2016
Apple: Privacy, Security and Surveillance
Professor David Partlett
Date: Wednesday, 11 May 2016
Venue: Melbourne Law School
Although the United States government has now dropped its application to force Apple to open the encrypted iPhone used by the male perpetrator of the San Bernardino attack last December 2015, the issue is much alive as the world faces terrorist threats. The confrontation between Apple, the champion of privacy, and the government, through the FBI, the protector of the citizen from terrorist threats, brought into relief an anxious balance in democratic states. The fever of the case is past but the issue is very much alive. In my talk I want to explore productive ways in which to think through the issue. It is, in the end, a matter of democratic institutions through the rule of law, providing assurances against governmental overreach invading privacy. History provides many examples of assaults on free and open societies that have resulted in reactions violative of the values of “consent” states. I will make some suggestions that will give citizens an assurance of due balance between security and privacy.
Professor David F. Partlett is Asa Griggs Candler Professor of Law, having served as dean of Emory Law from 2006 to 2011. Before that he served as vice president, dean, and professor of law at Washington and Lee University School of Law for six years. He joined the faculty of the Vanderbilt University Law School in 1987. He was a fellow in the Institute for Public Policy Studies and was acting dean from 1996 to 1997. Partlett held positions in the Australian government as a senior legal officer for the Commonwealth Attorney-General's Department in Canberra, where he was responsible for policy advice on the Racial Discrimination Act and other related human rights and racial discrimination legislation. He later was appointed to the Australian Law Reform Commission.
From 1978 to 1987, Partlett was a member of the faculty of the Australian National University, and he served as associate dean from 1982 to 1985. He is a member of the American Law Institute, the American Society of Law and Medicine, and the Selden Society. He currently teaches torts and has taught courses on torts, judicial remedies, and professional liability. He has written books on torts, defamation and free speech, child mental health and medical malpractice.
A native of Australia, Partlett is an active scholar, with recent work focused on tort law, as well as defamation and free speech, child mental health, and tort theory.
Education: SJD, University of Virginia School of Law, 1982; LLM, University of Sydney School of Law, 1970; LLM University of Michigan Law School, 1974
Defamation and Privacy: Recent Developments
Dr Matt Collins QC Aickin Chambers
Michael Rivette Chancery Chambers
Chair and commentary: Professor Andrew Kenyon, Professor Megan Richardson
This seminar took the form of an interactive workshop and examined the latest developments in defamation and privacy law. Combining professional and academic expertise, the evening was informative for a wide range of practitioners and was designed to meet the CPD requirements of lawyers.
Registration included dinner at University House Woodward.
Date: Thursday 2 June 2016
Venue: University House, Woodward | Melbourne Law School
Dr Matt Collins QC Aickin Chambers is a member of the Victorian Bar and a Senior Fellow at the Melbourne Law School. He is the author of all three editions of The Law of Defamation and the Internet (OUP, 2001, 2005, 2010), the standard international text on the application of principles of defamation law to online publications, and of Collins on Defamation (OUP, 2014), a leading text on the law of defamation of England and Wales. He has acted as Counsel in several of the most high profile defamation and related actions in Australia in recent years.
Michael Rivette Chancery Chambers is a member of the Victorian Bar. He has acted as Counsel for ASX and NYSE Listed corporations, Commonwealth Government departments, Hollywood actors, celebrities and individuals in relation to privacy, data security, and data breach issues. He has expertise in privacy and data breach class actions, and acted as Counsel in one of the first privacy class actions issued in the Federal Court of Australia. He is the co-author of the Australian section of the leading UK text Tugendhat and Christie: The Law of Privacy and the Media (Oxford University Press), and has written on the area of privacy for the Media and Arts Law Review. He is a guest lecturer on privacy law and data protection in the graduate program at the Melbourne University Law School.
Security Matters More Than Silicon Valley?
Roundtable Debate
30 September | Melbourne Business School
This roundtable debate between four academic experts will canvass issues including innovation, privacy, economics, business ethics, security and defence.
Date: Thursday 18 August
Venue: Melbourne Law School
Speakers:
Alana Maurushat Academic Co-Director Cyberspace Law & Policy Centre, UNSW
Rachelle Bosua University of Melbourne, Department of Computing and Information Systems
Julian Thomas Swinburne Institute for Social Research
Sven Feldmann University of Melbourne, Melbourne Business School
Moderators:
Megan Richardson Melbourne Law School, Co-Director CMCL, Co-Director IPRIA
Kwanghui Lim Melbourne Business School, Co-Director IPRIA