This page was last updated on:
September 2005
Responsibilities of the Economic Legal and Social Implications Committee include:
(a) To examine and report on the economic, legal and social of indications current or proposed uses of computers or computer-based systems (including robotics).
(b) To examine and report on issues or practices, related to the use of computers or computer-based systems, which may have economic, legal and social implications.
(c) To review and comment upon existing or proposed legislation which relates to the ICT industry and the use of the computer based systems or process.
(d) To disseminate information relating to the economic, legal and social implications of computers and computer-based systems.
(e) To provide a forum for the discussion of issues relevant to the foregoing.
(f) To develop and support activities aimed at giving the whole community a balanced view of the effects of computers and computer-based systems.
(g) To develop, within its sphere of competence, appropriate policies for the Australian Computer Society.
(h) To respond to events such as enquiries, commissions, hearings, surveys and so on, which require inputs related to the foregoing.
The ACS is affiliated with the International Federation for Information Processing (IFIP). The Chair or a Deputy Chairs of ELSIC is normally the ACS delegate to IFIP Technical Committee 9 (TC9) which relates to 'The relationship between Computers and Society'. TC9 includes a number of Working Groups (WG).
The Australian ACS annual report to TC9 is at:
http://www.acs.org.au/boards/cab/tc9gm.html
More details on the ACS and its IFIP links are at:
http://www.acs.org.au/national/ifip.htm
Normally, members of ELSIC are:
* members of the ACS; and
* eminent
and/or highly active in the subject matters covered by ELSIC.
The Chairman of ELSIC is Philip Argy who is a partner in the law firm Mallesons Stephen Jaques, and National via President of the ACS. Philip's e-mail address is: Philip.Argy@acslink.net.au
Anthony Willis is a Deputy Chair of ELSIC.
Dr John Weckert is a Deputy Chair of ELSIC.
Other members of ELSIC are listed below:
Dr Olujokč E. Akindemowo, a lecturer and IT law consultant based in Sydney, has more than 12 years experience in the IT Law field. She currently teaches IT law and other law subjects as a senior lecturer at the University of Western Sydney, Nepean, but has practiced the law as both a solicitor and a barrister, and is a member of a number of professional associations and committees in Australia and overseas.
Her research interests include electronic commerce, electronic financial transactions, Internet policy and regulation and computer crime, and her publications include articles on copyright in the digital domain, money and electronic value, and Internet regulation.
Her book 'Information Technology Law in Australia', published in 1999 by Thomson Publishers, the first comprehensive text on IT Law from the Australian perspective, has become the standard text for IT law courses throughout Australia, and a first point of reference for academics, practitioners, and others with an interest in the field.
In the work, which actually pays the bills, he is currently Executive Officer for the Spatial Information Industry Program in the Department for Administrative and Information Services. David also works on the State's Emergency Risk Management Project and various IT security related projects.
His personal interests in the work of ELSIC are related to privacy, ethics and the social impacts of information technology.
Amongst others, he is a member of the Association for Computing Machinery (since 1977) and its SIGCAS, and member of the IEEE Computer Society and the IEEE Standards Association.
Bob Bain is a Member of the Australian Computer Society and a Fellow PNA (Professional National Accountant) of the National Institute of Accountants (http://www.nia.org.au/). Bob is interested in the implications and ethics of censorship and free speech including censorship and regulation relating to on-line communications. Bob has been a user of computer Bulletin Boards since 1988 and the global Internet since 1993 and is currently studying for a Master of Commerce Degree.
Tony is ACS Webmaster, and has an interest in regulation of the Internet related issues.
Harry was appointed to ELSIC in April 2000. The material below is up-to-date as of that month.
Harry is the senior partner of the firm Marlow Bluhm Chartered Accountants, which is the Canberra representative office of HLB Mann Judd. Harry is a Fellow of both the Institute of Chartered Accountants and the Australian Society of CPAs, he is a registered tax agent and company auditor.
As well as working in all the traditional areas of public accounting, Harry has spent the last twelve years consulting in such areas as strategic and business planning; purchases, sale and establishment of businesses; business and company valuations; financial administrative and equity restructuring and mergers; financial due diligence reports; and general business and taxation matters.
Experience has been gained by Harry in a wide range of industries including, building and construction, professional and technical services, financial institutions, civil and structural engineering, high technology, media, retail and (small) manufacturing.
Harry has contributed to the accounting profession by his involvement in various committees and education programs. He has also presented papers in such areas as financial forecasting, establishment of businesses, negative gearing and business strategic planning.
Peter was appointed to ELSIC in April 1999.
- PKAF - the Australian Public Key Infrastructure draft standard / guidelines from SA - cryptography usage, development and export policy for information systems security - reverse engineering, including decompilation, disassembly, etc. - potential "brownout" on the Internet - are market forces sufficient? - Australia's position in "chip" making and designing - where arre we as a nation?
