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Brainbox worked with the University of Otago and the Global Partnership on AI's responsible AI working group. GPAI was proposing collaborative study of how social media recommendation systems deal with terrorist content. < Back Transparency-based approaches to social media regulation Past Project November 2021 and ongoing Transparency and social media for the Global Partnership on AI Brainbox worked with the University of Otago and the Global Partnership on AI's responsible AI working group. GPAI was proposing collaborative study of how social media recommendation systems deal with terrorist content. This work is continuing in 2022 and Brainbox has participated in a range of meetings hosted by the Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism and others working within the wider Christchurch Call. GPAI aims to conduct research within one or more social media companies to observe the effect of “recommender systems” on platform user behaviour. In particular, whether such systems have the effect increasing user consumption of Terrorist Violent Extremist Content. It outlined its proposed study in a separate technical report.Brainbox provided an analysis of the legal and policy issues relevant to conducting research of this kind. Our analysis was grounded by reference to human rights principles and frameworks, to ensure that any research partnership was broadly appealing, fair, and respectful of due process for all parties. It drew on previous work by Brainbox to an investor coalition led by the New Zealand Superannuation Fund on its engagement with Facebook, Alphabet and Twitter on the companies’ responses to the Christchurch terror attacks of 15 March 2019. It also drew on Brainbox's reports on automated decision making and legislation as code . Brainbox's report for GPAI GPAI's technical report Previous Next

Brainbox has published work on dispute resolution systems and access to justice: in medico-legal disputes; and in an online safety context. See our submission on the proposed New Zealand voluntary code on online harms and safety. < Back Dispute resolution systems and access to justice Past Project 2014 onward Dispute resolution systems, justice policy and access to justice Brainbox has published work on dispute resolution systems and access to justice in two areas: medico-legal disputes; online safety. Tom Barraclough has co-authored a number of publications on access to justice in New Zealand's medico-legal systems. These consist of a range of reports on access to justice for ACC claimants and articles in peer-reviewed journals. These insights have been applied in submissions to the Justice Committee and have been recognised in Parliamentary debates and independent ministerial inquiries . In 2021, Brainbox made a submission on a proposed voluntary online safety code for New Zealand . The Code was drafted by industry signatories such as Meta, YouTube and Twitter and led by Netsafe. The submission drew on other Brainbox investigations into platform content moderation systems for responding to terrorist incidents and global regulatory trends , and transparency-based approaches to social media regulation . The submission is available below. Submission on voluntary online safety code Back to Projects Previous Next

COVID-19 policy is moving rapidly, cutting across a range of policy areas and fundamental human rights. We worked with Antistatic to prepare a series of briefings to support the Commission to fulfil its statutory role. < Back Assisting the Human Rights Commission on responding to COVID-19 Past Project December 2021 COVID-19 policy is moving rapidly, cutting across a range of policy areas and fundamental human rights. Brainbox worked with partners at Antistatic to prepare a series of briefings on key COVID-19 policy issues, as well as compiling frequent current events round-ups. Brainbox's work supported Commission staff and Commissioners in formulating public positions and fulfilling statutory obligations. Get in Touch Back to Projects Previous Next

Brainbox is the project lead for the Action Coalition on Meaningful Transparency (ACT), a global multi-stakeholder coalition pushing for effective tech transparency that promotes human rights. The coalition includes tech companies, regulators, civil society organisations, and academics. < Back Project lead, the Action Coalition on Meaningful Transparency (ACT) Current Project April 2022 - present Brainbox commenced as the inaugural project lead for the Action Coalition on Meaningful Transparency in April 2022 following a competitive tender process. The ACT was launched in February 2022 under the auspices of the Danish Government's Tech for Democracy Initiative and the corresponding year of action. It is governed by a Steering Group of civil society organisations around the world, engaging with an Advisory Group of public and private sector representatives. The ACT aims to foster a broad set of participants in a multistakeholder advisory coalition. Current members include social media platform companies, international bodies, regulators, academics, and globally influential civil society organisations. You can follow the work of the Action Coalition through its dedicated project website below. Visit the Action Coalition Website Back to Projects Previous Next

Following the publication of our report about the legal implications of deepfake technology and synthetic media, we organised and hosted a forum of around 13 government agencies and regulators to share our findings. < Back Presentation and discussion to government agencies about deepfakes Past Project October 2019 Following the publication of Perception Inception - our report about the legal implications of deepfakes and synthetic media - we organised and hosted a forum of around 13 government agencies and regulators to share our findings. While scheduled for an hour, attendees stayed for a further hour simply to continue the discussion. The meeting was hosted by InternetNZ. Attendees included staff from: the Ministry of Defence, the Office of Film and Literature Classification, Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, the Electoral Commission, ESR, the Media Council, the Ministry for Culture and Heritage, the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Netsafe, the New Zealand Police, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner, the Broadcasting Standards Authority, the Department of Internal Affairs, the Advertising Standards Authority, the Human Rights Commission. Access the discussion paper Read our 'Perception Inception' report Previous Next

