Secretary-General M. Guntur Hamzah delivering a public lecture for law postgraduate students at Universitas Sebelas Maret of Surakarta, Friday (6/9/2023). Photo by MKRI/Agung.

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SURAKARTA (MKRI) — The foundation of law and technology lies in the transparency of information presented as actual facts. With a higher level of understanding of science, law postgraduate students should not be allergic to rapid development of technology. Indeed, technology can be utilized for the advancement of the legal field, said Constitutional Justice M. Guntur Hamzah in a public lecture on “Law and Information Technology” for law postgraduate students of Universitas Sebelas Maret (UNS) of Surakarta on Friday, June 9, 2023.

“Those who oppose technology will be worn out by technology. So, be friendly with technology, by devoting technological innovations for the benefit of mankind,” he said before Dean of the Law Faculty I Gusti Ayu Ketut Rachmi Handayani and the faculty’s academics at the Amik Sumindriyatmi Hall, Building III of the Law Faculty of UNS. 

Legal Technology

Alongside developments of technology, Justice Guntur continued, the legal aspect must also develop with the emergence of legal technology—various technologies that can be used in interacting with the law related to regulation and its impact on people’s lives. He illustrated this interaction in meeting the needs of financial technology, regulatory technology, smart contracts, and e-discovery.

“The sense of justice that cannot be replaced by technology,” he said. 

Digital Signatures

During the Q&A session, a student asked about the digital signatures of notaries public. Justice Guntur replied that until today a person is required to appear directly in front of a notary. However, he believes in the Constitutional Court’s developments, where now litigants—petitioners, witnesses, experts—can file petitions and documents and attend hearings virtually.

“All of this is a matter of mindset, because in the end technological developments will stay. It’s just that currently the understanding is not the same (in the field of notaries), so the ease of technology cannot be used. Meanwhile, it is easier to prove the validity, authenticity, and originality of digital signatures. In a wet signature, even the addition of a dot can put doubt into its validity, even though it remains authentic. For digital signatures, the addition of other elements such as dots or commas will be detected if it was affixed after the digital signature,” Justice Guntur replied. 

Author       : Sri Pujianti
Editor        : Nur R.
Translator  : Yuniar Widiastuti (NL)

Disclaimer: The original version of the news is in Indonesian. In case of any differences between the English and the Indonesian versions, the Indonesian version will prevail.

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