Peter A Clarke

The Information Commissioner announced, on 8 April 2019, that she does not the power to investigate a complaint about a breach of the Privacy Act by Tim Wilson or Wilson Asset Management (International) Pty Ltd in relation to the collection and use of personal information through the ‘stoptheretirementtax.com’ website.’  The website and the collection of data caused some controversy.  In Tim Wilson’s ‘retirement tax’ website doesn’t have a privacy policy. So how is he using the data? Andre Oboler in a traditional academic “on – the – one – hand – and – on – the – other” analysis raised the complications of determining whether a Parliamentarian operating a web site falls within the political exemption provisions of the Privacy Act of is covered by parliamentary privilege, by virtue of his work as a chair of the standing committee on Economics, either of which would deny the Commissioner jurisdiction. The other coverage, such as Liberal MP Tim Wilson faces ‘breach of privacy’ claims and Labor pushes to refer Tim Wilson to privileges committee is more red blooded political reporting.

Mr Oboler was prescient Read the rest of this entry »

Yesterday’s vegan protests in Melbourne and throughout various agricultural sites in Australia has infuriated the Federal Government.  With  an election about to be called and a big rural constituency in mind, a tendency to beat the law and order drum becomes an necessity.   To that end the Attorney General, Christian Porter announced last Friday that that it was going to bring the Aussie Farms website under the regulation of the Privacy Act 1988 on 6 April 2019, last Saturday. 

The media statement provides:

The Coalition Government will bring the Aussie Farms website under the Privacy Act, exposing it to potential penalties of up to $2.1 million if it breaches the Act.

Attorney-General, Christian Porter, said the activities of Aussie Farms Incorporated created an unacceptable risk to hardworking farming communities and producers.

“The company publishes information about Australian farmers and agricultural producers including their names and addresses, exposing them to potential trespass, biosecurity hazards, and reputational damage,” the Attorney-General said.

“Listing this activist group as an organisation under the Privacy Act, now means that the company will have to abide by the provisions of the Act.”

Minister for Agriculture, David Littleproud, said he had repeatedly asked Aussie Farms to take the website down before someone was hurt or worse, but the group behind the website flat refused.

“The farming families who grow our food deserve to be able to do so without fear of invasion on their property and harm to their children,” Minister Littleproud said.

“The Aussie Farms website is intended to be an attack map for activists and it is already working as one. The fact Aussie Farms refused to take the website down when invasions began happening on farms displayed on their map shows they intend for it to be used as an attack map for activists.

“Aussie Farms will now be required to comply with the Privacy Act, which includes laws against the misuse of personal information. I note the maximum penalty for an offence under the Privacy Act is $420,000 for individuals and up to $2.1 million for a body corporate.”

Minister Littleproud also called on state governments to beef up trespass laws to provide real penalties for trespass, and to make publicly state that they expect the police will uphold these laws.

Background:

• The Australian Information and Privacy Commissioner previously found that Aussie Farms Incorporated was exempt from the Privacy Act because its annual turnover was less than $3 million.
• This move means Aussie Farms Incorporated is prescribed as an ‘organisation’ under the Privacy Act, which requires Aussie Farms to act in accordance with the Privacy Act, regardless of its annual turnover
• Prescribing Aussie Farms Incorporated allows the Information and Privacy Commissioner to investigate, either in response to a complaint or on her own initiative, if Aussie Farms Incorporated breaches the Privacy Act. The prescription comes into force as of tomorrow (Saturday, 6th April)

And the regulation was made, the day before the media release,  with the Privacy Amendment (Protection of Australian Farms) Regulations 2019  which Read the rest of this entry »

Facebook has a tendency to advocate vague improvements to its privacy policies and call for improved and stronger regulation after some or other egregious privacy breach or oppressive monopolistic act is uncovered.  In the last year Facebook has been battered by the Cambridge Analytica scandal, clear evidence of its platform being used by foreign players to influence elections and a seemingly regular stream of less dramatic but no less worrying privacy breaches.  Facebook’s standard response to such problems has been a combination of virtue signalling and getting on board the reform wagon so as to moderate its outcomes. In early March Zuckerberg described the move to private messaging as being his “pivot to privacy” in communications.  After the briefest of analyses it was ridiculed and seen to be more about presentation than product according to the Wire’s Facebook’s Pivot to Privacy Is Missing Something Crucial and Forbes’ Facebook’s Fake Pivot To Privacy and Slate’s Facebook’s Awkward Pivot to Privacy.

Mark Zuckerberg’s reported very recent call for “more active” role for government regulation in internet privacy and election laws has a similar feel about a polished response to criticism. Except that the complaints are long lasting and the potential of real action by governments is real. The last edition of the Economist highlighted the steps being taken by the Europeans, a huge market, against Facebook and Google, amongst others, for their privacy unfriendly practices.   And those steps are not confined to Europe.  American legislators are, for the fourth time, considering more comprehensive privacy laws or trust busting action.

So while there is reason to be sceptical about Facebook’s motives the pressure on Facebook and Google is such that there may be actual improvement.

And there should be given the impact of the privacy breaches in Australia with Read the rest of this entry »