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Editor's note
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Last month, an African grey parrot named Rocco was caught making purchases – fruit, ice-cream, light bulbs and a kite – via his owner’s Amazon Alexa voice assistant. As the use of virtual assistants become more common in the home, Mark Giancaspro explores the question of who is legally responsible for footing the bill if someone else makes a purchase using your device. Delving into contract law, he learns that while you might be able to void
the transaction if an animal was the culprit, a human impersonator would be more difficult to fight.
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Shelley Hepworth
Section Editor: Technology
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Top story
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If you have voice shopping activated on your voice assistant, anyone in your home could potentially purchase items in your name.
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Mark Giancaspro, University of Adelaide
When an African grey parrot named Rocco made purchases via his owner's Amazon Alexa voice assistant, it raised questions about who was legally responsible for footing the bill.
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Politics + Society
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Christopher Mayes, Deakin University
The farmer has long been held up in society as the 'real Australian', but this image ignores the role of agriculture in dispossessing Indigenous people of their lands and culture.
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Tamara Wood, UNSW
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Arts + Culture
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Sarah Mokrzycki, Victoria University
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Craig Barker, University of Sydney
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Health + Medicine
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Nick Haslam, University of Melbourne
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H. Peter Soyer, The University of Queensland; Katie Lee, The University of Queensland
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Business + Economy
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Richard Holden, UNSW
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Kate Nicholl, University of Melbourne; Miriam Wilhelm, University of Groningen; Vikram Bhakoo, University of Melbourne
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Science + Technology
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Environment + Energy
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Tanya Latty, University of Sydney
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Education
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Andrew Norton, Grattan Institute
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Alison Willis, University of the Sunshine Coast
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Cities
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Zahra Nasreen, Macquarie University; Kristian Ruming, Macquarie University
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