ANU College of Law faculty are world-leading scholars whose research is at the cutting edge of Law and Technology. Our research aims to solve real-world issues, enrich international scholarship, influence policymaking and improve the law’s application of technology.
We offer an unrivalled range of professional development courses and postgraduate programs taught by international experts. We also host events that guide national discussions and shape policy, produce outstanding scholarship, provide expertise to journalists, and more.
Graduate Certificate of New Technologies Law
Taught entirely online, the ANU Graduate Certificate of New Technologies Law gives you the skills and knowledge to accelerate your career. Understand the application - and evolution - of the law in the digital era.
This program is ideal for those who have completed a Bachelor’s degree in another discipline and wish to develop their knowledge of Australian and international legal systems and how laws are created, interpreted and applied to new technologies.
The Graduate Certificate of New Technologies Law also provides a pathway to the ANU Master of Laws (LLM) for graduates from non-cognate disciplines upon completion of Law and Legal Institutions (LAWS8586).
Read moreGraduate Certificate of Law
We offer a range of short-term professional development courses with a focus on law and technology. This allows you to study a single subject without having to apply for a full postgraduate degree.
Short-term professional development courses can enable you to update or refresh your knowledge, expand your skillset, focus on a specialised area of law relating to your current role or gain new knowledge and skills to prepare you for a new role.
All these courses are currently delivered online due to COVID-19 restrictions. Some of our courses include:
- Artificial Intelligence, Law & Society
- Cyber Warfare Law
- Legal App Development
Our research
Dr Will Bateman (Chief Investigator)
This impact-driven project will produce concrete solutions (including model legislation) to regulate the use of AI by government agencies and public officials. The set of technologies which are popularly described as AI have radically augmented human capacities for virtuous and vicious behaviour. The widespread adoption of AI in the public sector has the potential to fundamentally alter the relationship between citizen and government.
Dr Will Bateman (Chief Investigator)
Dr Bateman will be investigating the role of legislation in establishing the legal architectures which frame which monetary transactions and the way that legislation allocates constitutional authority over money between different organs of state. Of particular importance is the growth of legislation governing the nature of currency, the limits on currency issues and the capacity to regulate private financial market credit creation. From the 19th century, legislation (rather than judicial doctrine) has set legal boundaries of those legal aspects of money, while also concentrating power in Treasuries and Central Banks (rather than the judiciary) as the primary constitutional organs responsible for the monetary system. Revisiting Mann's work with an eye on the ‘public’, ‘constitutional’ and ‘legislative’ aspects of money will yield important insights in addressing the role of money in liberal constitutionalism and vice versa.
Dr Daniel Stewart
This project builds on the lessons from Robodebt to address the need to understand the working, and impact, of automated processes in government. The problem with robo-debt lay not in the idea, but in the ¬execution. The system was riddled with design flaws. Robodebt is a textbook example of how not to deploy technology in government decision-making. An initiative designed to save revenue has instead led the federal government to repay $721m to 373,000 people. However, care must be taken not to draw the wrong lessons¬. One flawed program does not destroy the case for governments to use technology to improve services and ensure public money goes to the right recipients.
Dr Daniel Stewart
Automation promises major benefits to government. Well-designed systems can make government services more accur¬ate, efficient and fair, such as by limiting the potential for human bias and error. They can also ¬extend taxpayer dollars so that services can reach many more people. An example is in legal services, where government funding of legal aid and community legal centres is critically important to helping thousands of vulnerable people, yet still falls well short of what is needed.
Dr Will Bateman (Chief Investigator), Dr Damian Clifford
The Humanising Machine Intelligence project brings together philosophers, social scientists, legal scholars and computer science experts to design AI that represents and promotes "Australian values".
The project is funded under the ANU Grand Challenges scheme, which brings ANU researchers from different disciplines together to solve the most pressing challenges facing the world today. Its research covers four key areas: automating governance; personalisation; algorithmic ethics; and human-AI interaction.
Dr Damian Clifford
This project aims to explore the legitimacy of business practices vis-à-vis the role and qualitative standard of consumer consent. More specifically, my aim is to (1) gain a more detailed understanding of what commercial purposes should require the consent of the individual due to their privacy-invasive nature; and more significantly, (2) investigate the kinds of purposes that cannot be or rather should not be legitimised even with individual consent through a comparative approach.
