The Australian Privacy Foundation fully supports recent calls by the Opposition Parties, Dr Kerryn Phelps, lawyers, clinicians, educators and others to extend the period when people can opt-out of being registered for a government owned and controlled My Health Record. There is obvious broad disquiet and substantive community concern: over a million people have opted… Read More
Submission in response to the Human Rights and Technology Issues Paper
The Australian Privacy Foundation (“APF”), along with the Queensland Council for Civil Liberties (“QCCL”) and Electronic Frontiers Australia (“EFA”) have made a submission in response to the Human Rights and Technology Issues Paper released in July 2018. The rapid development of technology in the Australia human rights context requires careful consideration as technology can be… Read More
The devil is in the detail of government bill to enable access to communications data
Monique Mann, Queensland University of Technology The Australian government has released a draft of its long awaited bill to provide law enforcement and security agencies with new powers to respond to the challenges posed by encryption. According to the Department of Home Affairs, encryption already impacts 90% of Australian Security Intelligence Organisation’s (ASIO) priority cases,… Read More
Australian Privacy Foundation provides background brief on all the privacy omnishambles to UN Special Rapporteur on Privacy
The Australian Privacy Foundation has prepared a background brief on all the privacy omnishambles at the request of the UN Special Rapporteur on Privacy Professor Joseph Cannataci. This request arose following a meeting of civil society representatives in Sydney in late July 2018, where issues of privacy in Australia were discussed. In the brief, we… Read More
Law enforcement access to My Health Record data
This is a copy of a paper produced by the Parliamentary Library.It has been removed from the Library’s website. This is taken from a cached copy available on Google:Law enforcement access to My Health Record dataPosted 23/07/2018 by Nigel BrewParliamentary LibraryMy Health Record (MHR) was introduced in June 2012 by the Gillard Labor Government originally… Read More
MEDIA RELEASE: The biggest privacy risks to your My Health Record – the Government.
Whatever arguments are put up for and against My Health Record and the current push to make it opt-out, there are two inescapable facts: 1. My Health Record is a Federal Government owned, controlled and operated information system. The government collects your health data, never deletes it and will keep it for at least 30… Read More
APF joins a coalition of human rights groups and experts in calling on the Australian government to protect encryption
Today, the Australian Privacy Foundation joins with Electronic Frontiers Australia, Digital Rights Watch, Future Wise, and other domestic and international human rights organisations in asking the Australian government to not pursue legislation undermining encryption, and other tools, policies and technologies critical to protecting individual rights. The 76 organisations, companies, and individuals signatory to this open letter call on government officials to become proponents of digital security and work collaboratively to help law enforcement adapt to the digital era.
This letter was been initiated by global digital rights organisation Access Now. “Australia is facing a choice on cybersecurity and encryption: real security or false,” said Nathan White, Senior Legislative Manager at Access Now. “The country can either be the testing ground for policies that undermine privacy and security in the digital era, or it can be a champion for human rights, leveraging its relationships to raise cybersecurity standards for the next generation. The world is watching.” Read More
My Health Record: the case for opting out
Katharine Kemp, UNSW; Bruce Baer Arnold, University of Canberra, and David Vaile, UNSW Unless you take action to remove yourself from the My Health Record (MHR) system, the federal government will make a digital copy of your medical record, store it centrally, and, as the default, provide numerous people with access to it. If you… Read More
MEDIA RELEASE: For Sale – Your Privacy and Your Health Data
Did you know that the government is already buying health data from your GP? My Health Record (formerly known as the PCEHR) has been working since July 2012. Initially it was hardly used, which raises the question – if it’s so good why was it not promoted and used by GPs? Rather than address the… Read More
Media Release: Doctors, Lawyers, and Privacy Experts Denounce HealthEngine Sharing Patient Health Data With Non-GPs
JOINT MEDIA RELEASE BY ELECTRONIC FRONTIERS AUSTRALIA, FUTURE WISE, AND THE AUSTRALIAN PRIVACY FOUNDATIONEFA, Future Wise and APF today denounced the actions of HealthEngine and its doctor appointment booking system which has been sharing patient data with law firms, marketers, and other entities with the flimsiest pretense of patient consent. “If this ethically dubious behaviour… Read More