Apps that help parents protect kids from cybercrime may be unsafe too

Many parents are concerned about children’s screen time, cybersafety and internet addiction. An increasingly popular technical solution is parental control apps. But such a quick fix is inadequate when addressing the complicated reasons behind screen time. Much worse though, the apps expose users to privacy and other safety issues most people aren’t aware of. Read More

“Sharing Is Caring:” Australian Self-Trackers’ Concepts and Practices of Personal Data Sharing and Privacy

Self-tracking technologies and practices offer ways of generating vast reams of personal details, raising questions about how these data are revealed or exposed to others. This article reports on findings from an interview-based study of long-term Australian self-trackers who were collecting and reviewing personal information about their bodies and other aspects of their everyday lives. Most participants did not consider the possibilities that their personal information could be distributed well-beyond these relationships by third parties for commercial purposes (or what has been termed “institutional privacy”). The findings of this study also highlight the relational and social dimensions of self-tracking and concepts of data privacy. Read More

Public Seminar to mark International Data Privacy Day 2021 (January 28th)

International Data Privacy Day this year will mark the 40th Anniversary of Data Protection Convention 108 (recently “modernised” as Convention 108+). To celebrate this event, the Council of Europe will be hosting a 90 minute Asia-Pacific virtual regional seminar on January 28th, featuring a range of speakers from Asia-Pacific civil society, governmental bodies, and privacy regulators, and civil society, including the Australian Privacy Foundation’s own Professor Graham Greenleaf. Read More

Significant data breach from Ambulance Tasmania through interception of its paging service with data of patients who contact ambulances published on line

Ambulance Tasmania has suffered a massive data breach. According to the ABC, personal information of every Tasmanian who called the Tasmanian Ambulance Service since November 2020 has been accessed and posted on line by a third party. The specific nature of the breach is unknown but it was to the paging system. What makes this breach so damaging is that the data accessed is sensitive information, relating to a person’s health status as well as that person/s age, gender and address.

What is both surprising and disturbing is that the data hacked from Ambulance Tasmania has been publicly visible since November last year. Read More