The Australian Privacy Foundation Newsletter of 4 May 2024 APF Board members continue their efforts to influence policy in privacy-sensitive ways. The load continues to be high, and we need more contributors. That way we can deepen, but also to diversify, the insights that we bring to environmental scanning, evidence-gathering, analysis and the presentation of… Read More

Alysson Watson, Associate lecturer in journalism, University of Newcastle The family of Ash Good, one of the Bondi stabbing victims and the mother of the nine-month-baby who was also stabbed, issued a plea overnight for media to stop reproducing photos of Ash, her partner and their baby without consent. Good, 38, was an osteopath who… Read More

Margarita Vladimirova, PhD in Privacy Law and Facial Recognition Technology, Deakin University The morning started with a message from a friend: “I used your photos to train my local version of Midjourney. I hope you don’t mind”, followed up with generated pictures of me wearing a flirty steampunk costume. I did in fact mind. I… Read More

Katharine Kemp, Associate Professor, Faculty of Law & Justice, UNSW Sydney Australian consumers don’t understand how companies – including data brokers – track, target and profile them. This is revealed in new research on consumer understanding of privacy terms, released by the non-profit Consumer Policy Research Centre and UNSW Sydney today. Our report also reveals… Read More

A suite of recent cybersecurity data breaches highlight an urgent need to overhaul how companies and government agencies handle our data. But these incidents pose particular risks to victim-survivors of domestic violence. The onus is on service providers – such as utilities, telcos, internet companies and government agencies – to ensure they don’t risk the safety of their most vulnerable customers by being careless with their data.

In collaboration with the SurfRider Foundation Surf Coast Branch, Australian Privacy Foundation (APF) Vice-Chair Dr Monique Mann, and APF Surveillance Committee member Dr Ian Warren, have prepared a report that examines a SurfCam that is owned and operated by Swellnet PTY LTD, and is fixed to a private residence on the cliffs overlooking the Bells Beach Surfing Recreational Reserve (BBSRR) on the Surf Coast of Victoria. SurfCams provide surfers with the ability to remotely view surfing conditions and decide whether, when, and where to go surfing. They have the potential to create impacts across social, environmental, economic, and human rights domains. This analysis shows where legal and regulatory reform could occur to regulate the surveillance of public land for private commercial gain. We outline recommendations and proposals for removal of the camera, regulatory reform, and future research.