RESEARCH PAPER SERIES, 2019–20              17 September 2019

Cyber, digital and emerging technologies:
a quick guide to select Library publications

Produced by the Parliamentary Library’s Cyber and Digital Research Group

Overview

This quick guide lists a selection of Parliamentary Library reference materials related to cyber, digital and emerging technologies across intersecting topics and policy areas.

Background

Online activities, networked devices and the digital technologies that enable them have become core elements of the global economy and central to many aspects of daily life. The proliferation of the internet and personalised computing late last century brought about a paradigm shift in access to information and communications technologies, which in turn has ushered in fundamental changes to political and civic engagement and the pursuit of public policy outcomes.

Cyberspace is a dynamic domain, where data holdings, information flows, automation, robotics, artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things present regulatory challenges for policymakers worldwide—challenges that seem to evolve at an unprecedented pace, with multifaceted economic, legal, ethical and strategic dimensions.

The Parliamentary Library’s Cyber and Digital Research Group has compiled the following list of Library resources that may assist with navigating this complex terrain.

Links to select Parliamentary Library publications

Quick guides

The following quick guides highlight current issues related to cyber and digital technologies:

•        Cybersecurity, Cybercrime and Cybersafety (April 2019)—provides background information on national measures to build cybersecurity and cybersafety and combat cybercrime, and includes links to relevant websites.

•        Public Sector Digital Transformation (April 2019)—provides brief background information on a variety of recent and current initiatives in the Australian federal public sector associated with ‘digital transformation’, as well as links to relevant sources of information.

•        Digital Technology, the Electoral System and the Parliament (March 2019)—provides brief background information about digital technology in relation to the electoral system, the Australian Electoral Commission, and the Parliament.

Parliamentary Library Briefing Book (July 2019)

Articles from the Briefing Book: Key Issues for the 46th Parliament:

•        Cybersecurity

•        Regulation of Australian online content: cybersafety and harm

•        Transnational, serious and organised crime (includes cybercrime and challenges posed by new technologies)

•        The data economy

•        Multinational taxation and the digital economy

•        Responding to fake news

•        Media and broadcasting in the digital age

•        Reform of defamation law (includes reforms to reflect technological developments)

•        Public sector digital transformation

Bills digests

Significant legislative developments initiated since the 45th Parliament are outlined in the following Bills digests:

•        Treasury Laws Amendment (Consumer Data Right) Bill 2019 (26 March 2019)

•        Telecommunications and Other Legislation Amendment (Assistance and Access) Bill 2018 (3 December 2018)

•        My Health Records Amendment (Strengthening Privacy) Bill 2018 (16 October 2018)

•        Intelligence Services Amendment (Establishment of the Australian Signals Directorate) Bill 2018 (26 March 2018)

•        Security of Critical Infrastructure Bill 2017 [and] Security of Critical Infrastructure (Consequential and Transitional Provisions) Bill 2017 (20 March 2018)

•        Enhancing Online Safety (Non-consensual Sharing of Intimate Images) Bill 2017 (7 February 2018)

•        Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Amendment Bill 2017 (25 October 2017)

•        Telecommunications and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2016 (8 August 2017)

•        Criminal Code Amendment (Protecting Minors Online) Bill 2017 (25 May 2017)

•        Enhancing Online Safety for Children Amendment Bill 2017 (8 May 2017)

Other publications

•        France’s Digital Services Tax (9 August 2019)

•        “You’re more likely to divorce than switch banks”: will Open Banking encourage more switching? (17 July 2019)

•        Online political communication—does this post need to be authorised? (23 April 2019)

•        How hackable are Australian federal elections? (7 March 2019)

•        Strong and responsible: can encryption be both? (3 October 2018)

•        Law enforcement access to My Health Record data (26 July 2018)

•        Cyber policy (May 2018)

•        When data walks out the door (26 August 2016)

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