Prof Mark Burdon

Chief Investigator

PhD (Queensland University of Technology), Master of Science (University of London)

My primary research interests are privacy, information privacy law and the regulation of information security. I focus on the complex privacy issues that arise from the sensorisation of everyday devices and infrastructures. These issues are explored significantly in my book, Digital Data Collection and Information Privacy Law, published by Cambridge University Press. Recent research examines the privacy issues that arise from smart homes particularly involving domestic violence reporting and commercial uses of smart home sensor data. Previous research includes a diverse range of multi-disciplinary projects involving:

• The regulation of information security practices;
• Legislative frameworks for the mandatory reporting of data breaches;
• Data sharing in e-government information frameworks;
• Privacy and consumer protection in e-commerce and
• Information protection standards for e-courts.

The relationship between privacy and power is a consistent theme in my work that I will be exploring further in the future. Sensor data generation is instrumental to the formulation of new power relationships in networked societies. Information privacy law will consequently need to adapt. How it adapts is therefore a crucial question to resolve as we move into an increasingly collected world, where data about everything is collected and analysed. Research Highlights:

• My new book, Digital Data Collection and Information Privacy Law, argues for the reformulation of information privacy law to regulate the new power consequences of ubiquitous data collection. The book provides a foundation for future law reform and calls for stronger information privacy law protections. Julie Cohen describes the book as ‘a roadmap for operationalising privacy in a world where everything is connected and collected.’ Mark Andrejevic calls it ‘foundational for reinventing what we mean when we talk about privacy for years to come.’
• In a two-part blog, I examine COVID-19 contact tracing developments and the future legal consequences that flow, based on modulated power. I argue “... the mobile phone, is being used to shape and segment our notion of citizenry and...to shape our understanding of information privacy..."
• My Computers & Security article with Lizzie Coles-Kemp on the importance of understanding the socio-political context of information security practice.
• My work has featured in two dedicated ABC Radio National (RN) recorded programs: ‘The Smart Home as Safer Space’ RN Future Tense (2017) and ‘The Sensor Society’ RN Big Ideas (2014).
• An interview with Channel 7 news on the use of email location tracking by real estate agents.
• I created, with Heather Douglas, a brief video explainer on technology, domestic violence and privacy based on findings from Heather’s ARC Future Fellowship. Our research also resulted in a journal article for the University of New South Wales Law Journal on non-consensual mobile phone recordings and surveillance device law.
• My work with Mark Andrejevic on the advent of a 'Sensor Society.' Full article here.
• My TEDx talk on the Sensor Society, including the implications of Barbie Home, a sensorised and ‘smart’ Barbie doll.
• My work with Paul Harpur on big data discriminations involving recruitment and employee tracking. Full journal article here.

Current Research Projects:

• Development of legal validation strategies for converting legislation into machine readable code.
• Examination of privacy policies relating to the popular smart home products in Australia.

Additional information