Emily Laidlaw shapes global conversations about digital rights as Canada Research Chair in Cybersecurity Law. Her work at the University of Calgary and as a CIGI Senior Fellow focuses on creating legal frameworks that protect users without stifling innovation.
Emily Laidlaw’s career spans academia, legal practice, and influential contributions to digital policy. Beginning as a litigator in Canada, she shifted focus to technology law during her postgraduate studies at the London School of Economics. Her early work explored corporate responsibility in cyberspace, culminating in her seminal 2015 book, Regulating Speech in Cyberspace, which established frameworks for balancing free expression and online safety.
As Canada Research Chair in Cybersecurity Law at the University of Calgary, Laidlaw advises governments on online harms legislation. She co-chaired Canada’s expert panel shaping 2023’s Online Safety Act, advocating for accountability in content moderation. Her research informs global debates about platform governance, notably contributing to the EU’s Digital Services Act through comparative analyses of intermediary liability.
This 15,000-word treatise reimagines privacy torts for the AI era. Laidlaw critiques Canada’s Jarvis decision, demonstrating how "reasonable expectation of privacy" tests fail against deepfake harassment and IoT data harvesting. She proposes a "technology-mindful" standard evaluating both the social context of privacy invasions and the technical mechanisms enabling them. The article has been cited in three provincial court decisions since publication.
Laidlaw’s comparative analysis of EU and Canadian platform regulations in her 2022 CIGI paper shows her interest in jurisdictional challenges. Pitches could explore how Southeast Asian nations are adapting GDPR-style content takedown rules, or how African tech hubs handle misinformation differently than Western democracies. Include verifiable data on compliance rates or moderation efficacy.
"Her work bridges the gap between abstract legal theory and tangible user protections." – Canadian Bar Association Tech Law Review
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