-
Courses
Courses
Choosing a course is one of the most important decisions you'll ever make! View our courses and see what our students and lecturers have to say about the courses you are interested in at the links below.
-
University Life
University Life
Each year more than 4,000 choose NUI Galway as their University of choice. Find out what life at NUI Galway is all about here.
-
About NUI Galway
About NUI Galway
Since 1845, NUI Galway has been sharing the highest quality teaching and research with Ireland and the world. Find out what makes our University so special – from our distinguished history to the latest news and campus developments.
-
Colleges & Schools
Colleges & Schools
NUI Galway has earned international recognition as a research-led university with a commitment to top quality teaching across a range of key areas of expertise.
-
Research & Innovation
Research & Innovation
NUI Galway’s vibrant research community take on some of the most pressing challenges of our times.
-
Business & Industry
Guiding Breakthrough Research at NUI Galway
We explore and facilitate commercial opportunities for the research community at NUI Galway, as well as facilitating industry partnership.
-
Alumni, Friends & Supporters
Alumni, Friends & Supporters
There are over 90,000 NUI Galway graduates Worldwide, connect with us and tap into the online community.
-
Community Engagement
Community Engagement
At NUI Galway, we believe that the best learning takes place when you apply what you learn in a real world context. That's why many of our courses include work placements or community projects.
Damien McCallig
Mr Damien McCallig
PhD in Law candidate
B.Comm., LLB, LLM
Biography
Damien McCallig is a final year Ph.D. Candidate in the School of Law. His research, which is funded by the Irish Research Council (IRC), is entitled The Law of Digital Remains: Reconciling the dignity and interests of the deceased with those of the living, and is supervised by Marie McGonagle. The research aims to provide a theoretical, philosophical and practical framework for developing an appropriate regulatory regime for digital remains aimed at reconciling the rights and interests of the deceased with those of living stake-holders. Further details regarding his Ph.D. research is available here.
Damien graduated from NUI Galway with an LL.M in Law, Technology and Governance in 2010 and an LL.B. in 2009, achieving first class honours in both. He was the winner of the Irish Times Prize in Media Law, 2009, which is an annual prize awarded to the student who achieves the highest mark at examination in the subject of Media Law. Damien regularly contributes to IRIS – Legal Observations of the European Audiovisual Observatory, which addresses many of the cutting-edge issues in the media and communications fields.
Research
Research Interests
- Copyright
- Data Protection
- Internet Law and Regulation
- Information Rights
- Media Law and Regulation
- Privacy
Research Projects
PhD Thesis
‘The Law of Digital Remains: Reconciling the dignity and interests of the deceased with those of the living.’
The research aims to provide a theoretical, philosophical and practical framework for developing an appropriate regulatory regime for digital remains aimed at reconciling the rights and interests of the deceased with those of living stake-holders. Further details regarding Damien’s Ph.D. research is available here.
Research Publications
Peer Reviewed Journals
- “Facebook after death: an evolving policy in a social network”, International Journal of Law and Information Technology (2014) advance access.
- “Private But Eventually Public: Why Copyright in Unpublished Works Matters in the Digital Age”, (2013) 10:1 SCRIPTed 39.
- “Online behavioural advertising: are Irish privacy laws in need of ‘re-Phorm’?”, (2011) 16 Communications Law 60.
Other Journals
-
“Memoria in aeterna: who owns your digital legacy”, (2013) January/February Law Society Gazette 22.
Conference Papers
- “Data protection and the Deceased in the European Union”, Computers Privacy and Data Protection (CPDP), (Brussels, January 2014).
- “Intrusion into Private Grief: Regulating the reporting and presentation of deceased persons in modern media”, Society of Legal Scholars Annual Conference (Edinburgh, September 2013).
- “Dealing with Digital Remains: Is Recognising Digital Assets as Probate Property the Solution?”, Centre of Death and Society (CDAS) Annual Conference 2013, (Bath, June 2013).
- “Dealing with Digital Remains: Is Recognising Digital Assets as Probate Property the Solution?”, BILETA 2013, (Liverpool, April 2013).
- “Privacy After Death”, NUI Galway Privacy Symposium, (Galway, March 2013).
- “Second guessing the intentions of the deceased under the quasi-succession right to information”, #FOI15: the right to know, (Limerick, February 2013).
- “The Law of Digital Remains”, Death Online Research Network, (Copenhagen, January 2013).
- “Private but Eventually Public: Why Copyright in Unpublished Works Matters in the Digital Age”, Amsterdam Privacy Conference (Amsterdam, October 2012).
