August 17, 2008
The Australian acted true to form this week in doing the Henny Penny thing withe the Law Reform’s report on Privacy. The report was released on Monday (11 August) so come Tuesday the Australian leads off with a piece on how business is going to be lumbered with compliance costs . But that was just the start.
August 6, 2008
If VCAT wanted to get a nice splash of coverage as one of the “good guys” on climate change it got it care of Gippsland Coastal Board v South Gippsland SC. One of the reasons for overturning the council’s permit is the possibility of rising sea levels. So now the law courts buy into the scientific debates. The evidence is a CSIRO report. Intellectual rigor is not the by word for this decision. Read the rest of this entry »
August 5, 2008
The Fairfax paperrs today has a front page article about Google’s Street View map for Australia, Smile Australia you’re on Google’s candid camera. Not a bad article not so much for covering the launch and highlighting the critisism. What it highlights is who lame our legal protections are. The Privacy Commissioner is quoted at saying should would continue to monitor street view. And do what? It is hard to see how the Privacy Act applies. If the photographs are of a building and the photograph was taken from the street what exactly is the record that would give the Privacy Commissioner the power under the Privacy Act??
Dan Svantesson supposedly applauded the Google for developing blurring technology and then said it might not be enough. Talk about a lame approach to a real invasion of privacy.
This grotesque breach of privacy is why there needs to be a tort of privacy.