Lizzie O'Shea

Lizzie is a lawyer and author who speaks widely on law, technology, and human rights. Her writing has appeared in publications including The New York Times, The Guardian, and The Sydney Morning Herald.

She is the founder and Chair of Digital Rights Watch, an organisation advocating for freedom, fairness, and fundamental rights in the digital age, and serves on the board of Blueprint for Free Speech. Lizzie has also worked extensively on gambling reform. While at the National Justice Project, she collaborated with lawyers, journalists, and activists to establish a Copwatch program, for which she received the Davis Projects for Peace Prize. In June 2019, she was named a Human Rights Hero by Access Now.

As a lawyer, Lizzie brings actions against technology companies when they cause harm and has spent many years working in public interest litigation on behalf of refugees, activists, and other marginalised communities. Her legal work includes representing the Fertility Control Clinic in its successful efforts to stop harassment of staff and patients, and the Traditional Aboriginal Owners of Muckaty Station in their successful campaign to prevent a nuclear waste dump on their land.

Her book, Future Histories (Verso, 2019), explores radical social movements and thinkers from history and applies their ideas to contemporary debates about digital technology. It was shortlisted for the Premier’s Literary Award.

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