Machine Rules. Of Drones, Robots, and the Info-Capitalist Society

Abstract

Italy has been one of the first countries in the world to enact ad hoc regulations on drones. Therefore, the Italian approach may constitute a model for many regulations to come; nonetheless, the legal literature seems to overlook the phenomenon. In this article, I place the discourse on drones in the context of some more general considerations on the main legal issues related to the deployment of machines, including robots, in our everyday life. Indeed, most considerations apply equally to robots and drones, moving from the unrefined, albeit practical, observation that the latter are robots equipped with wings. An analysis of the intellectual property, data protection, privacy, and liability issues is carried out bearing in mind the complexity arising from the increasing implementation of cloud computing and artificial intelligence technologies. The article claims that autonomous machines will outclass human beings in all their tasks, but the horror vacui ought to be avoided: a new unforeseeable society will come. Therein, human beings – granted that a distinction between them and machines will still make sense – will not have to work in order to be able to live.