The Australian public is attracted by the idea of using technology to assist tracing contacts of people diagnosed with COVID-19. A proximity logging app is proposed.The Australian public, along with scientists and researchers around the world, are also very concerned about gifting future governments the power to impose contact tracing on the populace through the… Read More

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

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

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

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

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

Has Canberra learned the wrong lesson from Cambridge Analytica: abusing ‘informed consent’ gives you a plausible excuse? Exploiting ignorance, inaction and misplaced trust gets you the Big Data?
Our advice on My Health Record, like that of Dr Katherine Kemp, a specialist in data privacy [1], is to Opt-Out while you still can: we now know that your once-off chance to protect your medical confidentiality begins on 16 July and expires on 15 October 2018. Read More

The Australian Privacy Foundation is seriously alarmed about a recently revealed legislative proposal that would have Australia’s foreign signals intelligence agency, the Australian Signals Directorate (ASD), use its considerable powers to surveil, track, and hack Australian citizens without prior authorisation. This is a dangerous precedent that would remove an already inadequate oversight mechanism that our… Read More

News that Facebook has given away personal information about many Australians is a reminder that we need businesses, governments and political parties to be accountable. 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… Read More

APF Vice Chair / Co-Chair of Surveillance Committee Dr Adam Molnar, and Co-Chair Surveillance Committee Dr Monique Mann recently gave evidence at the Joint Parliamentary Committee on Law Enforcement Inquiry on the impact of new and emerging information and communications technology. They emphasized the importance of not undermining or weakening encryption, and you can sign… Read More