Pearcey Conversation originally presented on 30 June 2021

Data sovereignty & cybersecurity are crucial aspects for Australia's future. 

In this Pearcey Conversation our expert panel investigates this from an interdisciplinary perspective.

This Pearcey Conversations online seminar  looks at the complications of laws and policies that might require data to reside in a given country with the challenge that if using cloud systems which for reliability and security may need to keep data in multiple jurisdictions. An esteemed panel of experts covered academic, technological and business considerations about data sovereignty.

The subject is complicated by the exploding amount of data, the way it is managed and the plethora of laws, regulations, and organizational policies, all of which may be different in different jurisdictions, regions and nations. For example, while the big data providers (AWS, Azure, Cloud etc) can ensure regional storage, many organizations are using a wide range of SaaS (Sofware-as-a-Service) products, server-less implementations and data-sharing - much of this may have little or no visibility about where data is residing or how it is controlled.

This discussion, and questions from the audience, highlighted the need to get a good overall picture of an organization's data, the governance rules that apply to it and the technology options that are used for storing, managing, manipulating, protecting, tracking, classifying and auditing it.

Speakers

Kate Carruthers - Chief Data & Insights Officer, UNSW

Kate Carruthers is Chief Data & Insights Officer for UNSW Sydney, and is also an Adjunct Senior Lecturer in the School of Computer Science & Engineering.She is a Certified Information Security Manager and is currently undertaking postgraduate studies in cybersecurity.Kate has extensive experience in senior roles in ICT across the finance sector, marketing, data and digital; and is a member of the NSW Government’s Data Analytics Centre Advisory Board. Kate was appointed as a Microsoft Regional Director for her work in cybersecurity in 2020 (this is an advisory role that provides Microsoft leaders with the customer insights and real-world voices).

Kate was named among the Constellation Research Business Transformation 150 (BT150), which is an elite list that recognizes the top global executives leading business transformation efforts in their organisations. She was also named as one of the Global Top 100 Data Visionaries – 2020.She is currently working at the intersection of analytics, AI, ML, privacy, cyber security, and data protection.

Dr Edoardo Celeste - Assistant Professor in Law, Technology and Innovation, Dublin City University

Dr Edoardo Celeste is Assistant Professor in Law, Technology and Innovation at the School of Law and Government of Dublin City University. His research interests lie in the field of digital rights and constitutionalism, privacy and data protection law, online platforms governance and regulation, digital economics and ethics, legal philosophy and sociology, focusing in particular on issues related to artificial intelligence, social media, sharing economy, and blockchain.Edoardo is currently the principal investigator of the project ‘Cross-Border Data Protection Network’ funded by the Irish Research Council and the UK Economic and Social Research Council, and of the project ‘Digital Constitutionalism: In Search of a Content Governance Standard’ funded by Facebook Research.

He is also an investigator in the project PRIVATT – Assessing Irish Attitudes to Privacy in Times of COVID19, funded by Science Foundation Ireland, and is one of the founders of the Digital Constitutionalism Network.From 2016 to 2020, Edoardo was an Irish Research Council Government of Ireland Scholar at the Sutherland School of Law of University College Dublin. His PhD thesis ‘Digital constitutionalism: The Role of Internet Bills of Rights’ examines how the digital revolution is changing contemporary constitutionalism, and explores the constitutional role of Internet bills of rights.

Edoardo previously studied law at the University of Rome ‘La Sapienza’, at the University of Paris II ‘Panthéon-Assas’, and at King’s College London. He is an alumnus of the European Law School (Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin). Over the past few years, Edoardo has been visiting researcher at the Nexa Center for Internet & Society of Torino and at the Center for Information Technology, Society, and Law (ITSL) of Zurich. In 2018, he was a research fellow at the Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society (HIIG) of Berlin. Edoardo is currently affiliated with the ADAPT Centre and the UCD Centre for Human Rights.

Edoardo welcomes enquiries from prospective PhD students wishing to pursue research in his areas of expertise, and in particular in the field of digital rights (including but not limited to privacy and data protection) and online platforms regulation (especially social media

Simon Foster - Head of Product Innovation at Xero, President of DSPANZ and member of the national Pearcey Foundation Committee and Board

Following the acquisition of Tickstar AG and Invoici, Simon Foster has recently joined Xero’s Product Team to be part of the leading and significant investment in e-Invoicing, Peppol and small business workflow automation. As the subject matter expert for e-invoicing, he helps enable beautiful software that will be used by millions of businesses worldwide.A technology entrepreneur with experience across Europe, Asia Pacific and North America, Simon has garnered more than 25 years’ experience working for early stage and high growth technology startups, mid-size enterprises and multinationals.Working across a number of key roles over this time has allowed him to develop a significant understanding of the technology landscape, including specialist knowledge of data security, scanning and invoice transfer and the ERP & accounting ecosystem.

Simon has held a number of industry & professional association roles. He is currently the elected President & e-Invoicing Lead of the Association of Digital Service Providers Australia New Zealand (DSPANZ – formerly ABSIA). Simon was Treasurer & Small Business Convenor of the Australian Computer Society (NSW Branch) and is currently on the Board and national committee of the non-profit Pearcey Foundation.Through these roles and his professional position, Simon has been called to sit on various industry & government consultative committees and advisory groups. He is the co-chair of the Australian Tax Office Strategic Working Group, co-chair of the ANZ Peppol Industry Practice Statement Working Group and member of the OpenPeppol International Invoicing Working Group and Service Provider Representative on the OpenPeppol Agreements Revision Task Force.

Rachael Greaves - CEO, Castlepoint

Rachael Greaves is an information management thought leader, and designed the Castlepoint product. Rachael is a Certified Information Professional (CIP), Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA), Certified Information Security Manager (CISM), Certified Data Privacy Systems Engineer (CDPSE), and is certified in project, change, and records management. With a cultural anthropology and linguistics background, Rachael brings ethical, global, and sustainable practices to the sector. Her innovative technology concept has transformed compliance and risk management outcomes.

Castlepoint Systems is an innovative AI regulatory technology solution that reads every word of every document, email, database, or webpage, for example. It understands what each information asset is about, what risk and value it has, who is doing what to it, what regulatory rules apply to it, and whether they are being met. Castlepoint does not become the storage location for, or take a copy of, records – they stay in-place, in the existing systems. Existing assets and practices are not impacted, as the system is invisible to users, does not modify source data, and does not impact source systems.

Stuart Hudson - Partner and CTO, Outside Insights and 2 Dam Creative

Stuart Hudson is a highly sought after technologist and product innovator with experience across financial services, telecommunications, utilities, health and retail in Australia, US, Europe and Asia-Pacific. He has an extensive knowledge of what it takes to make things happen. Stuart has launched three businesses, designed and delivered hundreds of entrepreneurship-thinking workshops. He has proven success in creating viable commercial models. Stuart makes impossible ideas happen.