Personal Legal Status in Context of Technology-Driven Social Experiment

Abstract

Based on the study of relevant research findings, law enforcement practices and content analysis, the paper identifies the peculiarities of social and legal environment reflecting the experimental nature of life of a modern society. The mutual effects of technologies, social relationships and legal regulations are discussed. It is stated that technologies which initially had an uncertain impact (social, economic, political and legal) have set an evolutionary development trend of modern societies worldwide, only to justify the insight into evolving conditions in which the personal legal status is implemented. In identifying the nature of technological revolution at the current stage, a conclusion is made on the implementation of a vast majority of social relationships in context of technology-driven social experiment. The legal features of this experiment making it different from the previous stages of the technological progress are identified, and the importance of convergence of the community and digital technologies to set directions for development of the law is underlined. Special attention is paid to the category of the personal legal status and aspects of its protection. The factors of its transformation in the given context are studied and the impact of the experiment’s legal features on the personal legal status is demonstrated. The paper is aimed at proposing solutions to the issue of preserving legal status of a person as a legitimate party to social and technological processes protected from technocratic manifestations, endowed with the right of choice and opportunities to exercise it. In terms of methodology, the study is based on both general and particular research methods. The former include structured and historical methods while the latter — formal legal method and logical cognitive tools such as analysis, synthesis, induction, deduction. It is proposed to expand the field of application of legal experiment to keep pace with the social relationships dynamics in the context of technological change, help maintain the guarantees related to the established rights and liberties and also contribute to the development of well-balanced legal controls.