Cyber Law Mapping Project

Current Mappings

• Australian Cyber Law Map
• Australian Cyber Law Map - Contributor Guidelines - New contributors start here!
  

Project Description

The Australian Cyber Law Map aims to create an online map of Australian laws that affect cyber security and cyber resilience. Different areas of law (e.g. telecommunications, directors' duties) are organised into separate topics. Within each topic, the Map provides commentary and links to the relevant legal frameworks, regulations and policies, and materials relating to industry practices.

Contributions to the Map are made by invited academics and experts working in the field of cyber law and cyber security.

Project Background

There is ample law that governs cyber in Australia, but much of it is unknown. An example of this ignorance is the map created by Bundesverband der Deutschen Industrie (BDI) and Deloitte showing that Australia has “no dedicated cyber security law”. The misunderstanding arises because, while Australia has no piece of legislation dedicated solely to cyber security, it has a range of laws with similar effect that operate in areas such as critical infrastructure protection, criminal law, telecommunications regulation, privacy and consumer law.

The first phase of this project will create a map of Australian laws that impact on cyber security and cyber resilience, to be hosted as a wiki by AustLII Communities, in order to both (a) enhance national and international understanding of Australian law in this area, and (b) to build a community of experts and practitioners in this area appraised of developments in adjacent cyber law.

Later phases of this project will identify gaps in the existing law that require rectification or further regulation, and develop a matrix for other countries to similarly map their legal capabilities.

Project Partners

Australasian Legal Information Institute (AustLII); University of Melbourne, Centre for AI and Digital Ethics; UNSW Sydney, The Allens Hub for Technology, Law and Innovation; Defence Science Institute

Acknowledgements

This project was conceived and directed by:

• Dr Kobi Leins, Senior Research Fellow in Digital Ethics, School of Engineering; Senior Research Fellow, Centre for AI and Digital Ethics, University of Melbourne; Non-Resident Fellow of the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research
• Professor Lyria Bennett Moses, Director of the Allens Hub for Technology, Law and Innovation at UNSW Law

It involved extensive research and information management by:

• Ms Johanna Weaver
• Ms Christina Ward, Liaison Librarian - Research, Melbourne Law School, University of Melbourne
• Mr Michael Murdocca, Cyber Security Cooperative Research Centre Summer Scholarship 2019-2020, student, UNSW
• Mr Rhys Ryan, University of Melbourne

We are grateful for funding from The Allens Hub for Technology, Law and Innovation (UNSW Sydney) and the Centre for AI and Digital Ethics (University of Melbourne), with support (in particular seed funding through a summer scholarship) from the Cyber Security Research Centre Limited, whose activities are partially funded by the Australian Government’s Cooperative Research Centres Programme. We are grateful to the technical expertise and direction from AustLII and, in particular, its Executive Director, Associate Professor Philip Chung. Thanks also to Marc Cheong for generating a word cloud for the Map. We are also grateful for feedback, comments and edits by:

• Ms Aurelie Jacquet, Chair of the Australian Standards Committee on AI
• Dr Chris Culnane, Castellate Consulting & Honorary Fellow, School of Computing and Information Systems, University of Melbourne
• Professor Emma Wise, Adjunct Professor, Faculty of Science, Engineering and Built Environment, Deakin University; Sessional Academic, Thomas More Law School, Australian Catholic University; President, Australasian Cyber Security Institute; Director, National Institute of Strategic Resilience; Member, Law Institute of Victoria Technology & Innovation Section; Member, Law Institute of Victoria IPIT Committee; Principal, WiseLaw
• Professor Jeannie Paterson, Melbourne Law School
• Professor Kimberlee Weatherall, Sydney Law School
• Leanne O’Donnell, GM Regulatory Affairs, Vocus
• Professor Min Livanidis, Industry Professor, Centre for Cyber Security Research and Innovation, Deakin University

The Australian Cyber Law Map is intended as an evolving wiki. None of the above contributors vouch for accuracy or completeness. Rather, we appreciate ongoing suggestions and feedback (via the contact details below) to help correct errors and keep the Map up to date. All acknowledgements are listed alphabetically by first word/name.

The content of this Map are subject to Creative Commons License 4.0.

Contact

If you have questions or comments about the Cyber Law Mapping Project, or would like to particpate in future work on the project, please email us.

CyberLaw Web Utilities

• WebTopicList - all topics in alphabetical order
• WebChanges - recent topic changes in this web
• WebNotify - subscribe to an e-mail alert sent when topics change
• WebRss, WebAtom - RSS and ATOM news feeds of topic changes
• WebStatistics - listing popular topics and top contributors
• WebPreferences - preferences of this web