- “Auto-Icon in the 21st Century: What lessons for the regulation of the Digital Remains of the dead?”, GiKII VII, (UEA, London, September 2012).
- “The Deceased as Data Subjects: Analysis of the Scope and Application of EU Data Protection Law”, Society of Legal Scholars Annual Conference (Bristol, September 2012).
IRIS Contributions
- “Pirate Bay Blocked and Three-Strikes Protocol Continues”, IRIS 2013-10:1/29.
- “Recent Broadcasting Complaints Decisions”, IRIS 2013-10:1/30.
- “New Broadcasting Guidelines on Referenda Coverage”, IRIS 2013-8:1/27.
- “Review of Funding for Public Service Broadcasting Published”, IRIS 2013-8:1/26.
- “Revision of General and Children’s Commercial Communications Codes”, IRIS 2013-7:1/17.
- “Broadcasting Authority Launches Community Broadcasting Support Scheme”, IRIS 2013-6:1/25.
- “Household-Based Public Broadcasting Charge Moves a Step Closer”, IRIS 2013-4:1/19.
- “Presenter’s Comments Breached Broadcasting Act”, IRIS 2013-4:1/18.
- “Renewed Efforts to Block File-Sharing Websites”, IRIS 2013-3:1/19.
- “Digital Switchover of Terrestrial Television Complete”, IRIS 2013-1:1/27.
- “Revision of General and Children’s Commercial Communications Codes”, IRIS 2013-1:1/26.
- “Psychic Readings Live in Repeated Breaches of Broadcasting Code”, IRIS 2013-1:1/25.
- “Supreme Court to Hear Appeal on Three-Strikes Copyright Protocol”, IRIS 2012-8:1/29.
- “Revised Television Access Rules Launched”, IRIS 2012-7:1/28.
- “Public Service Broadcaster Sanctioned”, IRIS 2012-7:1/27.
- “Broadcast of Unverified “Tweet” Unfair to Presidential Candidate”, IRIS 2012-5:1/27.
- “Approval of Funding Scheme for Broadcast Archiving”, IRIS 2012-4:1/29.
- “Copyright Review Committee Publishes Consultation Paper”, IRIS 2012-4:1/30.
- “Copyright Injunctions Law Introduced”, IRIS 2012-4:1/31.
- “Updated Broadcasting Code on Referenda and Election Coverage”, IRIS 2011-9:1/24.
- “Right of Reply Scheme Introduced”, IRIS 2011-7:1/28.
- “Details of Copyright Review Announced”, IRIS 2011-7:1/27.
- “No Change in Designated Free-to-Air Sporting Events”, IRIS 2011-7:1/26.
- "New Broadcasting Code on Election Coverage”, IRIS 2011-5:1/26.
- “No Basis for Three Strike Copyright Rule”, IRIS 2011-1:1/38.
Other Articles, Contributions and Presentations
- "Dealing with the Digital Remains of the Dead", Death with Dignity National Centre Blog, 9 January 2014.
- “Dealing with Digital Death”, Oxford University Press Blog, 14 October 2013.
- “Change law to allow online life after death”, Sunday Times (Irish edition), 28 April 2013.
- “Social Media After Death”, John Murray Show RTÉ Radio One, 15 March 2013.
- “Innovation and Technology: Reconciling the Rights of Individuals with the Needs of Society”, Presentation to Law
- Reform Commission, Public Consultation on the Fourth Programme of Law Reform, NUI Galway, 27 February 2013.
- “Medical records model needs treatment”, Irish Times, 21 January 2013.
Media Reports
- Holden, John, “Digital Remains”, Cois Coiribe, Autumn 2013.
- MacCormaic, Ruadhán, “Passing on the keys to your personal digital legacy can be problematic”, Irish Times, 22 April 2013.
- Fallon, John, “Facebook to connect beyond the grave”, Irish Examiner, 11 March 2013.
- Fallon, John, “Social media photos and data may have to be included in wills”, Irish Times, 11 March 2013.
- Fallon, John, “Facebook accounts ‘will be left in wills’”, Irish Independent, 11 March 2013.
- Essers, Loek, “Online life after death faces legal uncertainty”, CIO and Computerworld, 8 October 2012.
Teaching Areas
Teaching interests include:
- Copyright
- Constitutional Law – Freedom of Expression
- Entertainment Law – Commercial Expression/Online Behavioural Advertising
- Privacy/Data Protection