Abstract
The term big data has been one of the buzzwords both in academic and public discourse in recent years. As the editor of this handbook on big data law Roland Vogl points out, ‘In this era of big data, a wealth of works addresses big data analytics, tools, and techniques, and their societal impacts. It is truly an interdisciplinary dialogue, with more voices joining every day’ (p. 1). But what is big data law? Vogl defines the term as ‘the branch of computational law that concerns itself with data-driven approaches to legal analysis’ (p. 1). He recognises that the term big data law is actually used in two different ways: as ‘technology for the law’ – the focus of the handbook, and as ‘law of technology’ – ‘legal, ethical, and policy questions arising from impacts of new data processing techniques and related technologies on individuals and society’ (pp. 1–2). The book is split into 25 chapters focusing on a range of topics and contexts. A few of the chapters provide examples of big data law research in criminal law, copyright law, privacy law, tax law and administrative law. Other chapters deal with a range of approaches used such as machine learning, legal information retrieving, natural language processing, E-discovery, certification of AI systems as well as a few industry reports on using big data techniques. The research handbook aims to represent a scholarly, state-of-the-art overview of research and the scope of current writing in the field of big data analytics and the law. It targets scholars, practitioners and students from a variety of related disciplines. While the handbook contains a wealth of information on the topic, it would have been easier to navigate if the chapters were organised in different parts and the introduction was actually dealing with some of the broader issues covered in the handbook.