The seminar program, together with access information and start times, can be found on the Council of Europe website here.

We hope you will join us on the 28th to explore the benefits of Convention 108 for the Asia-Pacific.

The rapid development of technology in the Australia human rights context requires careful consideration as technology can be used for both the benefit and detriment of society. The lack of human rights legislation in Australia makes this consideration particularly important.

It is our submission that many of the concerns contained in this submission may be able to be alleviated with an increased focused on human rights education and the introduction of a comprehensive and enforceable federal human rights legislative framework.

The APF, QCCL and EFA appreciate the Commissioner’s Issues Paper and the opportunity to provide this submission on this important issue.

The full submission can be read here

Australians need better privacy protection. They can get that without a lot of pain, money or fuss. The Australian Privacy Foundation – on behalf of all Australians – calls on the national Government to act without delay. The trainwrecks are going to keep happening until organisations are persuaded that they must be responsible.

You don’t need to leave Facebook (although many are doing so). You don’t need to despair about privacy. You do need to tell your MP and Senators that enough is enough.

A good start for fixing Australian law is to introduce the privacy tort that has been recommended by a succession of law reform bodies. The tort enables people whose privacy has been wrongly disregarded to take the offender to court and gain compensation. There’s nothing like the prospect of being shamed and handing over money to persuade lazy big business and arrogant government.

Another start is to strengthen the national Privacy Commissioner. It’s taken 15 days for the OAIC to move in response to this privacy trainwreck. It’s an under-resourced and timid agency that responds slowly and weakly whenever there’s a problem. In a world where Facebook and other businesses disregard their responsibilities it’s time to put a tiger in the privacy tank. Time for the Commissioner to do what Australians expect it to do: Protect everyone from abuses. Carry a big stick (and use it, quickly, on big cheaters who don’t respond to anything less).

We can look overseas, where the New Zealand Privacy Commissioner has strongly condemned Facebook for disregarding New Zealand privacy law. New Zealand isn’t frightened of the biggest bully on the social media block. Nor should we. Problems are going to keep happening until we do something to prevent them.

Facebook makes money in Australia. Lots of money. It makes money using the friendliness, interest and curiosity of people like you. The Australian Privacy Foundation is happy for Facebook and its competitors to make money. It insists, however, that Facebook takes care with information about Australians.

The scale of Facebook’s breach of the public trust is still not yet fully known. First we were told that 50 million users data had been harvested. NThen we’re told the figure is closer to 87 million, including over 300,000 Australians. What figure will we be told next week, when Zuckerberg testifies before the US Congress? Now we hear it could be thousands of millions who were exposed to the deliberate flaws that allowed capture and exfiltration by third parties, with who knows how many Australians affected.

It’s time for Facebook to recognise that it is a custodian rather than owner of data. That recognition involves a meaningful acknowledgement of wrongdoing when it has failed in its duty as a responsible custodian. It also requires regulators and politicians to say enough is enough.

Contacts:

In light of the revelations that Cambridge Analytica has reportedly misused the data of over 50 million people on Facebook, Australia’s leading digital and civil rights advocates call on all Australian governments and political parties to categorically answer the following questions:

• Have you, at any time, engaged the services of Cambridge Analytica or its parent company Strategic Communication Laboratories?
• Have you, at any time, been provided with data on Australian citizens by Cambridge Analytica or its parent company Strategic Communication Laboratories?
• Have you ever provided any Government data such as voter rolls to Cambridge Analytica or its parent company Strategic Communication Laboratories?
• Do you believe that the linkage of this sort of data to generate sensitive political data meets the definition of consent required by Australian law?

Many Australian political parties and ministers have reportedly met with Cambridge Analytica over the past few years. We must know who in the Australian political sphere believes in informed consent, and who does not.

The New York Times and The Guardian have reported that Cambridge Analytica accessed the Facebook profiles of 50 million people without their informed consent. People who trusted Facebook to keep their private information private; people who did not give their informed consent that their data be shared in this way. Facebook has since suspended Cambridge Analytica from its platform, as well as its parent company Strategic Communication Laboratories.

Australian governments are pushing to collect more and more data on Australians, and to link it with larger and larger datasets. Australians must be confident that the custodians of our data will look after our best interests, proactively, and with due care and skill. We must know that our data is not being collected merely for narrow, self-interested reasons. We must be sure that this data is not being shared without our informed consent.

These should be simple questions for any government or political party to answer. We look forward to seeing how trustworthy they really are.

MEDIA CONTACTS
For Electronic Frontiers Australia
Justin Warren
Phone: 0412 668 526
Email: media@efa.org.au

For Future Wise
Dr Trent Yarwood
Phone: 0403 819 234
Email: trent@futurewise.org.au

For Australian Privacy Foundation
Liam Pomfret
Email: liam.pomfret@privacy.org.au

For Digital Rights Watch
Tim Singleton Norton
Email: info@digitalrightswatch.org.au

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”.

The Foundation notes that the collection and use of biometric identifiers scanning has neither been discussed nor approved by the state’s privacy regulator. Apparently the QLD Privacy Commissioner Philip Green was only made aware of the proposals following contact with the Foundation and after seeing the font page of the Courier-Mail.

Foundation spokesperson Liam Pomfret said “This is an extension of #CensusFail, #CentrelinkFail and #MyHRFail – badly–planned and badly administered big ticket technology projects whose managers and ministers failed to heed warnings. The Foundation asks the Queensland Government to immediately launch a proper public consultation and conduct a privacy impact assessment about the collection and use of biometrics on the state’s public transport system”.

Foundation spokesperson Justin Clacherty said “The Queensland Government needs to walk the talk about its respect for privacy. Why is such an invasive technology being established without consultation? Why is the Government engaging in policy by headline rather than through sensible discussion with stakeholders? What is the point of having a Queensland Privacy Commissioner who is not consulted about one of the most threatening technologies of the past 30 years”.

What the Queensland Government proposes to do is a danger to civil rights and privacy. These actions underscore the APF’s statements in March of this year for human rights protections to be given teeth teeth, protecting privacy rather than simply enabling what is administratively convenient for officials. The APF encourages Queenslanders to contact their local representatives and express their concern for this latest contribution to the erosion of their privacy.

Contact for this media release
For more information please contact:

Dr Monique Mann, APF Surveillance Committee Co-Chair
0402 299 008
monique.mann@privacy.org.au

Liam Pomfret
liam.pomfret@privacy.org.au

Justin Clacherty
justin.clacherty@privacy.org.au