This paper engages in a comprehensive analysis of the historical processes leading to the destruction of the Original Nations of Belarus and Latvia. The research is structured in three sections, with the first outlining the tribal roots common to both Latvian and Belarusian nations, serving as a foundation for subsequent analyses. The second section constitutes the core of the research, employing an Original Nation approach to dissect the impact of historic occupations in the five key waves—religious conversion, invasions of the Mongol-Tatar Yoke that led to administrative integration into states, a language push under the Russian Empire, identity erasure during Sovietization, and lastly, the restoration of independence in both countries. The last section surveys the modern states of Belarus and Latvia, emphasising their endeavours to revive their Original Nations, as both nations share the burden of recovering lost national elements, resisting cultural repression, and building a robust national identity.

The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is a Chinese infrastructure and investment project launched in 2013 that seeks to link China with over 70 countries through transport, communication, and trading networks. The BRI consists of building and construction projects including railways, ports, roads, and other vital trade infrastructure. Importantly, the BRI also includes the establishment of a new “Digital Silk Road” (DSR) enhancing digital connectivity using the latest 5G high bandwidth, low latency mobile and satellite technology. In 2019, several Western states (notably USA, Australia, Canada, and the UK) banned Chinese telecommunications technology companies, such as Huawei, from rolling out 5G networks in their respective jurisdictions. The purported basis for the bans were security concerns over the ability of the Chinese government to control and potentially intercept communications over the Huawei systems. In the MENA region, no such bans have been adopted and the DSR is proceeding to connect MENA economies to China at a rapid pace. This places MENA countries in a precarious position between strategic links with the US as the global hegemon with a strategic interest in the region, and the emerging Chinese global political and economic order. The regulation of digital communication technologies is one dimension where legal frameworks must be designed with care and discernment to balance competing geopolitical forces. This article seeks to answer the question of how best to understand the legal regulation of new technologies in the MENA region and argues that the conceptual lens of “Tech-diplomacy” helps to provide such an understanding. In addition to privacy-centric, security-centric, and growth-centric philosophical and jurisprudential approaches to understanding data regulation, the predicament of the MENA region is a case study in how geopolitics can also inform our understanding of tech regulation.

This article analyses the paradoxical relationship between the relative decline and resurgence of national sovereignty in the context of economic and informational globalisation, the rise of mega-platforms, the sovereign individuals hidden within blockchains, and large model behemoths free from the feature design of programming. It highlights how the decline of sovereignty has given rise to concepts such as “the digital sovereignty” in Europe and “the sovereign blockchain” in China, while the resurgence of sovereignty has led to theories like the “surveillance society” in North America and the “electronic forbidding leave” metaphor in China. In any case, with the AI-driven era, “the Algorithmic Leviathan” is becoming an extremely powerful dominating force that countries and laws must confront. To prevent its runaway abuse, it is necessary to consolidate a basic consensus through global digital compacts and institutionalise it through legal and technical due process—this is the essence of the digital rule of law.

Law enforcement institutions in India are undergoing fundamental media technological transformations, integrating digital media technologies into crime investigation, documentation, and presentation methods. This article seeks to understand these transformations by examining the curious case of 65-B certificates, a mandatory paper document that gatekeeps and governs the life of new media objects as evidence in the Indian legal system. In exploring the tensions that arise when bureaucratic institutions change their means of information production, the article reflects on the continued stubborn presence of paper at this transformative juncture in the life of legal institutions. By studying the role of paper in bureaucratic practices, analyzing jurisprudential debates and case law surrounding 65-B certificates, and thinking through some scattered ethnographic encounters around these certificates involving police officers, forensic scientists, and practicing lawyers, this article argues that despite ongoing digital transformations, law essentially remains a technology of paper.

This paper explores the reasons that divorce petitions by trafficked women in China were denied in courts in the wake of the chained woman incident. The author collected and examined divorce verdicts involving trafficked women from China Judgements Online. Among 100 unique cases, 87 were denied in their first attempts. Most of these cases were treated in the same way as regular divorce cases, with trafficking allegations either blatantly ignored or dismissed as irrelevant. The author argues that the systematic denials and ignoring of trafficking allegations is enabled by a hegemonic legal consciousness within the Circuit of Trafficking that includes not only parties directly engaged in trafficking activities, but also state actors such as the judges and legislators who prioritise “family” preservation and social stability over the rights and well-being of trafficked women. Without addressing and changing this hegemonic legal consciousness, any reform, if it should take place, would be rendered futile in practice.

Dark patterns have become a pervasive issue around the world. However, Indonesia has not taken any action to deal with the situation. This article aims to analyse the issue of dark patterns in digital platforms from Indonesia’s consumer protection law perspective. It contends that Indonesia’s consumer protection law is not adequate in overcoming the issue of dark patterns in digital platforms. Several laws regulate basic principles and provisions that indirectly prohibit dark patterns, but these regulations can only be applied to certain forms of dark patterns and are difficult to implement. The article suggests that Indonesia must specifically regulate the prohibition of the practices of dark patterns in its current law. The regulations do not have to define the term “dark patterns” directly; however, they should expressly regulate prohibitions against the practice of using design interfaces in a way that subverts or impairs consumers’ autonomy and/or exploits consumers’ behavioural biases.

Leveraging blockchain technology in the energy sector holds immense potential, particularly in facilitating decentralised energy systems. However, the legal and regulatory landscapes of several countries, including Malaysia and Australia, pose significant obstacles to its effective implementation. This article examines the specific legal and regulatory hurdles hindering the incorporation of P2P energy trading systems in these two jurisdictions: Malaysia and Australia. Through a comparative analysis, the authors aim to provide valuable insights for policymakers and regulators seeking to develop comprehensive frameworks that encourage blockchain adoption in the energy sector. The article highlights the need to address the under-inclusiveness of laws, legal uncertainty around novel blockchain-based concepts like smart contracts, and the obsolescence of legal frameworks designed for traditional centralised energy systems. By examining Malaysia’s and Australia’s unique challenges, the article seeks to contribute to a broader understanding of the complexities of adapting legal and regulatory frameworks to accommodate this transformative technology.

This article explores Vietnam’s distinctive approach to data privacy regulation and its implications for the established understandings of privacy law. While global data privacy regulations are premised on individual freedom and integrity of information flows, the recent Vietnamese Decree 13/2023/NĐ-CP on Personal Data Protection (herein PDPD) prioritise state oversight and centralised control over information flows to safeguard collective interests and cyberspace security. The fresh regulatory logic puts data privacy under the regulation of government agencies and moves the privacy law arena even further away from the already distant judicial power. This prompts an exploration of the nuances underlying the ways regulators and the regulated communities understand data privacy regulation. The article draws on social constructionist accounts of regulation and discourse analysis to explore the epistemic interaction between regulators and those subject to regulation during the PDPD’s drafting period. The process is highlighted by the dynamics between actors within a complex semantic network established by the state’s policy initiatives, where tacit assumptions and normative beliefs direct the way actors in various communities favour one type of thinking about data privacy regulation over another. The findings suggest that reforms to privacy laws may not result in “more privacy” to individuals and that divergences in global privacy regulation may not be easily explained by drawing merely from cultural and institutional variances.

Sino-Arab Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) have remained elusive over two decades of increasing economic relations and trade negotiations. Nevertheless, substantial investments and trade demonstrate the Arab region’s strategic importance to China. Recent strategic drivers of China’s engagement with the Middle East have evolved from an original energy security focus, to more recently integrating technological investments into partnerships, such as artificial intelligence and renewable energy infrastructure—complicating progress towards an FTA. Such measures can help progress achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals and offer economic development opportunities, but negotiations may be hindered by concerns ranging from technological dependency to trade competition. Examining opportunities and challenges in the developing China–Arab relations, the article explores legal and policy obstacles and opportunities towards securing an FTA. With a focus on recent developments in AI and sustainability partnerships, the article analyses legal strategies and international law best practices for a model FTA for Arab countries.

The current unilateral and bilateral governance agreement cannot solve problems such as the large strength gap, loose organisation, and cultural diversity in cross-border data flow in Asia. Therefore, we are in urgent need of structuring a multilateral governance mechanism, that is, to build a mutual trust platform for cross-border data flow in Asia. From a digital technology perspective, the Asian Cross-Border Data Flow Trust Platform is a blockchain-based digital technology architecture. From the perspective of the organisational model, the Asian cross-border data flow governance based on the mutual trust platform can be understood as a cooperative network in which multiple Asian countries cooperate to make cross-border data decisions. As a necessary medium to eliminate the complexity of the cooperation network, legal procedures will transform the chaos on the Asian Cross-Border Data Flow Mutual Trust Platform into order by simplifying the communication between multiple agents.

Social-creative metaverses, which foster user creativity and encourage user-generated content, promise a revolution in digital creativity. However, metaverse developers often enforce strict regulations on user-generated content through user terms and conditions, restricting or permitting its reuse. These rules place an artificial barrier between users and their copyright, often waiving moral rights and making economic rights subject to mandatory licences. Using Second Life as a case study, this article demonstrates how metaverse regulations undermine users’ intellectual property rights and control over their creations. Furthermore, it examines emerging intellectual property policies in Japan, South Korea, and China, noting a lack of awareness regarding the impact of these regulatory layers on user creativity. Highlighting the importance of the external regulation of user terms and conditions, the article proposes potential policies and strategies for East Asia and beyond to protect users’ copyright ownership and mitigate the negative effects of restrictive metaverse terms and conditions.