Julie is Managing Director, Info.T.EC Solutions Pty Ltd, alternative delegate to IFIP TC9 and a member of IFIP TC9 WG9.2 (Social Accountability) and WG9.1 (Computers and Work), and Convenor of an ELSIC Human Implications Taskforce (HIT).
Julie Cameron, in consultation with members of the Human Implications
Taskforce (HIT) of ELSIC and other ACS members, prepared a paper on:
'A charter for
citizens of the global information society', which Julie and Karen
Geiselhart presented at the May 1997 TC9 conference held in Corfu, Greece.
David has a particular interest in disability and information technology issues. He is Chair of the ACS NSW Branch Disability SIG, and Convenor of the ACS CAB ELSIC national Disability Taskforce (DT).
Roger is a Visiting Fellow at the Australian National University, a consultant, and has been Chair of the ELSIC in the past. Roger is a member of the International Federation for Information Processing (IFIP) Technical Committee 9 (TC9) (Relationship between computers and society) working groups WG 9.2 (Social accountability) and WG 9.6 (Information technology mis-use and the law.
Professor Cooper's Chair relates to Information Technology Policy.
Ian
Cunliffe is Managing Partner in Dunhill
Madden Butler, Solicitors (in the Canberra, Australia branch).
Ian is
a leading practitioner of government law and communications law. He previously
held senior positions with the Commonwealth, including Chief Executive to the
Constitutional Commission, Secretary and Director of Research to the
Australian Law Reform Commission, and Senior Adviser in charge of the Legal
Section and the Administrative Law Section of the Department of Prime Minister
and Cabinet.
Marghanita da Cruz is Principal Consultant of Ramin Communications, specialising in Project Management and Outsourcing of Internet Access and Websites. She also has a special interest in emerging digital broadcasting technologies.
In September 1998 Marghanita prepared an ACS ELSIC submission to the National Office for the Information Economy (NOIE) titled Australian Computer Society Submission - Towards an Australian Strategy for the Information Economy.
Andrew was Director of the ACS CAB (1996 to 2000), and was the Australian delegate to the International Federation for Information Processing (IFIP) Technical Committee 9 (TC9) (Relationship between computers and society) from early in 1998 until the end of 2000.
Karin is undertaken doctoral studies at the University of Canberra on public policy aspects of the Internet. Karen presented two papers at a TC9 international conference held in Corfu, Greece in May 1997.
Pamela is a Fellow of the ACS and is currently (1999) a member of the ACS NSW Branch Executive.
She is the Head, School of Business & Informatics Australian Catholic University, in North Sydney. In her work at Australian Catholic University, Pam has taken an active role in promoting awareness of computer ethics issues through undergraduate and postgraduate curriculum development and in working towards the establishment of an Australian Institute of Computer Ethics (AICE) chapter within the University. In 1999 she supervised an Honours student thesis which investigated computer ethics related issues - a work-in-progress paper was presented by this student at the 1999 AICE conference in Melbourne. Pam also played the central role in organising ACU's sponsorship of an international speaker for the 1999 AICE conference.
Pam was appointed to ELSIC and the CET in November 1999.
Professor Greenleaf is located at the Faculty of Law at the University of New South Wales, and is Co-Director of the Australasian Legal Information Institute (AustLII). Graham has an on-going interest in the area of computers and privacy, both in Australia and internationally.
George has a particular interest in human implications of computing.
Kate is the Federal Shadow Minister for Sport, Youth Affairs and Assisting on Information Technology. She is both a politician and an internet enthusiast. She has spoken at various ACS meetings and conferences. Kate Lundy became the youngest Labor representative in the Senate and the youngest women ever elected to represent the ALP in Federal Parliament when, at age 28, she became the Senator for the Australian Capital Territory in March 1996 In August 1997 Kate was promoted to the Opposition front bench; appointed as the Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Sport and Tourism as well as assistant to the Shadow Ministers for Information Technology, Youth Affairs and the Arts.
Paul has accumulated over 17 years of successful Information Technology (IT) experience. He has worked in all of areas of the Industry. He began his career as a Programmer working for the Department of Defence in Canberra. Since then he has worked in numerous roles including Business and Systems Analyst, Analyst \ Programmer and Project Leader.
In recent years Paul has concentrated on Object and Web technologies including C++ and Java. Paul is currently a IT contractor with the Brisbane City Council. His role is Senior Systems Analyst.
Paul is active in the IT Industry. He is the co-ordinator of the ACS Contractors/Consultants group and he represents Contractors/Consultants in numerous Industry based forums.
Paul has a Bachelor of Business (Computing), Graduate Diploma in Information Systems Management and a Master of Business Administration.
Patsy works at Union Research Centre on Organisation and Technology Limited (URCOT), and is a member of IFIP TC9 WG9.1 (Computers and Work). One of URCOT's goals is to promote and develop workers' participation in shaping organisational and technological change. Recent projects include work with local government restructure and new forms of "non-territorial" office accommodation. Patsy was appointed Deputy Chair of the ELSIC Computer Ethics Taskforce in February 1999.
