Legal Issues in Information Technology

Controlling Data:

Conundrums in Information Technology Law

Pivot. Teleconference. Vax. Lockdown. Super-spreader. Border closures. Ransomware…. The list of buzz words for recent years ever grows. Indeed, 2020 and 2021 have challenged our understanding of how our society operates. We scan QR codes to get into a shop to buy a piece of cheese. We may need to prove our vax status. Kids and students have been locked out of school and often they have been sitting in front of a tablet screen attempting to replicate the in-person experience. For anyone, accomplishing normal activities without a networked device in hand has become very difficult.

Legal systems are normally, and quite rightly, measured in their response to challenges, and slow to change. It is difficult for citizens to cope with a legal system that changes regulation and control of civil society overnight – as evidenced by the rapid succession of public health orders that often have left enforcement scratching their heads. On the other hand, rapidly changing deployment of technologies and their intrusion into daily living has come at such a pace that timely policy and legal responses are required.

This book is a collection of thought and discussion provoking essays aimed at reaching everyone interested in how governments, corporations and civil society manage the regulation of data in a technology-based society. This probably means every thinking person, as who could not be interested the development of how our information is used and how technology is further embedded in society? Readers who have looked at a cell phone or computer in the last year should be aware of the developing issues that are driving intervention in the acquisition or provision of information. The editor asks readers to contemplate this work as a whole, and to see how the authors provide spotlights on key issues in the heterogeneous mixture of areas that are linked by their operation within a framework built on information technology. This book challenges readers with a focus within inside the information technology domain where law and regulation have a large role to play.

1          Technology  and law – where we are at present                     

Definition of information technology – Structure of the internet - IT, historical and social context and development.

2          Theoretical framework and governance of internet   

Background of governance from legal perspective.

3          Jurisdiction in Cyberspace                                                                       

Introduction: what we protect within the cyberspace; A hint to domain names (chapter later); Jurisdiction and territoriality; Australia: Consumer protection.

4          The Evolution of Domain Name Law                             

Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) – Names as part of social identity – Challenges for the future

5          Cybercrimes and security                                          

Definition of cybercrimes and scenarios – types of crimes in the online environment: financial crimes, crimes against the person etc

6          Privacy and data collection                                        

Privacy and our rights. Why our data are valuable: an economic perspective on the commercial use. Types of data: personal, public, sensitive, private and how to manage ect.

7          Social media and Social influences                             

From elections to terrorism, fake news etc

8          Technologies and the Future