Dr Damian Clifford
This project analyses the literature exploring the meaning of the fairness principle in EU data protection law. Fairness is included in both Article 8(2) of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (the Charter) and Article 5(1)(a) of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Despite these foundations however, the fairness principle has been largely unexplored and remains broadly undefined in the data protection framework, case law and guidance literature. Indeed, it is well recognised that there is very little in the way of comprehensive and systematic guidance from Data Protection Authorities in the EU and the relevant EU Institutions, despite the fact that the requirement to process personal data ‘fairly’ is a standard-bearer in the data protection principles. This in turn, provides challenges for Data Protection Officers (DPOs) to fulfil their obligations and ensure that processing activities comply with the fairness principle, demonstrating the important connection between fairness and the accountability principle provided for in Article 5(2) of the Regulation.
Associate Professor Jolyon Ford; Dr Will Bateman; Scott Chamberlain; Dr Philippa Ryan; Dr Dilan Thampapillai; Professor Sally Wheeler OBE; Professor Mark Findlay
This project is a collaboration with the Centre for AI and Data Governance at SMU Singapore. The project’s research outcomes manifest in 12 essays in the forthcoming book Regulatory Insights on Artificial Intelligence: Research for Policy (Edward Elgar, forthcoming 2021, Findlay, Ford, Seoh and Thamapillai editors). The project contributions consider various aspects of legal and regulatory governance of artificial intelligence. The book is unique in additionally including author self-reflection on the nature of the research challenges in this fast-moving area, the interface with policy-making. The project has reflected on the significance of contextual variance in undertaking policy-relevant research on the governance of AI technologies.
Associate Professor Jolyon Ford
Hosted by Singapore Management University and funded by Microsoft Asia, this research dialogue on artificial intelligence (AI) governance aims to provide a framework for engaging the governance of AI technologies from an Asian perspective bringing together a multi-disciplinary group of leading researchers on AI governance from academic institutions, across the region. The key objective of the dialogue would be to foster the exchange of views on the governance of AI in Asia and deepen research collaboration in areas relevant to industry, governments, cultures and communities. The dialogue would contribute to greater coherence in AI governance across the region in areas where this is possible, by identifying areas of common understanding, while also recognising areas where there is a greater divergence of views, experiences, and capacities.
Dr Philippa Ryan, Dr Roslyn Prinsley, Dr Andrew Tridgell OAM, Dr Marta Yebra
Launched in the wake of the catastrophic Black Summer Bushfires of 2019-20, this multidisciplinary project is led by ANU scholars from ANU Climate Change Institute, Fenner School of Environment and Society, Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics, ANU College of Law, and ANU College of Computer Science and Engineering. As the project’s lead legal research, Dr Ryan seeks to identify and resolve legal challenges relating to the use of airborne technologies to detect and extinguish bushfires.
Dr Philippa Ryan; Dr James Prest
This project seeks to engage with international researchers and industry to explore the way that peer-to-peer trading between micro-energy grids can improve the resilience of physical and digital systems. Find ways to use data gathered from the use of blockchain technology to improve efficiencies.
Dr Philippa Ryan; Dr Aaron Lane (RMIT University)
This monograph explores the ways that regulators have responded to new digital products, new inputs and processes, new markets, and new business models and commercial arrangements. It provides a comparative analyse of regulatory responses in common law countries and considers the implications for commercial and professional accountability. This book explores, from a legal perspective, the way that regulation and accountability have been shaped by the digital age.
Dr Philippa Ryan; scholars from ANU College of Law and Singapore Management University Law School
This collaborative work brings together new perspectives on the way that the law is developing in response to novel challenges presented by the proliferation of new technologies in social and economic contexts.
News
06-03-2023
Annie Haggar (BA/LLB ’06, GDLP ’07) has never been a tech whiz. She does not code and aside from Information Technology Law, she steered clear of most tech-oriented subjects at school and university. However, her curiosity in figuring out how things worked and playing with different gadgets led her towards a successful career working in technology law.
14-06-2022
From data privacy to accountability of algorithms, there are a myriad of new challenges posed by the rapid reliance on artificial intelligence (AI) and big data.
While data-based technologies provide us with a world of possibilities, they also present a range of associated risks, ethical concerns and biases.
