Peter A Clarke

The conversion of drone technology from military to civilian use and then its development from a relatively expensive hobbyist vehicle to a widely affordable and necessary part of many industries has been a spectacular journey.  It has taken many by surprise.  In 2010 the Federal Aviation Authority predicted that there would be 15,000 units by 2020 and 30,000 by 2030.  A year ago in the United States more than 15,000 drones were sold every month.  Since the FAA commenced its registration system in December 2015 more than 800,000 drone owners have registered to fly.

While the technology has moved on at a exponential pace the Federal Governments in Australia and the United States have done nothing to deal with the intrusive potential of drones notwithstanding the ample need to do so.  For example Read the rest of this entry »

At the best of times Closed Circuit television (“CCTV”) needs to be used carefully, responsibly and proportionally.  The danger of function creep is present, particularly when CCTVs are tied to a network and run by government agencies.  The report today in the Guardian in Fears over trial of ‘1984’ surveillance system that anticipates antisocial acts highlights a highly suspect trial by Toowomba City Council to use facial recognition software and analytic software to potentially predict anti social behaviour. This story has had a run on the World Today.  The vagueness of the Toowoomba Mayor, Paul Antonio’s answers as to the future possible use of the CCTVs highlights the lack of transparency that accompanies these sort of “trials.”  Of almost as much concern is the fact that the Queensland Privacy Commissioner has not been consulted.  More like ignored even though the Information Privacy Act applies to local government.  That Commissioner has prepared, vague and inadequate guidelines, on camera surveillance which are likely to be breached if the commentary on the World Today story turns into account. In the UK, where CCTVs are ubiquitous, there is a code of practice and real consequences for its misuse.
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The Yahoo security breach which resulted in 500 million customer emails being compromised will become a case study in what not to do when suffering a data breach, how not to Read the rest of this entry »

State governments have been enthusiastic about criminalising surreptitious photography of a sexual nature, in response to the questionable practice of upskirting (taking photographs from shoes or ground level of women’s’ underwear) and revenge porn, the posting on-line of naked or intimate photographs by a spurned ex partner. The use of this legislation is reported on in Doctor fined for filming men in shower, where the accused engaged in utterly appalling behaviour in filming men showering in public bathrooms in Brisbane.  The article provides:
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As is my tradition, just before Christmas I post a wonderful piece of journalism which is in keeping with this joyous festive season.  It is the editorial “Yes, Virginia, There is a Santa Claus”, a wonderful Read the rest of this entry »

It would be fair to say that 2016 has been an annus horribilis for Yahoo. In September it announced a data breach, stretching back to 2014, which affected 500 million accounts.  Today it announced a breach which occurred a year earlier, in August 2013. The information taken includes names, dates of birth, hashed passwords and some security questions and answers.  It is a disastrous Read the rest of this entry »

Yet another inquiry into telecoms legislation.  This time it the reivew is into the Telecommunications and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2016.   The announcement Read the rest of this entry »

Data breaches involving the personal information of thousands of people barely rates a mention in data security journals.  Even those involving hundreds of thousands are seemingly ubiquitous, though Read the rest of this entry »

Another day, another massive data breach. This time an Australian record with more than a million personal and medical records of people donating blood to the Australian Red Cross having their information exposed on line.

The Red Cross issued a fairly comprehensive statement which Read the rest of this entry »

The Standing Committee on Law and Justice has issued its final report relating to the serious invasion of Privacy in New South Wales.  The report is Read the rest of this entry »