Patches of greatness

Measuring the significance of an academic’s contribution is not easy. Sure, there are all the tried and tested yardsticks, such as number of citations, number of publications, and number of grey cardigans with leather elbow patches.

But if I may be so bold, maybe there’s a better yardstick. That yardstick is the number of fresh ideas that really strike a chord. Take the phrase ‘digital eternity’, coined by UTS law and tech Professor David Lindsay in a 2012 book chapter that discussed Europe’s then nascent right to be forgotten. It’s a phrase that says so much, so concisely, about the inherent, intractable challenge of protecting privacy in a digital age. It describes the way our online interactions seem ephemeral but are in fact enduring in a way that can threaten our ability to live freely.

The phrase continues to resonate. In 2016, West Australian academic/barrister Michael Douglas wrote, ‘Once a moment goes online, it can have lasting significance. Copying and sharing is increasingly easy, and the internet has an almost unlimited capacity to search and remember. David Lindsay describes this as the problem of “digital eternity”.’ 

Digital eternity is just one of Lindsay’s rich intellectual contributions, which are being recognised at UTS next week with a symposium and a public lecture titled, ‘Can copyright survive genAI?’ In the second annual Jill McKeough lecture, Lindsay will discuss the fundamental challenges GenAI poses for policy makers, as some (including tech bros) argue that copyright inhibits innovation while others (including artists) argue that their very ability to create is under threat. As well as identifying the key policy issues that need to be resolved, Lindsay will analyse the main proposals for a solution, including transparency obligations, potential licensing solutions and ‘opt-outs’ or ‘opt-ins’ for training data.

Obviously, if there’s time for a Q&A, I’m going to ask Lindsay how many grey cardigans he owns with leather elbow patches.