Professor Guido Noto La Diega
Law
Personal statement
An award-winning Italy-born naturalised British law academic with a passion for the law of emerging technologies, Professor Guido Noto La Diega (they/he) is a Professor of Law, Technology and Innovation and Programme Leader of the LLM/MSc Law, Technology, and Innovation at the University of Strathclyde's School of Law in the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, where they mentor an excellent team carrying out pioneering research at the intersection of law, technology, and innovation.
Appointed directly by the Principal of the University through the Global Talent Acquisition Programme, Noto La Diega brings to Strathclyde an internationally recognised expertise is in the European, Italian, and British legal and regulatory approaches to Internet of Things, Artificial Intelligence, cloud computing, robotics, and blockchain. Their work is animated by the conviction that the law should steer innovation in a socially just, inclusive, and sustainable direction.
Holder of a PhD (Unipa), a postdoc (QMUL), and an HEA Fellowship, Noto La Diega is the author of the groundbreaking open-access book Internet of Things and the Law and of several articles in leading international journals such as the European Intellectual Property Review and European Journal of Law & Technology; they also appeared in mainstream popular press such as Vogue, Sky News, CNET, Il Sole 24 Ore, ABC, and Wired. Noto La Diega’s works – published in English and Italian, and translated into Chinese, Russian, and Korean – have been cited by the EU Court of Justice's Advocate General, the House of Lords, the UK Intellectual Property Office, the World Economic Forum, the European Parliament, and the Council of Europe, amongst others. As a member of the European Commission’s Expert Group on AI and Data in Education and Training, Noto La Diega contributed to the EU Guidelines on AI in Education.
Noto La Diega has a strong bidding record, having been funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council, Horizon Europe, the German Research Foundation, The Royal Society of Edinburgh, the Society of Legal Scholars, the British and Irish Law Education and Technology Association, the Modern Law Review, and Santander. They are currently leading the half-a-million-pound international project “From Smart Technologies to Smart Laws” (AHRC-DFG). They have 14 years’ academic experience in the UK, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, Russia, Brazil, and the US, and they have delivered keynote speeches and presented their research in prestigious venues including the WTO Public Forum in Geneva, the Computers, Privacy & Data Protection Conference in Brussels, and the Intellectual Property Scholars Conference in New York.
Outside of Strathclyde, Noto La Diega is a Martin-Flynn Global Law Professor in the School of Law at the University of Connecticut; Fellow of the Nexa Center for Internet and Society; Expert of the European Data Protection Board; Research Associate at the UCL Centre for Blockchain Technologies; Scotland Advisory Council Member of the Open Rights Group; Advisory Board Member of the Gender Equality Special Interest Group at the European Law Institute; Steering Committee Member at the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO – Academic Research Programme); External Expert of the European Data Protection Board; and Research Grants Committee Member at the Society of Legal Scholars, the oldest and largest society of law academics in the UK and Ireland.
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Alongside research, teaching, and consultancy, Noto La Diega is a qualified lawyer called to the Bar of Italy in 2013 (non-practising), an LGBTQ+ rights advocate, as well as a Trustee of the award-winning charity Scottish Families Affected by Alcohol & Drugs.
Publications
- Privacy law, IoT
- Noto La Diega Guido
- Elgar Concise Encyclopedia of Artificial Intelligence and the Law (2025) (2025)
- https://doi.org/10.4337/9781035336906.00082
- When the internet gets under our skin : reassessing consumer law and policy in a society of cyborgs
- Clubbs Coldron Benjamin, Noto La Diega Guido, Twigg-Flesner Christian, Busch Christoph, Stolte Tabea, de Vries Marc-Oliver
- Journal of Consumer Policy Vol 48, pp. 205-232 (2025)
- https://doi.org/10.1007/s10603-024-09581-y
- Idea
- Noto La Diega Guido
- Elgar Encyclopedia of Intellectual Property Law (2025) (2025)
- https://doi.org/10.4337/9781800886933.idea
- Idea (concept of)
- Noto La Diega Guido
- Elgar Encyclopedia of Intellectual Property Law (2025) (2025)
- Publishing contract
- Noto La Diega Guido
- Elgar Encyclopedia of Intellectual Property Law (2025) (2025)
- General Court (Role in IP Cases)
- Noto La Diega Guido
- Elgar Encyclopedia of Intellectual Property Law (2025) (2025)
Professional Activities
- EU regulation of AI deepfakes – commentary for the EU Observer
- Recipient
- 7/1/2026
- Edinburgh Napier University
- Visiting researcher
- 2025
- University of Helsinki
- Visiting researcher
- 2025
- Universita degli Studi di Palermo
- Visiting researcher
- 2024
- Pool of Experts
- Consultant
- 2022
- University of Connecticut
- Visiting researcher
- 2022
Projects
- Artificial Intelligence and Scots Law: Transforming the Future
- Noto La Diega, Guido (Academic)
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This project is generously funded by the Royal Society of Edinburgh under its Research Collaboration Grant Scheme.
