Rules as Code (RaC), which encompasses the conversion of legal and regulatory rules into computer code, is gaining traction internationally. This article analyses ‘digital distortions’ in RaC, which refer to disconnects between regulation and code that arise from interpretive choices in the encoding process. We contend that Boaventura de Sousa Santos’ ‘symbolic cartography of law’ provides valuable concepts for understanding digital distortions in encoding regulation. Specifically, we argue that the cartographic concepts of scale, projection, symbolisation and orientation highlight distortions that can arise from choices involving the documentation to code, logics to follow, languages to use and coded outputs to present. We demonstrate how these distortions arose in our attempt to convert the ePayments Code, an Australian voluntary code of conduct for consumer electronic payment transactions, into machine-executable code. The article concludes by underscoring the importance of greater awareness of interpretive coding choices and their implications for diverse users of digitised regulation.

US state-based data breach notification laws have unveiled serious corporate and government failures regarding the security of personal information. These laws require organisations to notify persons who may be affected by an unauthorized acquisition of their personal information. Safe harbours to notification exist if personal information is encrypted. Three types of safe harbour have been identified in the literature: exemptions, rebuttable presumptions and factors. The underlying assumption of exemptions is that encrypted personal information is secure and therefore unauthorized access does not pose a risk. However, the viability of this assumption is questionable when examined against data breaches involving encrypted information and the demanding practical requirements of effective encryption management. Recent recommendations by the Australian Law Reform Commission (ALRC) would amend the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) to implement a data breach scheme that includes a different type of safe harbour, factor based analysis. The authors examine the potential capability of the ALRC's proposed encryption safe harbour in relation to the US experience at the state legislature level.

The traditional model for information dissemination in disaster response is unidirectional from official channels to the public. However recent crises in the US, such as Hurricane Katrina and the Californian Bushfires show that civilians are now turning to Web 2.0 technologies as a means of sharing disaster related information. These technologies present enormous potential benefits to disaster response authorities that cannot be overlooked. In Australia, the Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission has recently recommended that Australian disaster response authorities utilize information technologies to improve the dissemination of disaster related, bushfire information. However, whilst the use of these technologies has many positive attributes, potential legal liabilities for disaster response authorities arise. This paper identifies some potential legal liabilities arising from the use of Web 2.0 technologies in disaster response situations thereby enhancing crisis related information sharing by highlighting legal concerns that need to be addressed.