AUSCL

The balancing act that is internet governance

Engaging with the online world is a key priority for the Australian Government and it’s becoming more confident about how to regulate the internet, argues Australia’s Minister for Communications,...

Technology supply chains are a risky business

Smaller suppliers of technology goods and services are increasingly finding themselves between a rock and a hard place when contractual agreements turn sour. In any commercial agreement there is...

Searching the past for a new digital democracy

Ada Lovelace, the daughter of poet Lord Byron and collaborator with mechanical computer pioneer Charles Babbage, is credited with being the world’s first computer programmer. Lawyer and writer Lizzie...

A reasonable robot in the eyes of the law

Whether it’s driving a car, making a medical diagnosis by referencing a database of historical cases, finding potential new drugs, or playing chess, artificial intelligence is increasingly performing tasks...

Writing laws for when mind meets machine

In 2019, Elon Musk announced he hoped to implant a two-way communication device into a human brain in 2020. He didn’t. The US Federal Drug Administration won’t let him,...

If you want a patent, it helps to be human

Earlier this year IP Australia rejected a patent application from Dabus. The problem: Dabus is not human, it is artificial artificial intelligence software that had come up with something...

On fairness, algorithms and the law

“Fair is foul, and foul is fair,” chanted the witches in Macbeth, meaning that appearances can be deceptive: things can differ from how they appear. And our idea of...

Turning rules and laws into computer code

“If I can book an aeroplane flight online, why can’t I find out online whether I’m liable for something?” That rhetorical question came from Adrian Kelly, cofounder of SmartLegal...

Brian Schmidt on the ANU’s 2018 cyber attack

The Australian National University’s Vice Chancellor Brian Schmidt talks about lessons learned after its devastating data breach in 2018 and explains why cybersecurity is everyone’s responsibility. It was just...

Francis Gurry on the rise of protectionism

World Intellectual Property Organisation director general Francis Gurry reckons the world is facing a rise in country-level threats to open innovation in science and technology that has the potential...

Time for a COVIDSafe review: Edward Santow

It is time for a “rigorous and independent” analysis of the effectiveness of the federal government’s COVIDSafe contact tracing app to ensure it is working and worth the seven...

Justice Kirby on why we must fight for privacy

Former High Court Justice Michael Kirby recalls the one privacy principle he helped develop at the OECD in the late 1970s that was made redundant when Google emerged in...

Elon Musk’s Neuralink is an ethics maze

Elon Musk’s Neuralink outfit is working towards developing an easy to implant brain to computer interface that could do everything from healing brain injuries to greatly enhancing our perceptions,...

Michael Kirby on technology and the law

Former High Court Justice Michael Kirby and the current director general of the World Intellectual Property Organisation, Australian Francis Gurry will formalise the creation of the Australian Society for...