November 1, 2021
Dear Readers,
We are proud to present you with Issue One of the Twenty-Eighth Volume of the Richmond Journal of Law & Technology. This issue includes four articles, each discussing a uniquely fascinating issue at the intersection of technology & law.
Our first article is co-authored by Emily Irwin and Niloufer Selvadurai. Ms. Irwin graduated from Macquarie University in 2020 and currently works for the Attorney General’s Department in Canberra, Australia. Dr. Selvadurai graduated with a PhD in Law from Macquarie University in 2006, and has since returned to Macquarie as a professor and technology law scholar, currently serving as Program Director of Legal Ethics of Cyber at the Optus Macquarie Cyber Security Hub. In their article, Ms. Irwin and Dr. Selvadurai discuss Australia’s passing of the Criminal Code Amendment (Sharing of Abhorrent Violent Material) Act, which places new requirements on content and hosting services to remove “abhorrent violent material” from their services. In doing so, Ms. Irwin and Dr. Selvadurai consider whether Australia’s new law appropriately balances the need to make abhorrent material generally inaccessible with the likelihood that such demanding requirements may result in the curtailment of legitimately socially beneficial speech.
Our second article is written by Iris H-Y Chiu. Dr. Chiu is a professor of corporate law and financial regulation at the University College London. Dr. Chiu writes her article on direct retail trading against the backdrop of the January 2021 GameStop trading event that resulted in a short squeeze for several hedge funds. Dr. Chiu details the rise in popularity of retail trading services culminating in the GameStop event, questions whether such trading activity may be characterized as a form of market manipulation and makes suggestions for regulatory reform.
Our third article is written by James Stramm, a graduate of Harvard Law School who currently serves as a judicial law clerk for the United States District Courts. In his article, Mr. Stramm discusses the role that dominant technology firms play in the collection of large amounts of personal health data. In his analysis, Mr. Stramm weighs the importance of such data to the betterment of healthcare across the board against clashing issues, such as privacy, autonomy, and discrimination. Mr. Stramm also notes that existing medical regulatory framework fails to address many of these data-driven concerns, offering recommendations for reform.
Our fourth article is written by Carolyn Sharp, who is currently a third-year law student at J. Reuben Clark Law School at Brigham Young University. Ms. Sharp’s article examines cognitive lethal autonomous weapons systems, explaining the biologically inspired technology that underpins such advanced weapons’ capabilities and assessing this technology’s compliance with the international Laws of Armed Conflict.
On behalf of the entire JOLT staff and editorial board, I would like to thank these authors for contributing such excellent work to our Journal and welcome our readers to the first of four issues within JOLT’s Twenty-Eighth Volume. I would also like to thank the entire JOLT staff and Editorial Board for their consistently diligent work ethic in preparing this Issue for publication. Finally, I want to specifically thank Volume Twenty-Eight’s Executive Editor, Peyton Reed, and Senior Manuscripts Editor, Amanda Short, for their keen focus, attentiveness, and commitment to our editorial process in completing our Volume’s Issue One.
Sincerely,
Michael Marciano
Editor-in-Chief
Editor’s Note: The recommended citation provided at the beginning of each JOLT article has been changed. Starting with Volume XXVIII, volumes will be consecutively paginated.
by Emily Irwin & Niloufer Selvadurai, Ph.D.
Social Disruptions in Securities Markets – What Regulatory Response Do We Need?
by Iris H-Y Chiu, Ph.D
Responding To The Digital Health Revolution
by James Stramm
by Carolyn Sharp