The ABC is still promoting its now-mandatory ‘iView Login’ without dealing with unresolved questions, particularly about adequate disclosure of their apparent intent to export individual-level, ineffectively de-identified iView account usage data to foreign third party commercial surveillance companies like Tealium, Google and Facebook. Read More
MEDIA RELEASE: Federal Election Platform Principles 2022
APF draws attention to privacy issues in submissions to parliaments, regulators, and agencies. But all too often the response is creeping intrusion, feeble protection, and flimsy promises of ‘trust us, your data is safe’. People in Australia will only trust and have confidence in government and business collecting, storing, and using their vulnerable personal information if it is done in trust-worthy privacy-enhancing systems, covered by strong laws with minimal exemptions, and with easy enforcement when things go wrong – not the mess of loopholes, exceptions, back-door tricks and ‘wet lettuce-leaf’ indirect enforcement we have under current law. Read More
Dr Juanita Fernando discusses Victoria’s Health Legislation Amendment with 3RRR Melbourne’s Amy Mullins
Dr Juanita Fernando, Chair of the Australian Privacy Foundation’s Health Committee, joined Amy Mullins on 3RRR Melbourne’s Uncommon Sense program this week to discusses the Victorian Government’s concerning plans to share every Victorian’s patient data in a centralised health database with no way for individuals to opt-out. Read More
Ita Buttrose’s response to our open letter on mandatory registration for use of ABC iView services, and our reply
On March 2nd, the Australian Privacy Foundation released an open letter addressed to ABC Chair Ita Buttrose, regarding mandatory registration for use of ABC iView services. Ita Buttrose responded this past week in a letter dated March 8th. Our response addresses each of the factors Ita raised in her reply, and explains why we in the APF believe there is still no justification for not permitting those Australians unwilling or unable to register to simply continue to enjoy access to their ABC via iView without registration. Read More
Open letter: Mandatory registration for use of ABC iView services
This open letter is to raise our concerns and objections to proposals for mandatory registration for Australians to use ABC online services from March 2022. The proposal is unnecessary, intrusive, inconsistent with community expectations of protection from online tracking, a potential security or safety threat, and breaches the right not to have to identify yourself offered by Australian Privacy Principle 2 (APP 2). It should not go ahead. Read More
Open letter: Australian Border Force warrant-less seizure of comms
The Australian Privacy Foundation (APF) is alarmed by the ongoing privacy incursions enabled by Government legislation reported in the media this week, stating that returning Australian travellers were asked to write their passcodes on paper before a Border Force official seized their smartphones and disappeared with these for around 30 minutes without a warrant.
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Open Letter: Frontier software data breach and Ambulance SA data breach
This open letter from the Australian Privacy Foundation (APF) primarily responds to the recent Frontier software data breach, which rapidly followed on the heels of knowledge about the Ambulance SA data breach. As of yet, no publicly available response or remedial follow up has occurred in the context of the Ambulance breach, nor have affected individuals been contacted about the data loss. Read More
Kiss your privacy goodbye when you use an ambulance? The Australian Privacy Foundation says No.
People in South Australia need real answers and real responses to yet another data breach. The SA Ambulance Service has disclosed that the personal details of 28,000 patients have been stolen. Those details include people’s name, date of birth, age, address, and in some cases, their pension number and health notes. Juanita Fernando, chair of the Australian Privacy Foundation’s (APF’s) Health Committee said, “That’s prime fodder for identity theft and something we all need to take seriously.” The Ambulance Service says the data was on a storage device that was stolen from a consultancy firm in July. The consultants had apparently held the data since the early 2000s. Read More
Victorian information sharing Bill a threat to privacy
The Victorian Government’s Health Legislation Amendment (Information Sharing) Bill 2021 was rushed through its first parliamentary vote on 14 October 2021, raising many unanswered questions for patients and health care professionals in that state. Put plainly, this legislation allows agents of the Victorian Government a complete record of every Victorian person’s most sensitive and private information. The powers embodied in the Bill are unprecedented. Why does the Victorian Government need to harvest and store such a rich database of patient information? Read More
Too late? The new normal, State government slurps up all patient information.
The Victorian government’s “Health Legislation Amendment (Information Sharing) Bill 2021” was hurried through its first Parliamentary vote last week. The Bill links all patient medical and health information through a single portal, to be shared between authorised end-users, decided and controlled by the Secretary of the Department of Health. The powers embodied in the Bill are unprecedented, threatening patient-doctor confidentiality, risking health and wellness should some individuals decide not to seek clinical attention for potentially life threatening or serious illnesses and conditions. Read More