights” and their turnover in the context of their private legal regulation and public legal protection, determining their place and role in the system of domestic law in General; these issues have not yet been the subject of scientific analysis in domestic jurisprudence. The method of solving the identified problems proposed by the authors-basing the methodology of legal regulation of digital assets turnover on the principle of anonymity of one of the participants of the regulated relationship, by analogy with the electoral law (and refusal of attempts of total control over the specified activities of these subjects), is new for both domestic and foreign jurisprudence. The main attraction for users of information and telecommunication databases, is based on the phenomenon of blockchain (in addition to guarantee absolute consistency of building structures) is the ability to ensure anonymity of certain subjects of these relations; this is an objective reality, the attempt of the legislator to ban or ignore this trend is doomed to ineffectiveness; the state should take these “rules of the game” and build their policies in this segment of public relations with them.