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Paul Ash

Paul Ash

Prime Minister’s Special Representative on Cyber and Digital, Christchurch Call and Cyber Coordinator, Government of New Zealand

Paul is the Prime Minister’s Special Representative on Cyber and Digital, and the Christchurch Call and Cyber Coordinator, based in the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. Paul works closely with the technology sector and cyber and digital agencies in New Zealand and globally. Paul took up his role in March 2020.

Paul has had a long association with cyber and digital policy, including as part of New Zealand’s Christchurch Call team since its inception. Paul led DPMC’s National Security Policy Directorate from 2018-2019, providing policy leadership on national security, intelligence, risk and resilience, working with agencies in the national security sector. Paul led the National Cyber Policy Office from its establishment in 2012 through to 2017.

Prior to roles in DPMC, Paul was a career diplomat, serving as Deputy Head of Mission in Brussels from 2008 to 2012, and in postings and secondments in Solomon Islands, Beijing, and Taipei. Paul is a graduate of Victoria University of Wellington and the Chinese Language and Area Studies School of the Foreign Service Institute.

Sessions

Regulating (Dis)Content: How Human Rights Can Help Shape Government Content Regulation Efforts

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In this session, representatives from a range of key stakeholders will come together to take a closer look at three important considerations for developing content regulation -- transparency, scope of application, and cross-border impacts -- and examine different approaches to each, in particular with respect to the implementation of the State duty to protect human rights in preventing possible infringements of the freedom of expression online.