Digital Regulation Research, Forecasts & Analysis

Channelling the Constellation: How Six Regulators Are Responding to Starlink

: This report examines how regulators in six markets, the European Union, India, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the United Kingdom, are responding to the competitive threat that SpaceX's Starlink poses to local telecommunications operators. It covers both threats: Starlink's fixed satellite broad…

The UK Online TV Switch: Policy Horizons in UK TV Distribution

: This explainer sets out how UK Government policy on television distribution has evolved, from the analogue-to-digital switchover of 2007-2012 to the June 2026 media green paper, Watch this Space, which consults on ending digital terrestrial television (DTT) in either 2034 or 2044. It first lays out…

How Open-Weight AI Is Redrawing the Frontier - and What China's DeepSeek Moment Means for Australia

: The artificial intelligence industry is cleaving into two structurally distinct camps. On one side stand the closed frontier models - proprietary systems from Anthropic, OpenAI, and Google DeepMind, accessed exclusively via metered APIs, with weights that never leave vendor-controlled infrastructur…

Is Big Tech Weaponising AI Safety to Crush Open-Source Rivals?

: Between 2023 and 2026, the world's AI oligopoly shifted from publishing abstract ethical declarations to submitting comprehensive legislative blueprints to global policymakers. This explainer analyses the AI governance doctrines of Microsoft, OpenAI, Google, Anthropic, Meta, IBM, Amazon Web Service…

Quantum Cryptography Explainer: Technologies To Beat the Quantum Threat

: This report examines the accelerating threat of Cryptographically Relevant Quantum Computers and the strategic imperatives for enterprise security architectures. It is a companion to our "ASD Accelerates Post-Quantum Timeline: Traditional Cryptography Faces 2030 Sunset" report. It details the Austr…

Explainer: Starlink LEOSat technology evolution

: This explainer analyses the rapid technological iteration of SpaceX’s Starlink satellite constellation, tracing its evolution from the 20 Gbps V1 baseline to the upcoming 1 Tbps V3 satellites. It explores how these advancements shift Starlink from a niche rural provider to a direct competitor for t…

Australia’s Social Media Minimum Age Scheme

: This explainer details the legislative framework of the Online Safety Amendment (Social Media Minimum Age) Act 2024. It examines the core 'reasonable steps' obligation, the technical requirements for age assurance, and the dual-regulatory roles of the eSafety Commissioner and the OAIC. The report h…

The Evolution of Media - From Broadcast to AI Interaction

: The media industry has undergone three major structural transformations, moving from Media 1.0 (1950s–2000), dominated by regional broadcast and print media, to Media 2.0 (2000–2025), where the internet, search, and social media created a global digital landscape. Now, a third phase—AI-Driven Media…