This begs the question: what role can the law play in the regulation and governance of AI to ensure justice, social inclusivity and trust in administrative and contractual processes?
10-03-2022
By Aiden Hookey (student ambassador)
A scholar at The Australian National University (ANU) College of Law and two of his stand-out students have been awarded significant funding to develop legal technology.
Publications
Can social media help end the harm? Public information campaigns, online platforms, and paramilitary-style attacks in a deeply divided society
Authors: Faith Gordon, Paul Reilly
Centre: CIPL
Research theme: Law and Technology
Online platforms can help public information campaigns reach target audiences who are unlikely to engage with content distributed via traditional media. This paper adds to this emergent literature, as the first study of the Ending the Harm campaign, which is designed to change public discourse about paramilitary-style attacks in Northern Ireland. Campaign effects were explored through interviews (N = 7) conducted with key stakeholders, as well as the results of a quantitative survey of residents (N = 805) in areas most affected by these attacks. Results indicate that exposure to the ETH advertisements correlated with a belief that PSAs were unjustified. Platforms like Snapchat helped the campaign reach younger demographics (16–34 years old). Nevertheless, it was unclear whether self-reported changes in attitude toward PSAs would lead to sustained behavioral changes.
Can social media help end the harm? Public information campaigns, online platforms, and paramilitary-style attacks in a deeply divided society
Authors: Faith Gordon, Paul Reilly
Centre: CIPL
Research theme: Law and Technology
Online platforms can help public information campaigns reach target audiences who are unlikely to engage with content distributed via traditional media. This paper adds to this emergent literature, as the first study of the Ending the Harm campaign, which is designed to change public discourse about paramilitary-style attacks in Northern Ireland. Campaign effects were explored through interviews (N = 7) conducted with key stakeholders, as well as the results of a quantitative survey of residents (N = 805) in areas most affected by these attacks. Results indicate that exposure to the ETH advertisements correlated with a belief that PSAs were unjustified. Platforms like Snapchat helped the campaign reach younger demographics (16–34 years old). Nevertheless, it was unclear whether self-reported changes in attitude toward PSAs would lead to sustained behavioral changes.
Regulatory Insights on Artificial Intelligence
Authors: Jolyon Ford,
Centre: CIPL
Research theme: Law and Technology
This provocative book investigates the relationship between law and artificial intelligence (AI) governance, and the need for new and innovative approaches to regulating AI and big data in ways that go beyond market concerns alone and look to sustainability and social good.
Intellectual Property and International Clean Technology Diffusion: Pathways and Prospects
Authors: Wenting Cheng,
Centre: CIPL
Research theme: Law and Technology
International clean technology diffusion is essential to mitigate and adapt to climate change, while fast and optimal diffusion can be prevented by the paywall of patents. This article explores the deficiency in clean technology diffusion caused by the legal fragmentation and rule complex of international environmental law and intellectual property law. It systematically examines three pathways to foster international clean technology diffusion through: restriction of intellectual property, including imposing external restraints in environmental law; striking internal balancing in maximizing TRIPS flexibilities; and keeping the status quo. It argues that treaty pathways may not work, and an operable pathway to promote clean technology diffusion is to maximize and consolidate TRIPS flexibilities in national laws. This option challenges the popular proposal of a “Doha-like” declaration on TRIPS and climate change due to the paralyzed multilateral trade mechanism, asymmetrical negotiation power of developing countries, prolonged negotiation process, and categorization problem in treaty negotiations.
Beyond Cybercrime: New Perspectives on Crime, Harm and Digital Technologies
Authors: Faith Gordon,
Centre: CIPL
Research theme: Law and Technology
Beyond Cybercrime: New Perspectives on Crime, Harm and Digital Technologies extends criminological scholarship by examining how digital technologies are conceptualised within research on crime and (in)justice. Guest editors Faith Gordon, Alyce McGovern, Chrissy Thompson and Mark A. Wood present contributions that broaden our theoretical and conceptual understandings of the technology–harm nexus and provide criminologists with new ways of moving beyond cybercrime.
