From the Foreword

Online harms are not inevitable consequences of technological progress.

Legislation to introduce a Digital Duty of Care is a rare opportunity for Australia to reshape the online environment and its impact on our lives. Technology has immense positive benefits, but realising them requires proactive policy design.

This is Australia’s opportunity to implement a duty to make tech care.

A Digital Duty of Care will obligate online services to keep their users safe, prevent serious harms before they occur, and anticipate the next generation of harms on the horizon.

Done well, the duty will encourage services to invest in safer design, empower individuals with meaningful choices, and create a framework that endures as technologies and harms evolve.

The concept is simple, but the design choices are not.

Good tech policy requires more than good intentions. That is why TPDi convened a Digital Duty of Care Design Dialogue, bringing together 61 participants from 51 organisations and institutions across Parliament, government, industry, civil society and research.

Drawing on those discussions, the Policy Spotlight examines areas of common ground and divergence and sets out 7 recommendations for policymakers as the legislation is introduced and debated.

Find out more about TPDi’s Policy Spotlight: Digital Duty of Care: Make Tech Care