On Friday 22 February 2019 the winning stories of the Science Fiction & Information Law Writing Competition were announced at a symposium in Spui 25. 

Both information law and science fiction are fascinated by new and emerging technologies such as social media, artificial intelligence and automated decision making to mention a few. Both feel a strong urge to write about them and authors in both ‘genres’ dedicate a considerable share of their time speculating how these technologies may evolve. Science fiction authors as well as information law scholars ponder what the implications will be for society, markets and the values that we cherish and seek to protect. More than thirty bold authors from all over the planet submitted a story for the ‘Science Fiction & Information Law’ Writing Competition. A stellar jury consisting of Ryan Calo, Paul Goldstein, Natali Helberger, Bernt Hugenholtz, Joost Poort, Mykola Makhortykh and Wolfgang Schulz selected the winners.

First place: Arnoud Engelfriet (NL) for ‘A new beginning’
Reflection by Bernt Hugenholtz

Second place: Christine Würth (UK) for ‘Generation NeoTouch‘
Reflection by Paul Goldstein

Third place: James Danielsen (SA) for ‘The Storyeller’
Reflection by Ryan Calo

The three winning science fiction stories were discussed by information law scholars, who reflected on the possible normative ramification, what the role of law is to promote or rather prevent such a future, or how law in such a future would look like.  Together, these contributions will be considered for publication in the form of a special issue in the open access journal Internet Policy Review later this year.