Lizzie is a human rights lawyer specialising in public interest litigation. Lizzie has local and international experience in a wide array of court jurisdictions, and is passionate about equality before the law and that the rule of law should be protected, particularly given the incursions on civil liberties that have become a staple part of the war on terror. In 2019, Lizzie received the Human Rights Hero Award for her work campaigning against Australia’s encryption laws.
Some of the laws that have been enacted in recent weeks in response to the coronavirus are unprecedented. It’s now unlawful to do all sorts of everyday things, like venture out in public unless for a specific, government-mandated purpose, in ways that would be astonishing to our past selves just a month ago. This has affected both our individual lives, and our sense of public space. Dozens of people were fined more than $40,000 by Victoria Police for breaching stay at home order for organising a protest calling for the release of refugees in Melbourne. The protest complied with social distancing protocols (it was conducted in cars) and sought to highlight the plight of refugees detained, who are at real risk of contracting COVID-19. Victoria is one of many jurisdictions in which the government response to the health crisis has had a decidedly authoritarian bent.
A problem like COVID-19 is so monumental in scale and ferocity that it creates an understandable temptation to race to use any method at our disposal to prevent its spread.
Discussions about digital privacy often evoke images of whistle-blowers, journalists, and intelligence agencies. But beyond this, it can sometimes feel as though the business model of corporate data mining presents few negative consequences in our daily lives. The omniscient machinery of state surveillance is rarely an issue visited upon us personally. Amazon, Google, and Facebook are overwhelmingly convenient, well-designed platforms that can be enjoyable to use. It is perfectly possible to worry about the surveillance state in the abstract but, at the same time, think of ourselves as having little to hide personally and, therefore, not much to worry about.
The Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence & Security (PJCIS) has referred the Assistance & Access Act 2018 (TOLA) for review by the Independent National Security Legislation Monitor.
The regulation of technology capitalism is now a mainstream topic of discussion. Privacy scandals such as the misuse of Facebook data by Cambridge Analytica, the rise of right-wing extremism, and the diminishing quality of public spaces in the digital age have generated sufficient public outcry such that the Overton window is wide open. Aspirants for the Oval Office, like Senator Elizabeth Warren, are talking openly about breaking up big tech. She even placed a billboard in the heart of Silicon Valley with that slogan—the equivalent of a middle finger emoji at the elite of the technology industry.
From exploding Ford Pintos to racist algorithms, all harmful technologies are a product of unethical design. And yet, like car companies in the ’70s, today’s tech companies would rather blame the user.