There are no shortage of announcements about governments and businesses using cloud server providers. The New South Wales State Government has announced that 60 providers have been registered to be part of a private marketplace for IT services that will be housed in a data centre which also houses the NSW IT Government IT (see article here) while the Queensland Government is accelerating its use of cloud computing (see article here).  The Victorian Government has made announcements regarding its take up of cloud computing (see  here) including the use of cloud computing by the Victorian Supreme Court for case base managment.  In Victorian Supreme Court gets cloud for case management Zdnet reported on 28 August 2013

The Victorian government today announced Read the rest of this entry »

According to a recent Atlantic article Of Course Teens Think About Privacy, They Have Parents more than 50 per cent of teen app users have avoided downloading privacy concerns because of privacy concerns.  The article provides:

More than 50 percent of teen app users have avoided downloading apps because of privacy concerns, according to a new Pew Internet Project and Berkman Center poll of teenagers.

Another 26 percent Read the rest of this entry »

Today the ALRC released its first newletter on its inquiry for the Invasions of Privacy inquiry.  No firm timetable has been set down but the general timeline is research and consultation until mid September, an issues paper in late September followed by a call for submissions and the release of a Discussion Paper in late February 2014.  Then the call for more submissions.

The newsletter provides:

I am very honoured to have been asked to lead the Inquiry into how the law should redress serious invasions of privacy in the digital age.  It is an enormous challenge but we are fortunate at the ALRC that our task builds upon much work that has already been done by law reform commissions and others in Australia.  Many of the issues have been considered in previous reports, while the legal protection of privacy has been extensively debated in academic literature, in the legal profession, in the media, in the broader community and in larger inquiries about the role and future of the media.  There has been active and recent judicial development of privacy law by the courts of the United Kingdom and New Zealand which provides valuable guidance on the application of legal principles.

The inquiry is asked by its Terms of Reference to design a statutory cause of action for serious invasions of privacy but it is also asked to consider, more widely, other innovative ways in which the law could prevent or redress serious invasions of privacy.

In Australia, protection of privacy is Read the rest of this entry »

On 1 April 201 3 in Drones to be used by environmental group for surveillance on private properties I posted on the acquisition of a drone by animal liberationists to spy on farmers.  It was a story well covered by the Australian press at the time.  I had no doubt that they would use the drones for that purpose.  Hardly surprising given the use to which drones have been put overseas and the lack of controls in place against such behaviour.

The ABC Landline program in Sky Wars  and Animal Liberation activists launch spy drone to test free-range claims reports that the animal liberationists have done just what they said they would do.  The focus of the story Read the rest of this entry »

The Daily Beast in Palace Wins Kate Privacy Battle As Telegraph Pulls Kate Shopping Pics reports on the Daily Telegraph removing from its web site pictures of Kate Middleton shopping in Anglesey this week. The story does not make it clear whether this was done in the teeth of a threatened action for breach of confidence/ evolving tort of privacy or moral suasion pursuant to a supposed previous understanding.

That the photographs are taken in a public place or a private place where the public have a general licence does not preclude bringing a privacy related action in the UK.  It would not be possible Read the rest of this entry »

Associate Justice Gardiner undertook a detailed examination of a liquidator’s powers under part 5.9 of the Corporations Act, in particular section 596D(2), in Banksia Securities Limited (Receivers and Managers Appointed) [2013] VSC 416 .

FACTS

On 25 June Gardiner AsJ ordered a summons for the examination of Michael Hall (“Hall”) under section 596B of the Corporations Act (The “Act”) by the plaintiff, the joint and several receivers of Banksia Securities Limited (“Banksia”) [1].  Hall applied for orders to set aside the summons in so far as it related to the production of documents [11].

Hall is a member of the the firm MB+M.  The plaintiffs are investigating an unqualified audit report for the 2008 financial year which he signed, on behalf of MB+M and whether the provisioning for some of the loans was materially inadequate.  At the time of the application no proceedings had been issued against MB+M or Hall [10].

Hall’s submissions

Hall objected on the following bases:

1. while he accepted that an examinable affair of a company includes the property and that the existence of insurance in respect of a chose in action against a third party is capable of being an examinable affair however stated that the Court can not be Read the rest of this entry »

The consequences of an examinee not claiming privilege against self incrimination during a public examination by a liquidator are dealt with in Ferguson J’s decision in Le Roi Homestyle Cookies Pty Ltd (in liquidation) v Gemmell [2013] VSC 452.

FACTS

The Liquidators of Le Roi Homestyle Pty Ltd allege that the Defendants have contravened the insolvent trading provisions of the Corporations Act 2001 (“The Act”).  Before issuing proceedings the Liquidators conducted public examinations of each of the Defendants pursuant to section 597. In large part, the insolvent trading claim against the Defendants is based on information elicited in the course of the public examinations.

Neither defendant claimed either privilege during his examination.The Associate Judge before whom the public examination read out the provisions of section 597(1) of the Act and explained its meaning and operation [20] – [21].

The Defendants applied Read the rest of this entry »