For the greater part of his career, Dr. Dana van der Merwe has been (and still is!) fascinated by the relationship between Information Technology and the Law. He has written a number of books on this topic, the first appearing in 1986 as Computers and the Law (Juta 1986) and the latest as Information and Communications Technology Law (3rd edition by LexisNexis 2021).
He has also published extensively in legal and popular journals, both locally and overseas, in this regard. His interest has lately been focused sharply on the legal implications of artificial intelligence (AI) and expert systems, especially as manifested in the so-called “Fourth Industrial Revolution” (4iR). His latest article entitled “Legal Aspects of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4iR) – (with specific reference to ChatGPT and other software purporting to give Legal Advice)” has appeared in Obiter 2023(4), the legal periodical published by the Law Faculty of the Nelson Mandela University in the Eastern Cape (see obiter.mandela.ac.za). He has just completed a second, related, article which he plans to submit to the “Potchefstroom Elektroniese Regstydskrif” (PER) entitled “A Local, Continental (African) and International Overview of the Law as it relates (or tries to relate) to Artificial Intelligence (AI)’.
He was part of a dedicated team that drafted South Africa’s Electronic Communications and Transactions Act, 25 of 2002, being responsible for the Criminal and Evidential parts thereof.
The doctor also served as chairperson of a committee of the South African Law Commission to investigate the possibilities of new legislation in order to combat and prove cybercrime. These activities were subsumed into the initiative described in the previous paragraph, but not before a substantive report had been produced by the Law Commission itself.
He was a member of the Computer Society of South Africa, the Society of Law Teachers of South Africa and a researcher rated by the South African National Research Foundation (NRF).
In legal practice, he has acted as prosecutor, defence counsel, expert witness, magistrate and as assessor in the South African Supreme Court.
Apart from numerous local engagements he has also conducted, or taken part in, workshops relating to the interface between Information Technology and the Law in Kampala Uganda, Mwanza Tanzania, Windhoek Namibia, Beijing China, Mauritius, Banjul The Gambia, Wilton Park in the United Kingdom as well as Yokohama Japan.