Personal Data and the GDPR: Providing a Competitive Advantage for U.S. Companies

The European Union's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) became applicable in May 2018. Due to the GDPR's extraterritorial scope, which could result in massive fines for U.S. companies, comparative data privacy law is of great current interest. In June 2018, California passed its own Consumer Privacy Act, echoing some of the provisions of the GDPR. Despite the many articles comparing the two schemes of law, little attention has been given to the foundation of these laws, that is, what exactly encompasses the data referred to by these laws? By understanding how the term “personal data” or “personal information” is defined in both jurisdictions, and why these definitions and the treatment of protected data are so different, companies can strategize to take advantage of these developments in the European Union. After explaining the differences in how data is treated in the United States and the European Union by exploring the definitions, regulations, and court cases, we will explore the five legal strategy pathways that companies might pursue with respect to the legal aspects of data transfer and privacy law compliance. While these strategies range from ignoring the law to adopting the European model worldwide, this analysis of legal strategy reveals a means for companies to gain a competitive advantage through their adoption of a worldwide compliance scheme.     

Using the role-play at the lectern: developing “work-ready” and confident professionals

As Waters notes, the role-play is not traditionally used as a teaching technique in law schools. Educators utilise role-play in many disciplines, including health, business, psychology, economics and literature; yet apart from clinical settings or for teaching practical legal skills, the role-play seems to be underutilised in legal education. An empirical study of 67 law students from the University of Western Australia (UWA) Law School set out to investigate the utility of the role-play as a device for instilling confidence in students and assisting them to prepare for professional practice. Although the classroom and class size were large and teaching took place in a lecture theatre, the role-play worked effectively. Students reported greater knowledge, understanding, confidence and skill with conducting themselves in a professional practice context. The study shows the need to embrace the role-play as an experiential learning technique that can work as effectively in an intensive, large-class setting as it does in smaller or clinical classrooms. The study revealed that the role-play technique worked very well and that the role-play is a versatile and very much “alive” pedagogical technique of value to any law school.     

Gender targets and trickle-down effects: Avoiding the ‘decoupling dynamics’ that limit female representation in senior roles

Women constitute the majority of the Australian public sector workforce, but their representation in senior roles is not proportional. Australian public services have gender targets to improve the representation of women in senior roles. Based on previous research, targets are expected to first increase female representation at the target's focal level, such as executive level. Then they should initiate a trickle-down effect (TDE), increasing female representation at the level immediately below the target's focal level, such as the executive feeder level. However, the TDE observed in a state public service decelerated after a gender target was imposed. We identified whether individual departments had a consistent or inconsistent TDE and conducted 13 semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders. Too many service-wide targets with low prioritisation of a gender target, as well as missing and ineffective practices, generated decoupling dynamics. Only departments with gender champions who had visible backing from the Chief Executive were able to keep the gender target coupled with practice to achieve its intended outcomes.

Points for practitioners

• Gender targets in Australian public services may not be achieving intended outcomes due to decoupling—a response to policies in which the policies are ignored and/or ineffective practices are implemented.
• Too many competing targets and limited accountability for achieving a gender target create a potential for decoupling by allowing individuals and groups to ignore or weakly adopt the policy.
• Integrated bundles of top-down (e.g. requiring at least two women on shortlists) and bottom-up practices (e.g. mentoring) can help avoid decoupling by ensuring women are appointed to senior roles and supported to progress through an organisation.
• Chief Executives are key to ensuring a gender target remains coupled with its implementation; Chief Executives must provide visible support to internal champions to make gender targets effective.

     

Huawei,Cyber-Sovereignty and Liberal Norms: China’s Challenge to the West/Democracies

Journal of Chinese Political Science - As China’s global footprint expands and Sino-American competition intensifies, it is apparent that one of the most important arenas for competition...