HARNESS THE MOMENT

It’s now trite to simply say that disruption is upon us; it’s wreaking havoc! No longer for esoteric discussion among experts, the long-anticipated and much debated shockwaves of digital technology, climate change and a global viral pandemic are being felt by all levels of society around the world.

Humanity has developed strong capacities to foresee risk, which often seems equally matched by our capacity to disregard it…but also, hopefully now, to address it. As with recent recordbreaking climate events and COVID-19, the de-platforming of Trump has brought a range of policy questions to the fore and into the mainstream. It is imperative that this moment not be wasted; that the opportunity to reset for the future is harnessed. The evolving responsibilities (or otherwise) of dominant social media platforms are set against – let me put this out there – the failure of all principal legislation to be “fit for purpose” in this post-digital age. The old analogue constructs are broken and need a complete overhaul by the legislature from first principles. Against that reality and benchmark, measures considered and taken in splendid isolation are merely “first aid” stations when society needs deep, considered, collaborative, cohesive, “stitched up” public policy: so who’s up for that? The IIC is the pre-eminent global platform to debate, discuss and advance understanding about what those public policies should be. In this issue of InterMedia, Eric Barendt contemplates the future of free speech on social media; Sun Sun Lim shows why women are integral to the future of tech; Sheila Cassells outlines efforts to disrupt the business of illegal IPTV; and Giles Tanner considers where spectrum management is heading.