It is reported recently [1] that the Federal government will be registering everyone who doesn’t already have one for a My Health Record but has no intention of proactively informing Australians of this gross invasion of their privacy. My Health Record is designed to store data on government servers about your medical treatment. As Mr… Read More
MEDIA RELEASE: Does privacy matter less if your data is breached by your State Government?
APF says NO! Go NSW!The Australian Privacy Foundation (APF) advocates for the privacy of all Australians, whether from Dubbo, Darlinghurst, Dapto or Darwin. While we often have to draw critical attention to privacy problems, we like to give credit where it’s due: NSW parliament is contemplating a positive step that others should follow.State and Territory… Read More
What should Australian companies be doing right now to protect our privacy
David Glance, University of Western Australia Australians are increasingly concerned about how companies handle their personal data, especially online. Faced with the increasing likelihood that this data will be compromised, either through cyber attacks or mishandling, companies are now being forced into a more comprehensive approach to collecting and protecting customers’ personal data. The question… Read More
Let’s face it, we’ll be no safer with a national facial recognition database
A commitment to share the biometric data of most Australians – including your driving licence photo – agreed at Thursday’s Council of Australian Governments (COAG) meeting will result in a further erosion of our privacy.
That sharing is not necessary. It will be costly. But will it save us from terrorism? Not all, although it will give people a false sense of comfort. Read More
MEDIA RELEASE: Comprehensive national face database incompatible with a free society
Australia’s leading privacy and civil liberties organisations condemn the decision by the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) to provide all images from state and territory driver’s licence databases to the federal National Facial Biometric Matching Capability.
These organisations are the Australian Privacy Foundation, Digital Rights Watch, Queensland Council for Civil Liberties, NSW Council for Civil Liberties, Liberty Victoria, South Australian Council for Civil Liberties and Electronic Frontiers Australia. Read More
Attorney General George Brandis declared “Villain” by Access Now for comments undermining encryption
Today, Access Now recognizes Attorney General George Brandis as a Villain among the annual Heroes and Villains Award recipients for his comments in opposition to strong digital security tools like encryption. As a leading official representing Australia in the notorious “Five Eyes” partnership, Attorney General Brandis has pushed publicly for requirements for companies to implement measures to allow law enforcement to bypass encryption protections for exceptional access to digital content. This type of access has been repeatedly demonstrated to undermine digital security globally, including and especially for the users in marginalized communities. Read More
MEDIA RELEASE: Big Brother Arrives By Public Transport
Are you going to kiss goodbye to your privacy every time you use a bus, train, or City Cat in Brisbane?
The Australian Privacy Foundation, the nation’s civil society organisation concerned with privacy, today strongly condemned proposals for biometric scanning of people using public transport in Brisbane.
Foundation spokesperson Dr Monique Mann said “comprehensive scanning will not work. It is not necessary. It is contrary to the right to privacy expected by all Australians”. Read More
Cross-border access to data – EDRi delivers international NGO position to Council of Europe
Earlier this week, a global coalition of civil society organisations, including the Australian Privacy Foundation, submitted to the Council of Europe its comments on how to protect human rights when developing new rules on cross-border access to electronic evidence (“e-evidence”). The Council of Europe is currently preparing an additional protocol to the Cybercrime Convention. European Digital Rights (EDRi)’s Executive Director Joe McNamee handed the comments over to Mr. Alexander Seger, the Executive Secretary of the Cybercrime Convention Committee (T-CY) of the Council of Europe. Read More
MEDIA RELEASE: Attacks on Encryption: Privacy, Civil Society and the Surveillance State
The Australian Government’s intention to pursue new and increased powers to access encrypted communications via statutorily required ‘backdoors’ has been met with wide-ranging privacy and information security concerns.
On 5 October 2017, a panel of encryption experts, international privacy law experts, academics, politicians, digital rights advocates, and journalists will unpack the social and technical consequences of the proposed new ‘backdooring’ powers. Read More
Kissing goodbye to your health privacy? Governments must work harder.
This week ID information from the financial records of over 120 million people in the United States was hacked – the latest reminder that IT security failure is a global epidemic. Health records are just as valuable to hackers. The current system for storing and using health records in Australia is hopelessly deficient. But with lousy data security, and a world where data breaches are a daily event, the Australian Government’s reluctance to fix this problem is looking negligent! Read More