The Startup Privilege

Wed, 15 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0000

I have just published an article (in French, Spanish and Portuguese) in Le Monde diplomatique analyzing how technological innovation is used to justify increasing exemptions from fundamental rights, particularly in the field of digital surveillance.

Summary

This article examines how the discourse of innovation and the rhetoric of disruption are used to justify regulatory exemptions (aka “regulatory sandboxes”) and legal experiments that primarily benefit technology companies.

The analysis shows how this privilege of experimentation is part of a deliberate strategy of fait accompli: by rapidly deploying their services and building up a user base (including public users) before any real public debate, these companies and public authorities seek to impose these technologies in order to then legalize controversial practices a posteriori. This asymmetry between entrepreneurial timing and legal timing profoundly transforms the relationship between the market and the law, echoing some of the legal theories advocated by Carl Schmitt.

Startups on Félix Tréguer

The Startup Privilege

Summary