By Cameron Abbott and Jessica McIntosh
It’s uncomfortable to think one of the world’s biggest business leaders has this week stood up and told us all ”our own information from the everyday to the deeply personal is being weaponized against us with military efficiency” what’s more uncomfortable, these powerful words are only a small snippet of a seriously forceful and passionate speech Tim Cook delivered in Brussels on Wednesday.
By Cameron Abbott and Colette Légeret
Yesterday, the Australian Government unveiled the draft Telecommunications and Other Legislation Amendment (Assistance and Access) Bill 2018 which aims to compel telecommunication and multi-national tech companies (Providers) to give law enforcement and security agencies (Agencies) access to personal encrypted data of suspected criminals, including terrorists, child sex offenders and criminal organisations.
By Warwick Andersen, Rob Pulham and Colette Légeret
The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) has released its second quarterly report of notifiable data breaches. This report is of particular significance as it, unlike the first “quarterly” report, covers a full quarter and therefore depicts a more accurate account of data breaches over a calendar quarter.
By Cameron Abbott and Keely O’Dowd
This year all Australians will have a My Health Record created. A My Health Record will operate as a digital medical file that allows healthcare providers to upload health information about a patient. This information may include prescriptions, medical conditions and test results. A patient’s digital medical file will be stored in a national electronic database operated by Australian Digital Health Agency (ADHA).
While the rest of us were still recovering from the May 25 effective date of the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), California, the most populous and largest economy of any of the United States, confidently adopted a broad consumer privacy law. The California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (CCPA) was enacted June 28 and becomes operative on January 1, 2020. Unlike existing industry-specific U.S. privacy laws, the CCPA has a broad overall scope, more like the GDPR. It ensures California residents the right to know what information about them is being collected and sold or disclosed, to reject the sale of their personal information, to access the information, and to receive equal service and price, even if they exercise their privacy rights.
By Cameron Abbott and Sarah Goegan
The UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has issued a notice of intent to levy a £500,000 fine against Facebook for breaches of the UK’s Data Protection Act 1998. The ICO found that Facebook failed to protect its users’ data and be transparent about how that data was being harvested. This failure, ICO said, did not enable users to understand how and why they may be targeted by a political party or campaign.
The fine comes as part of a larger investigation by ICO into misuse of data in political campaigns, and responds to the highly publicised allegations that Cambridge Analytica used data obtained from Facebook to target voters in the 2016 US presidential election.
By Warwick Andersen, Rob Pulham and Georgia Mills
In 2017 Andie Fox, a recipient of Centrelink benefits, wrote a highly critical opinion piece on Centrelink’s debt recovery system, alleging that she was being pursued for a non-existent debt. In response Centrelink provided Ms Fox’s personal information, previous communications and claims history to a journalist who published an article claiming that Centrelink had been ‘unfairly castigated’ by Fox. The OAIC commenced an investigation into the release and has controversially confirmed Centrelink’s disclosure as permitted under the Privacy Act.
By Cameron Abbott and Sarah Goegan
You would think government agencies would have a keen focus on cybersecurity risks, but apparently not! A report by the United States Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has found that nearly three-quarters of Federal agencies reviewed have either “at risk” or “high risk” cybersecurity arrangements. 71 of 96 agencies assessed were either missing, had insufficiently deployed or had significant gaps in their fundamental cybersecurity policies, processes or tools.
By Warwick Andersen, Rob Pulham and Sarah Goegan
Last week, the Australian Government announced that it would propose new anti-terror laws that force telecommunications and multinational tech companies to give law enforcement agencies access to encrypted data of suspected criminals and terrorists.
Cyber Security Minister Angus Taylor said the laws would give police, intelligence and security agencies the ability to bypass encryption on messaging (such as private messages sent on Whatsapp and Facebook), phone calls, photos, location and apps.
By Cameron Abbott and Georgia Mills
The triple zero emergency call service, operated by Telstra, was subjected to an onslaught of more than 1000 offshore calls on Saturday morning, leading to a number of genuine emergency calls being unanswered and sparking a government investigation.
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