December 17, 2013
In The New Armor That Lets You Sense Surveillance Cameras the Atlantic looks at devices that alert a wearer of surveillance.
It provides:
We pass under surveillance cameras every day, appearing Read the rest of this entry »
December 12, 2013
The Privacy Commissioner has released the expected publication schedule of the fact sheets, guidelines, policies and CR Code associated with the amendments to the Privacy Act 1988.
It provides:
Read the rest of this entry »
December 11, 2013
The Attorney General announced an Australian Law Reform Commission enquiry into traditional rights and freedoms in the context of Commonwealth Legislation that might restrict them. Given the commentary in the last 18 months this should hardly come as a surprise.
The press release provides:
NEW AUSTRALIAN LAW REFORM INQUIRY TO FOCUS ON FREEDOMS
The Attorney-General, Senator the Hon George Brandis QC, has asked the Australian Law Reform Commission (ALRC) to review Commonwealth legislation to identify provisions that unreasonably encroach upon traditional rights, freedoms and privileges.
Senator Brandis said Read the rest of this entry »
The Victorian Privacy Commissioner is quite active. The most active of the state privacy/information commissioners. The office has released an information booklet to provide some advice on looking after one’s privacy. The title is quite cool, Keep your Super Hero safe. It covers the current hot button issues; computers and the cloud, mobiles and smart phones, sexting, social media and on line competitions, sign ups and surveys. It is found here.
It provides:
Keep your Read the rest of this entry »
December 10, 2013
The ongoing revelations about the extent of official snooping by the US National Security Agency as well as security organs of other states has had a deep impact on the cyberspace community. Not just the civil liberties issues, signficant thought they are. There are more prosaic concerns which are much more significant for industry players. The bottom line. Users expect their ISPs, search engines and other service providers to have adequate security and proper encryption. The expectation of private communications is an intrinsic part of many operators business model.
The New York Times reports Read the rest of this entry »
Curriculum Matters, in State Assessment Group Approves Privacy Rules for Student Data, reports on rules governing personally identifiable information about students participating in assessment regimes. The transfer of data to secondary bodies is a constant source of concern in privacy law. The new Australian Privacy Principles which will come into effect when the Privacy Act amendments come into force in March 2014 address this issue specifically. The US has a different structure for privacy protection. It is however useful to see how the issues are considered there.
The article provides:
The PARCC testing group approved a new policy Thursday that is intended to safeguard personally identifiable information about students that is collected as part of states’ common-core assessment regimens.
The action comes as debate continues to swirl about how student data will be used by PARCC (the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers) and the other federally funded assessment consortium, Smarter Balanced. Some critics have raised alarms because they fear that the two state coalitions will hand over student data to the federal government.
PARCC’s new policy, approved by the governing board of the 19-member consortium, attempts to respond to this concern.
On the opening Read the rest of this entry »
December 9, 2013
Today the Federal Court announced the transition to complete electronic filing and storage by the end of 2014. Many in the profession have known for some time of the Federal Court’s preference for moving in this direction.
Details of the process are as follows (and found here):
The Federal Court of Australia is an early adopter of the use of information technology to increase the effectiveness, efficiency and accessibility of the Court. Technology has, and will continue to change court operations, similar to the ways in which technology has affected business practices across the globe.
The Court is currently undertaking an important change in its internal operations – it will transition from paper based information management to digital files. This transition is called the Electronic Court File (ECF) project.
This change will primarily affect the internal functions of the Court but will also provide opportunities for Court users to expand how they interact with the Court.
The ECF project is a further step towards the creation of a single web-based interface, which will effectively integrate the electronic provision and management of information and services. We use the term my files to describe the service. Registered court users will be able to see immediately a list of their files or more precisely, the information or documents they are authorised to access on the Court’s files. They will be able to undertake electronic interaction with the Court and other court users, in respect of my files (ie. your files).
The key aims of the project are to:
- implement Read the rest of this entry »
The Australian Financial Review reports, in JPMorgan warns 465,000 customers after cyber attack, that JP Morgan & Chase has belatedly informed/warned its customers of a hacking attack into its database which may have accessed the personal information of 465,000 holders of prepaid cash cards. It took 2 1/2 months to notify the authorities of the breach.
It provides:
JPMorgan Chase & Co is warning some 465,000 holders of prepaid cash cards issued by the bank that their personal information may have been accessed by hackers who attacked its network in July.
The cards were issued for corporations to pay employees Read the rest of this entry »
There has been the occasional article on the upcoming amendments to the Privacy Act and their impact. Less than the changes deserve. I have been posting on this issue since the Enhancing Privacy Bill was passed in December last year. I have been giving seminars on aspects of the changes in particular regarding the credit provisions and compliance with the APPs. Given the significant new enforcement powers that will soon be available to the Privacy Commissioner it is surprising that there has not been greater urgency by organisations covered by the Privacy Act to get their privacy house in order. With penalties of up to $340,000 for individuals and $1.7 million for corporations the cost of compliance should fade into insignificance against the possibility of being at the wrong end of a civil penalty proceedings.
The Australian Financial Review in Read the rest of this entry »
Zdnet reports (found here) that reported data breaches in New Zealand has doubled in the last year.
The article provides: