AIMS AND CONTENT

LEARNING OUTCOMES

The module aims to provide students with foundational legal knowledge concerning personal data and data processing, in order to foster a critical understanding of issues related to privacy and the protection of rights, particularly in light of contemporary forms of vulnerability and digital injustice. Special attention will be devoted to the impact of digitalisation – from “relational technologies” to AI systems – on privacy violations, processes of defining deviance, and mechanisms of oppression, discrimination, and social exclusion affecting individuals.

AIMS AND LEARNING OUTCOMES

Specifically, the course aims to:

·       provide foundational legal knowledge of personal data, their different types and metadata, and their processing, with attention to profiling, within the European and national regulatory framework: the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the Italian Personal Data Protection Code, the European Artificial Intelligence Regulation (AI Act), and Italian Law No. 132 of 23 September 2025. The course will also consider the relevant provisions of Decree-Law No. 19/2026, converted into law with amendments by Law No. 50/2026, and developments relating to the European Digital Omnibus and Digital Omnibus on AI initiatives;

·       introduce the main sociological approaches to deviance, examining processes of definition, labelling and social control to analyse the production of vulnerability and injustice in digital environments. The analysis will address dataveillance, the use of data and digital technologies in migration and asylum governance, including within the framework of the European Pact on Migration and Asylum, algorithmic discrimination, online hate speech, cyberbullying and cyberviolence against women;

·       examine, through the analysis of significant cases, the questions and prospects for rights protection emerging from debates on privacy, the right to be forgotten and neurorights, considering the tensions between personal autonomy, freedom of expression, the public interest in access to information, and practices of control.

Critical, gender and intersectional perspectives will inform the entire course.

By the end of the course, students will be able to apply the legal concepts and sociological tools acquired to critically analyse the relationship between digital technologies, privacy and rights protection; identify processes of classification, discrimination and exclusion; and formulate research questions and design empirical studies in this field, taking into account ethical implications and personal data protection.

TEACHING METHODS

• Face-to-face and synchronous online lectures;
• Tutorials/small-group activities.

In addition, seminars on specific topics may be organized. These will aim to encourage classroom discussion, also with a view to helping students develop and improve their argumentative skills.

Students who hold valid certificates relating to Specific Learning Difficulties (SLD), disabilities or other educational needs are invited to contact the lecturer and the school’s disability liaison officer at the start of the course to agree on any teaching arrangements which, whilst respecting the course objectives, take into account individual learning styles. 

The contact details for the university’s disability liaison officer are available at the following link: https://unige.it/commissioni/comitatoperlinclusionedeglistudenticondisabilita. 

SYLLABUS/CONTENT

The course analyses the relationship between digitalisation, personal data protection and the social construction of deviance, bringing together legal and sociological approaches. It examines how data collection and processing, profiling, and the operation of digital platforms and artificial intelligence systems affect personal autonomy, the exercise of rights, and the production of vulnerability and inequality.

It explores processes of classification, labelling and social control, dataveillance and algorithmic discrimination. It also addresses the implications of relational technologies, the use of data and digital technologies in migration and asylum governance, online hate speech, cyberbullying and cyberviolence against women. The analysis of significant cases provides a basis for discussing mechanisms for protecting privacy, the right to be forgotten and the debate on neurorights.

Critical, gender and intersectional perspectives inform the discussion throughout, connecting the analysis of these phenomena with the assessment of legal and social responses. Practical activities guide students in formulating research questions and designing empirical studies, with attention to ethical implications and personal data protection.

RECOMMENDED READING/BIBLIOGRAPHY

For students attending:

1. Notes made in the class.

2. The reading materials indicated during the course.

For not attending students:

1. Franco Prina, Devianza e criminalità. Concetti, metodi di ricerca, cause, politiche, Carocci, 2019.

2. Zygmunt Bauman e David Lyon, Sesto potere. La sorveglianza nella modernità liquida, Laterza, 2014.

3. Selina Zipponi (a cura di), Donne, dati e algoritmi. Privacy, intelligenza artificiale e nuove discriminazioni digitali, Maggioli, 2026.

TEACHERS AND EXAM BOARD

Exam Board

ELEONORA CECCALDI (President)

LUCA SABATINI (President)

LAURA SCUDIERI (President)

LESSONS

LESSONS START

The course will be held in the first semester of the academic year 2026-2027. More precise information will be provided on Aulaweb, to which students are invited to register regardless of attendance.

https://easyacademy.unige.it/portalestudenti/index.php?view=easycourse&_lang=it&include=corso

Class schedule

The timetable for this course is available here: Portale EasyAcademy

EXAMS

EXAM DESCRIPTION

The examination is oral and consists of an interview aimed at assessing the candidates’ understanding and critical re-elaboration of the course contents, as well as their presentation, argumentative, and analytical skills, including their ability to establish connections between the various topics covered.

ASSESSMENT METHODS

Attending students, whose level of learning and engagement will also be assessed throughout the course by means of small-group activities and thematic discussions, are expected to understand and critically re-elaborate the topics addressed in class and to present them orally with appropriate command of language.

Non-attending students are expected to understand and critically re-elaborate the issues discussed in the assigned readings and to present them orally with appropriate command of language.

Students having a valid certification of disability or Specific Learning Disorders (DSA) and having complied with Unige procedures (described here) may request the use of compensatory measures during the exams (e.g. additional time and/or concept maps). In any case, for further information, please contact the Department’s disability liaison.

FURTHER INFORMATION

Non-attending students are also suggested to subscribe to aulaweb, to be informed of events and opportunities, and to teams, in order to have access to teaching materials.

Ask the professor for other information not included in the teaching schedule.

Students with valid certifications for Specific Learning Disorders (SLD) may request accommodations for exams at least 7 days prior to the exam date by filling out the “accommodation request form” (available via online services at https://modulionline.unige.it/richiesta-adattamenti# no-back), which will be automatically forwarded by the system to the instructor in charge of the course and to the faculty liaison for students with disabilities and SLDs in their School/Department. 

The student will receive a copy of their request.