After a short engineering career, John completed a M.App.Sc. in Information Science, majoring in management, and joined CSC, a large Systems Integration company.
John is a Past President of the Sydney PC Users Group (SPCUG), a member of
the United Nations Association of Australia (UNAA), the Internet Society of
Australia (ISOC-AU), and a committee member of "Friends of ERAMBOO" an
organisation that holds educational and world event seminars.
John is
concerned with Internet privacy, security and ethics issues, and taught a
"Dark Side of the Web" course at Sydney Uni's CCE in 1999. He contributed to
the ACS' Privacy submission to the Senate Hearing into ePrivacy in 2000.
He was appointed to the role of Privacy Officer with CSC, and is also a member of the AIIA ePolicy Task Force.
David has a particular interest in the social implications of computing.
Anita works in London, United Kingdom, for the American technology law firm Shaw Pittman. Anita has broad interests in the way electronic commerce, privacy and security issues inter-relate with legal considerations. Anita is author of 'The Millennium Bomb Disposal Kit', which provides practical advice for developing successful legal and management strategies for dealing with Y2K. Anita has spoken internationally on all of these issues, and has in the past participated in the Australian IT/Law community in her then capacity as Chair of the AIIA Legal Committee, and was a Committee Member of the NSW Society for Computers and the Law.
Professor Underwood has a particular interest in the privacy issue.
Dr Denis Warne has over 25 years experience in computing and information technology ranging from applications in scientific research through to operational Defence systems. He currently specialises in project management of IT system integration projects and is a CMACS (System Integration). With such a background, he brings a practical perspective on the day to day ethical issues of the IT Profesional. Denis was appointed to both ELSIC, and to the ELSIC Computer Ethics Taskforce, in February 1999.
John is Professor in Information Technology, School of information Studies, Charles Sturt University. John is the Chair of the ELSIC Computer Ethics Taskforce (CET). John is the Australian national representative on IFIP TC9 WG9.2 SIG9.2.2 (Computer ethics). John was appointed a Deputy Chair of ELSIC in November 1999.
Professor Marcus Wigan (Transport Research Insititute Napier University Scotland (Jan1999-2001); also Senior Hon Fellow School of Geography Monash and Principal of Oxford Systematics Australia).
Marcus has primary interests in the impacts of surveillance, privacy, data ownership, and pricing on people and society. He has been involved in the British and Australian Computer Societies for over 30 years in the BCS Fortran and ACS Expert Systems/Ai special interest groups and has published on data ownership and privacy issues in Intelligent Transport Systems and in the use of GIS (Geographical Information Systems). He has a strong transport background in Intelligent Transport systems and road pricing,and has held senior policy and academic positions variously in transport, computing and management. The social impacts of computing have been a longstanding major involvement and he was a founder member of the Australian Computer Museum Society and president of the 1500 strong microcomputer club of melbourne (MICOM) in the early 1980's. Marcus was appointed to the ELSIC Computer Ethics Taskforce in February 1999 and is pursuing a Phd at RMIT University in organisational psychology on organisational and personal attitudes to surveillance and privacy within organisations.
Anthony Willis is a Partner in the Canberra Office of Phillips Fox and leader of the Government and Commercial Group in that Office. He advises on major Governmnet related commercial transactions, with special emphasis in the areas of IT, internet and intellectual property. In addition to advising local, national and international government and private sector clients, he is a frequent speaker and writer on issues concerning IT, internet and e-commerce.
Patricia is the Branch representative on the the Health Informatics Committee. She recently I assisted with some paper assessment work (refereeing) for the International Computer Ethics Conference. Patricia is also a Practising Computer Professional, a member of the Australian Society of Statisticians, having previously worked in this role at Monash University, and a member of DAMA. She spent some years developing desktop database applications, but the early part of her career was in sytems analysis and her current role is in business analysis. Patricia is keenly interested in the implications of censorship relating to the electronic environment. Patricia was appointed to ELSIC and the ELSIC Computer Ethics Taskforce in May 1999.
The role of the CET is to:
Patsy Segall is the Deputy Chair of the ELSIC Computer Ethics Taskforce.
Individual representativesIndividual membership of the RMT is normally only available to ACS members who are eminent and/or highly active in the area of records management. Nominations for such membership should in the first instance be forwarded to Andrew Freeman - afreeman@pcug.org.au
The name of this list is:
acselsic-l
All members of the ACS, and others with an interest in the work of ELSIC, are welcome to join the ELSIC list.
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The British Computer Society (BCS) has a number of Specialist Groups of particular relevance to ELSIC members including:
Director, Community Affairs Board, Rathika Suresh rsuresh@pymblelc.nsw.edu.au