Brainbox understands tech, law, and policy. Clients approach us with problems that sit where these three fields meet. Brainbox is a public interest think tank and consultancy sitting at the intersection of technology, law, and policy. Bringing together deep thinking, broad networks, and world-class expertise, Brainbox has rapidly established a global profile as a leader in this area. Founded in 2018, organisations across the private and public sectors worldwide have relied on our knowledge, insight, and professionalism. Brainbox analysts and affiliates are accomplished media commentators and presenters. Our analysts are regular participants at a range of public policy events, and their work has been published or covered in Lawfare, the Guardian, Stuff, Newshub, the New Zealand Herald, Newstalk ZB, RNZ, Newsroom, Business Desk, TVNZ, and the Project. We work together with clients to figure out what they need to know, give them the answer, and help them leverage it to meet their objectives. > Our Leadership Tom Barraclough Founder, Director To m co-founded the Brainbox Institute in 2018 and graduated BA/LLB(Hons) from the University of Otago. When he began his career in 2014, he initially focused on human rights and medico-legal systems, contributing to peer-reviewed publications and nationally significant research on access to justice and accessibility for disabled people. Since 2018, Tom has spearheaded public interest legal research projects, as well as advising both public and private clients on intricate public policy issues at the intersection of law and technology. Tom has a special interest in human rights approaches to platform regulation and combating disinformation, as well as how to build digital systems to better give effect to public policy objectives. Ellen Strickland Director Ellen brings almost two decades of global experience on Internet policy and digital governance issues to the Brainbox Institute. She is known as a passionate champion for collaborative, informed approaches to technology related policy and practice. Ellen has worked on a broad spectrum of issues and processes, from infrastructure development to digital inclusion to content moderation, and she has engaged from across sectors, including as a technical community leader, academic, civil society advocate, government official, and company founder. Ellen holds a PhD from the University of Queensland, which focused on Pacific Islands multilateral digital policy. She also has received a Masters in Communications from Victoria University Wellington and a Masters in International Development, specialising in research methods, from the University of Manchester. > Our Purpose Technology, law and policy are powerful systems, and they can be even more powerful when they interact. When carefully designed, these systems have the potential to support human flourishing and change the world for the better. But they can also be clumsy, confusing, and, at worst, cause great harm. We want a world where technology, law and policy work for people, not against them. > Our Mission We are a public interest think tank and consultancy sitting at the intersection of technology, law, and policy. Public and private sector clients approach us with problems that live in this intersection, and we provide them with the right questions, the right answers, and the tools to use them. We are independent, pragmatic thinkers, and we believe in the power of sharing knowledge for the benefit of the public. > Our Values Human Dignity Systems are nothing without people, and creating effective systems requires strong, respectful relationships and collaboration. A commitment to human dignity and flourishing is front of mind in everything we do and how we operate as an organisation. Creative & Entrepreneurial We are nimble and flexible in a way that many other similar organisations aspire to be. We can zoom out and connect the dots, and pivot rapidly when necessary. We think creatively, holistically, and pragmatically. Critical Thinking We strive to look beyond ideology, hype, and rhetoric. We take pride in recognising – and saying – when we or others are asking the wrong question. We always aim to tell the truth as we see it, not just say what people want to hear. Diversity and Heterogeneity A variety of ideas and viewpoints are better than groupthink, and we always prefer productive disagreement to negotiate differences, rather than bad faith debate. Integrity Our solutions are designed to work with or without our ongoing involvement, and we will never undermine a project’s goals to make more work for ourselves in the future.

Brainbox has longstanding experience in medico-legal systems and health policy covering practitioner competency, patients' rights, medico-legal causation and the accident compensation scheme. < Back Medico-legal systems and health policy Past Project 2014 onwards Brainbox has longstanding experience in medico-legal systems and health policy cutting across the practitioner competency, patients' rights, medico-legal causation and New Zealand's accident compensation scheme. Tom Barraclough is a current member of the ACC Scheme Advisory Panel, administered by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment and the Accident Compensation Corporation. He has contributed to litigation at various levels of the judicial system and in a range of tribunals. Tom has co-authored a number of publications on access to justice in New Zealand's medico-legal systems. These consist of a range of reports on access to justice for ACC claimants and articles in peer-reviewed journals. These insights have been applied in submissions to the Justice Committee and have been recognised in Parliamentary debates and independent ministerial inquiries . Tom's work on access to justice has crossed into human rights and disability policy. In 2014, the United Nations Committee on the Rights of People with Disabilities made a concluding observation on the New Zealand Government's compliance with the Convention in connection with his work with Acclaim Otago and a wider team of researchers. Curtis Barnes was closely involved in the same work on the ACC system and has strong links with the medical community, with experience assisting medical practitioners with matters related to the Health and Disability Commissioner's Code of Patient's Rights. Brainbox's work on health policy and human rights is reflected in its other contributions toward designing Accessibility Legislation for New Zealand and with the Human Rights Commission . See work with Human Rights Commission See work on designing Accessibility Legislation Previous Next

