Melbourne Law School - Research Publications
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ItemNo Preview AvailableMaking robo-advisers careful? Duties of care in providing automated financial advice to consumers(ROUTLEDGE JOURNALS, TAYLOR & FRANCIS LTD, 2021-01-01)
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ItemStrengthening Australia’s cybersecurity regulations and incentives: Response to the Department of Home Affairs Discussion Paper( 2021)The development of the regulatory and incentives framework is a key opportunity to align Australian enterprises’ cybersecurity practice with latest research, particularly on consumer protections, and emerging cyber threats and security challenges. The Australian Government has an essential role in establishing incentives to encourage best practice and consequences to combat poor practice. It will be increasingly important for government at all levels to act as a role model, by following best practice in the conduct of its public business.
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ItemNo Preview AvailableThe Hidden Harms of Targeted Advertising by Algorithm and Interventions from the Consumer Protection Toolkit(National Law School of India, 2021-01-01)Developments in pervasive data collection and predictive data analytics are allowing firms to target consumers with increas ingly precise personalisedbehavioural and contextual advertising. These techniques give rise to new risks of harm in the attention economy by unduly influencing or manipulating consumers' deci sions and choices, and by narrowing the product options visible and available to them. In many countries, the legal response to concerns about targeted advertising by algorithm has been focused on privacy protection and data rights. These are important initiatives. However; consent-based data rights are unlikely to provide a comprehensive or even adequate response to the risks of harm to consumers occasioned by the kinds of algo- rithmically targeted advertising that are now possible. This paper suggests that a suite of responses from the consumer protection toolkit are required to address the different and potentially harm ful manifestations of algorithmic ally targeted advertising. These include bans and warnings as well as making use of standard safe- ty-net prohibitions on misleading and unconscionable/unfair con duct already in place in many jurisdictions.
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ItemNo Preview AvailableGood Proctor or "Big Brother"? Ethics of Online Exam Supervision Technologies.(Springer Science and Business Media LLC, 2021)Online exam supervision technologies have recently generated significant controversy and concern. Their use is now booming due to growing demand for online courses and for off-campus assessment options amid COVID-19 lockdowns. Online proctoring technologies purport to effectively oversee students sitting online exams by using artificial intelligence (AI) systems supplemented by human invigilators. Such technologies have alarmed some students who see them as a "Big Brother-like" threat to liberty and privacy, and as potentially unfair and discriminatory. However, some universities and educators defend their judicious use. Critical ethical appraisal of online proctoring technologies is overdue. This essay provides one of the first sustained moral philosophical analyses of these technologies, focusing on ethical notions of academic integrity, fairness, non-maleficence, transparency, privacy, autonomy, liberty, and trust. Most of these concepts are prominent in the new field of AI ethics, and all are relevant to education. The essay discusses these ethical issues. It also offers suggestions for educational institutions and educators interested in the technologies about the kinds of inquiries they need to make and the governance and review processes they might need to adopt to justify and remain accountable for using online proctoring technologies. The rapid and contentious rise of proctoring software provides a fruitful ethical case study of how AI is infiltrating all areas of life. The social impacts and moral consequences of this digital technology warrant ongoing scrutiny and study.
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ItemTransparency to contest differential pricing(Australian and New Zealand Societies for Computers and the Law, 2021)
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ItemShould Australia Introduce a Prohibition on Unfair Trading? Responding to Exploitative Business Systems in Person and Online(SPRINGER, 2021-03)Australian consumer protection law contains broad and flexible prohibitions on misleading and unconscionable conduct in trade or commerce. Yet concerns have been raised that these prohibitions are unsuitable for responding to predatory business systems. These are businesses that, by design or operation, target consumers experiencing vulnerability to offer costly products ill-suited to their needs. This concern has arisen in response to prominent instances of products of dubious efficacy offered to marginalized communities. It has also arisen from concerns over the increasing potential for data-driven digital marketing to manipulate consumer choice by targeting with fine-grained accuracy consumer vulnerabilities. In response to these concerns, it has been suggested that the Australian Consumer Law should be reformed, by introducing a prohibition on “unfair trading” inspired by the general prohibitions on such conduct in the EU and USA. This paper explores the key considerations relevant in assessing the merits of this proposed statutory “transplant.” Ultimately, the paper is supportive of the proposed reform, while also recognizing its limits.