Accessibility, Equity and e-Mooting: Opportunities and Challenges for Australian Law Schools'
Authors: Andrew Ray,
Centre:
Research theme: Law and Technology, Legal Education
This article explores the future role for e-mooting in legal education. It analyses the skills that students can gain from online competitions with regard to the increasing use of online court hearings and conferences by the wider legal profession and assesses the improvements to accessibility and equity that result from hosting competitions online. It argues that such benefits justify the continuation of online-only competitions where law schools are not subsidising travel and accommodation to teams and provides practical guidance to law schools in designing and managing online mooting programs.
'Disinformation, Deepfakes and Democracies: The Need for Legislative Reform' (2021) 44(3) UNSW Law Journal 983
Authors: Andrew Ray
Centre:
Research theme: Law and Technology
Rapid technological advancement is changing the way that political parties, voters, and media platforms engage with each other. This along with cultural change has led to an emerging era of disinformation and misinformation driven by both domestic and foreign actors. Political deepfakes, videos created through the use of artificial intelligence, allow individuals to rapidly create fake videos indistinguishable from true content. These videos have the capacity to undermine voter trust and could alter electoral outcomes. Regulating disinformation however raises significant free speech concerns, as well as questions about where liability should fall. In particular, holding large technology and media platforms accountable for content could lead to unintended chilling effects around freedom of expression, harming rather than protecting democratic institutions. Proposed regulations should therefore be carefully analysed through the framework of the implied freedom of political communication, ensuring that any new laws are proportionate and tailored to the threat they seek to prevent. This article analyses how current Australian law interacts with political deepfakes and proposes two targeted amendments to our federal electoral regulations to reduce the threat they pose to elections.
Access to algorithms post-Robodebt: Do Freedom of Information laws extend to automated systems?
Authors: Andrew Ray, Bridie Adams
Centre:
Research theme: Law and Technology
This article analyses how current Freedom of Information laws apply to automated decision-making systems. The authors argue that while current law may extend to automated systems its application is unclear, both to practitioners and government. Instead, amendments to the FOI Act 1982 (Cth) could clarify how the law operates with respect to automated systems, and better balance the underpinning objectives of the Act.
Technology Law: Australian and International perspectives
Authors: Gregor Urbas,
Centre: CIPL
Research theme: Law and Technology
The regulation of technology is an important and topical area of law, relevant to almost all aspects of society. Technology Law: Australian and International Perspectives presents a thorough exploration of the new legal challenges created by evolving technologies, from the use of facial recognition technology in criminal investigations to the rise and regulation of cryptocurrencies. A well-written and fascinating introduction to technology law in Australia and internationally, Technology Law provides thorough coverage of the theoretical perspectives, legislation, cases and developing issues where technology and the law interact. The text covers data protection and privacy, healthcare technology, criminal justice technology, commercial transactions, cybercrime, social media and intellectual property, and canvasses the future of technology and technology law. Written by leading experts in the field, Technology Law is an excellent resource for law students and legal professionals with an interest in the area.
Consumer Privacy and Consent: Reform in the Light of Contract and Consumer Protection Law
Authors: Damian Clifford,
Centre: CCL
Research theme: Law and Technology
In its recent Digital Platforms Inquiry — Final Report, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) made recommendations for the reform of the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) to provide for better mechanisms for ensuring consumer consent to data collection practices and to the Australian Consumer Law (ACL) to strengthen the protection for consumers against overreaching data collection practices. Such reforms would certainly be timely, given growing concerns about data protection and privacy in the provision of online services to consumers.
Youth (in)justice and the COVID-19 pandemic: rethinking incarceration through a public health lens
Authors: Faith Gordon,
Centre: LRSJ
Research theme: Law and Social Justice, Law and Technology
Serious concerns for the safety and well-being of children and young people are multiplying due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child has called for children’s urgent release from prison. Evidence demonstrates that incarceration can aggravate existing health conditions and result in new health issues, such as depression, suicidal thoughts and post-traumatic stress disorder. This paper draws on findings from a larger study involving 25 qualitative interviews with policy makers, practitioners and researchers working in youth justice and utilises Victoria in South East Australia as a case study. Victoria represents the Australian state worst affected by COVID-19 and has one of the highest levels of children and young people incarcerated. This paper recommends decarceration of children and young people, with alternatives built around principles of a public health model. It argues that this holistic approach can promote children’s rights and crucially attend to the physical and emotional well-being of children and young people, compared with the current arrangements.
Co-authors: Faith Gordon, Hannah Klose and Michelle Lyttle Storrod.