A global and national movement has led progress toward enforceable rights for disabled people. Brainbox collaborated to design legislation that would enforce Accessibility for all New Zealanders. < Back Designing legislation from outside government Past Project 2020-2021 A global and national movement has led progress toward enforceable rights for disabled people. Brainbox collaborated to design legislation that would enforce Accessibility in all areas for all New Zealanders. Consultants from Brainbox collaborated with research partners, with the Access Alliance, and with the Ministry of Social Development. Using our knowledge of the legislative process and of experience with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities , we drew on the PCO's legislation guidelines to flesh out the Access Alliance vision into a more developed legislative scheme. In 2021, the New Zealand Government announced plans to implement enforceable accessibility regulation, attributable to the advocacy by the Access Alliance and by research partner Warren Forster. Much of our legislative design was adopted in substance. Brainbox strongly supports policy leadership outside of government. We are actively seeking opportunities to apply our insights to novel proposals for legislation from industry and community groups. Link to research report Link to accessible formats Previous Next

In 2020, Brainbox authored a chapter about disinformation in a book edited by Andrew Chen. < Back Chapter in 'Shouting Zeros and Ones' (Bridget Williams Books) Past Project August 2020 Brainbox's founding directors, Curtis Barnes and Tom Barraclough, submitted a chapter to Dr Andrew Chen's edited text, Shouting Zeros and Ones: Digital Technology, Ethics and Policy in New Zealand . The chapter, entitled "Digitised Lies", anchored readers in the topic of disinformation and called policymakers' attention to New Zealand in its geopolitical context. It also outlined the difficulties of regulation. Buy a copy of the book See our current work on disinformation Previous Next

Governments increasingly perceive analysis of social media activity as an operational necessity, and not always in a law enforcement context. But if such analysis is to be performed, it must be done transparently, accountably, and with adequate safeguards to protect human rights, justify public trust, and preserve the public good. This report prepared for New Zealand's Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet lays out the challenges to doing so and makes the case that any systematic social media analysis should be performed by an independent entity that sits outside of government. < Back Appropriate frameworks for social media analysis: Report for the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet (NZ) Past Project June 2022 Recent years have seen growing demand from some members of the New Zealand public and media for increased government capture and analysis of internet-based communications occurring via social media websites and apps. These demands began in earnest in the wake of the 15 March 2019 Christchurch Terror Attacks and were reinvigorated throughout the Covid-19 pandemic period, peaking in proximity to the prolonged occupation of the lawn outside Parliament. In this report prepared for New Zealand's Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, we argue that government faces unique ethical, legal, and practical challenges in monitoring and responding to mis- and disinformation. As such, we make the case for the establishment and support of a diverse, multidisciplinary civil society-led institution to conduct ongoing independent analysis of social media-based communications for the purpose of monitoring and analysing potential disinformation and misinformation. Access the report Back to Projects Previous Next

Institutional investors representing $13 trillion issued an ultimatum after the Christchurch attacks: platform companies must do better. Two years on, how have they performed? What is the trend of global regulation? < Back Assessing Facebook, Twitter and Alphabet for institutional investors Past Project August, October 2021 Advising a coalition of institutional investors on content moderation and terrorist content Institutional investors representing $13 trillion issued an ultimatum after the Christchurch attacks: platform companies must do better. Two years on, how have the companies performed? What is the trend of global regulation? Brainbox prepared an independent assessment of the changes made by social media companies to mitigate the impact of incidents like the attacks in Christchurch on 15 March 2019. It also drew on insights gained from participating in tabletop exercises to test emergency response protocols held in Wellington in 2019. We assessed Facebook, Twitter and Alphabet for the investor group. The investors also sought an analysis of what good regulation looks like when it comes to content moderation by social media companies. Our analysis was grounded by reference to human rights principles and frameworks. The analysis was funded by an investor coalition led by the Guardians of the New Zealand Superannuation Fund, with contributory funding from Neuberger Berman and Northern Trust. In our report for the investor coalition, we concluded that transparency-based approaches to social media regulation deserved further investigation. We had the opportunity to investigate such approaches in our report to the Global Partnership on Artificial Intelligence’s responsible AI working group, available here. NZ Super Fund media materials Report to the investor coalition Previous Next

To conduct its work programme for 2021, the Digital Council of Aotearoa needed to understand trust and automated decision-making. Brainbox collated research insights to inform scenario design for a series of workshops and bring clarity to a complex set of topics. < Back Trust in automated systems used by Government Past Project 2020 To conduct its work programme for 2020, the Digital Council of Aotearoa needed to understand the complex concepts that underpinned its topic: trust and automated decision-making. Brainbox collated research insights from academic and technical literature. Those insights and Brainbox's participation in the Council's work were used to inform scenario design for a series of workshops and bring clarity to a complex set of topics. Among other things, Brainbox advised the council to conduct a separate literature review on indigenous data sovereignty, which was led by Te Kotahi Research Institute. The work was a natural complement to Brainbox's work on legislation as code and the use of coded models of the law in decision-making systems. Digital Council's mid-year update Digital Council's published reports Previous Next