InternetNZ and Victoria welcome Cyber Law Fellow

MEDIA RELEASE

6 March 2006

InternetNZ and Victoria welcome Cyber Law Fellow

New Zealand’s first Senior Research Fellow in Cyber Law has been appointed with Dr Judit Bayer taking up the position this week at Victoria University of Wellington’s School of Law. (Note to subs: first name is correctly spelt)

Cyber law involves the range of legal issues relating to the Internet, and the Fellowship is one of the first in the world. InternetNZ, a not-for-profit organisation fostering co-ordinated and co-operative development of the Internet in New Zealand, is providing funding, through the Victoria University of Wellington Foundation, for the fellowship in a joint project with Victoria University.

“Given the growing importance of legal issues as the Internet becomes more widely used, it is important to have quality research on how issues are treated under New Zealand law,” said Keith Davidson, InternetNZ’s Executive Director.

“The School of Law welcomes this appointment in the developing field of cyber law,” says Professor Matthew Palmer, Dean of the Law School. “This partnership will apply scholarship to an integral aspect of modern society.”

Dr Bayer completed a PhD in Internet regulation at Hungary’s Eotvos Lorand University and went on to lecture in law at Zsigmond Kiraly University College in Budapest. While at Victoria, she will teach (on The Law and Regulation of Cyberspace) and undertake research on a range of topics, including into the liability of internet service providers.

Mr Davidson says Dr Bayer’s research will lead to top quality, contemporary findings on a range of Internet legal issues becoming available to New Zealand’s internet community and to policymakers and other legal scholars.

“InternetNZ is supporting the Fellowship because we are committed to the public good, in this case through promoting the Internet as open and ‘uncapturable’. Good understanding of legal issues is critical in protecting free exchange of ideas, entertainment and facts over the Net. This is an investment for New Zealand’s future,” he said.

ENDS

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