Shaping «Digital Circuit»: Possible Consequences for Modern Legal Systems

Abstract

The paper presents a theoretical and legal analysis of the processes that result in bringing individuals, legal entities and society as a whole to the «digital circuit», that is, a special environment for communication between subjects and management of their behavior through algorithmic systems of processing and analyzing data thereof. The main directions of building a system for regulating the behavior of individuals through the analysis and processing of personal data are noted. The integration of various state databases with information about subjects within the framework of e-government projects, the development of video surveillance systems and automated analysis of video events, control over the digital traces of an individual on the Internet. Digital profiling of individuals and organizations based on the data collected about them allows government agencies to implement a policy of admission and restrictions, conditioning access to public services and private services on the content and quality of biographical (reputational) information about the subject in the relevant databases. To a certain extent, the developing regulatory system echoes the ideas of Confucianism. A hierarchical (ranked) society is formed instead of the principle of equality of subjects before the law and the court; the boundaries of freedom of its members are determined not by the law, but by their reputation, that is, data in relevant sources; the legal behavior of subjects is ritualized, becomes more the result of habit and conformity than conscious choice; law merges with social ethics. These transformations mean an irreversible change in the very foundations of Western-type legal systems. The author presents a probabilistic forecast of the development of legal systems following the identified trends, and proposes a possible explanation of these transformations.