This RSE supported project is led by Dr Lorna Gillies, University of Dundee with collaboration from Dr Michiel Poesen, University of Aberdeen, and with colleagues from the Universities of Dundee, Edinburgh Napier, Strathclyde and Stirling together with Shepherd and Wedderburn LLP.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is increasingly used by businesses, organisations and markets to deliver goods and services to consumers more efficiently. Artificial Intelligence (AI) comprises narrow AI such as Large Language Models (LLMs), general AI being equivalent to human thinking and reasoning, and super AI which may in future supersede human thinking and reasoning. As society has become rapidly aware of AI's existence, the benefits and challenges of AI are beginning to emerge. AI may enable automated decisions, goods, services and medical diagnostics. However, the use of AI raises concerns about data protection and privacy, employment rights, consumer protection, equality, fundamental fairness and human rights. AI disrupts law and in response various jurisdictions have begun to review how current legal rules can apply, and what forms of transformational change of laws are necessary. These different AI forms have generated global, EU and national attention. Law makers seek to identify the benefits and risks of AI and how best to respond. In that context, existing laws must be considered to assess the extent to which they can apply or must transform to accommodate the benefits and risks inherent in the use, or misuse, of AI.
To what extent does Scots private law address the benefits and challenges of AI in society? The project focusses on different areas of Scots private law, namely contract and agency, property, delict, private international law and human rights and engages with a range of researchers and stakeholders. The objectives of the project will be to collate published papers from the Workshops as an open access resource. - 01-Jan-2024 - 01-Jan-2026
- MegaSkills Project - Ethics Advisory Board
- Noto La Diega, Guido (Principal Investigator)
- 01-Jan-2024 - 31-Jan-2026
- From Smart Technologies to Smart Consumer Laws: Comparative Perspectives from Germany and the United Kingdom
- Noto La Diega, Guido (Principal Investigator)
- 01-Jan-2024 - 31-Jan-2025
- MEGASKILLS. MEthodology of Psycho-pedagogical, Big Data and Commercial Video GAmes procedures for the European SKILLS Agenda Implementation
- Noto La Diega, Guido (Principal Investigator)
- Ethical use of commercial videogame data to develop soft skills. HORIZON-CL2-2022-TRANSFORMATIONS-01-07 “Conditions for the successful development of skills matched to needs (RIA)”) led by Dr Iker Martínez de Soria Sánchez (Tecnalia) and Dr Flavio Escribano (GeCon.es Foundation)
- 01-Jan-2023 - 30-Jan-2025
- AHRC-DFG-funded project "From Smart Technologies to Smart Consumer Laws: Comparative Perspectives from Germany and the United Kingdom"
- Noto La Diega, Guido (Principal Investigator)
- The rapidly growing ‘Internet of Things’ – a network of connected objects such as cars, wearables, smart speakers, thermostats, and other household appliances – poses a range of issues for consumer laws that were drafted before hyperconnectivity became commonplace. Researchers from the University of Stirling – working with colleagues at the Universities of Warwick, Osnabrück and Bonn – will seek to identify emerging consumer issues in the UK and Germany related to smart technology and assess how their consumer laws cover these issues.
Funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council and the German Research Foundation, 'From Smart Technologies to Smart Consumer Laws: Comparative Perspectives from Germany and the United Kingdom' will scope the potential for mutual learning between the two legal systems and recommend changes to the current regulations. Ultimately, the project will explore how consumers of smart technology can be empowered through law reform and legal design.
The UK Principal Investigator Prof. Guido Noto La Diega commented: “We are interested in the extent to which users are legally protected in this interconnected age under existing consumer laws, and whether legislation needs to be reviewed in line with technological developments. We argue that law reform needs to be paired with efforts from private stakeholders that should adopt novel legal design approaches to compliance. Our project is innovative – in terms of addressing a gap in existing literature and in its methods – and the collaboration with our counterparts in Germany is of the utmost importance, as both countries are leading the way in the regulation of the ‘internet of things’ and their approaches – although significantly different – constitute best practice. It is imperative that we share our knowledge to ensure consumer laws become as smart as the technologies that are shaping our lives.”
The study, which involves Professor Christoph Busch from the University of Osnabrück, Professor Louisa Specht-Riemenschneider of the University of Bonn and the University of Warwick's Professor Christian Twigg-Flesner, will consider four key themes, across three use cases – smart home, wearables and connected cars:
(1) THINGS AS A SERVICE
The emergence of smart technology challenges the traditional goods-services foundation on which consumer laws are built. The researchers will explore whether existing consumer laws are fit for purpose in today’s socio-technical setting, increasingly shaped by long-term contracts and data-drive monetisation models.
(2) REGULATION BY BRICKING
Smart products are often linked to sellers or suppliers who can remotely and automatically discontinue functionalities and downgrade or ‘brick’ a device – meaning that products become obsolete because tech companies no longer provide upgrades and fixes for older models. The contracts and number of actors involved can also add complexity to regulation.
(3) LIABILITY IN THE CLOUD OF THINGS
The automated interaction between multiple connected devices raises pressing issues around product liability. The study will consider whether existing liability rules provide protection for those using smart technology.
(4) INTERNET OF PERSONALISED THINGS
Smart technology empowers tech companies to enhance their profiling and targeting of consumers with precision and efficacy – resulting in the personalisation of products, prices and/or terms of service. At the same time, technology can be applied to enable a more targeted use of consumer protection technologies. The team will consider what personalisation of this kind means for the concept of the ‘average customer’.
Check out our blog: https://smartconsumerlaw.wordpress.com/
X: @ProjectStsl - 01-Jan-2022 - 08-Jan-2025
- Scottish Law and Innovation Network (SCOTLIN)
- Noto La Diega, Guido (Principal Investigator)
- Royal Society of Edinburgh Research Network co-led by Professor Guido Noto La Diega, Associate Professor Rossana Ducato and Professor Martin Kretschmer
- 01-Jan-2021 - 30-Jan-2023