Peter A Clarke

It has long been known by experts in the field of data security and privacy professionals that telecommunications companies and internet service providers are regular targets for cyber criminals.  Telcos hold considerable financial details of their customers and detailed personal information.  With the new data retention laws in place in Australia the attraction of Australian telcos for cyber attack will only grow.

The UK company Talk Talk, a phone and broadband provider with over 4 million customers in the UK has had a major data breach as reported by the BBC in TalkTalk cyber-attack: Website hit by ‘significant’ breach and TalkTalk customer data at risk after cyber-attack on company website.   As is often Read the rest of this entry »

The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner website has been upgraded.  It is far more user friendly.

The announcement is Read the rest of this entry »

The Federal Aviation Authority’s plan to register all drones is not a bad one.  Quite logical in fact.  Drone use will grow not diminish with time. Their capabilities will grow not diminish. The payload is increasing.  For those mounting cameras or videos the quality of the video (and audio for that matter) is improving.  The line of sight requirement will be a thing of the past for those who choose to pre program flight paths, something that happens already.  The battery life is improving and some models have the capability of changing batteries mid flight.  All of this adds up to Read the rest of this entry »

The ABC reports in Hundreds could be victim of identity theft scam targeting Medicare system, estimates hears that a scam aimed at defrauding the Commonwealth may have privacy implications.  Identity theft is Read the rest of this entry »

On Saturday 10 October 2015 in J.P.H v X.Y.Z [2015] EWHC 2871 the High Court, Queens Bench Division, per Justice Popplewell granted a non disclosure order restraining the publication of images and information in a revenge porn case.

Facts

JPH is described as a successful professional actor who Read the rest of this entry »

The US Supreme Court in KYLLO v. UNITED STATES found that the use of a thermal imaging van to scan a building to determine whether the heat emanating from it was consistent with lamps used for cultivating marijuana indoors constituted a search under the Fourth Amendment which required a warrant.  The Court held:

Where… the Government uses a device that is not in general public use, to explore details of a private home that would previously have been unknowable without physical intrusion, the surveillance is a Fourth Amendment “search,” and is presumptively unreasonable without a warrant

According to the Atlantic in The NYPD Is Using Mobile X-Ray Vans to Spy on Unknown Targets the New York City Police Department is using military vans to look through walls and sides of trucks.  How this does not fall into the same category of warrantless search will be interesting to see.

Just because Read the rest of this entry »

In a recent interlocutory decision in the class action of Hemeon v South West Nova District Health Authority 2015 NSSC 287 relating to a dispute over discovery Justice Pickup rejected the defendant’s submission that the plaintiffs’ claim of a tort of intrusion upon seclusion in relation to unauthorised access to medical records was not recognised in Nova Scotia.  He said that the tort had been recognised implicitly in previous Nova Scotia decisions.

Decision

The result, the equivalent of Read the rest of this entry »

The ramifications of the massive data breach suffered by Sony Pictures Entertainment in November 2014 continues.   The theft and publication of embarrassing emails by Sony executives and the unauthorised release of Sony movies were the prominent stories from the leak.  However Read the rest of this entry »

For Australian organisations internal policies and training to avoid data breaches on line are generally inadequate where they exist at all.  That almost invariably translates into non compliance with the Privacy Act.  That has not phased organisations given the regulation of the Privacy Act has and continues to be anemic.  There is a poor culture of data protection.  That does not mean Read the rest of this entry »

The Article 29 Working party of the EU has announced that the US has until January 2016 to find a replacement of the US – EU Safe Harbour regime.  After that Read the rest of this entry »