Peter A Clarke

The Economist has long been interested in cyber security and privacy issues.  In Trouble shooting it highlights the longstanding (by internet standards) problem of hacking for commercial and national security gain.  China, see Fighting China’s hackers, and Russia, see Russian hacker group exploits satellites to steal data, hide tracks have stood out.

While the focus is on nation v nation cyber attacks and their impacts on commerce and IP there are valuable lessons to take at a local level, such as Read the rest of this entry »

Data breaches involving health information are particularly concerning.  In the Privacy Act health related information is defined as sensitive information.  Under the Personally Controlled Electronic Health Records Act 2012 (PCEHR Act) there is mandatory reporting of data breaches and the Privacy Commissioner has Read the rest of this entry »

On Friday the Privacy Commissioner published its Guide to mandatory data breach notification in the PCEHR system.

It provides:

1. Introduction

The PCEHR system and breach notification

The Personally Controlled Electronic Health Record (PCEHR) system, established by the Personally Controlled Electronic Health Records Act 2012 (PCEHR Act), is designed to facilitate access, by the consumer and treating healthcare providers, to a summary of health information about an individual. The information is drawn from a number of different sources with individuals controlling what information is included on their record and who may access it. Read the rest of this entry »

The Guardian reports in Labor to introduce bill outlawing revenge porn that the Federal Opposition will be introducing a bill to criminalise the posting and distribution, or the threat to post or distribute, private images of a sexual nature without prior consent.  This odious practice has been labelled revenge porn because the perpetrators are partners or former partners do the posting and distribution or provide it to those who do.

The scope of the bill as described highlights the chronic piecemeal nature to regulating in this area. Why criminalise the behaviour without providing some civil recourse to victims?  Why focus only on Read the rest of this entry »

The Australian in Vodafone ‘hacked’ reporter’s mobile reports on, if correct, a very substantial privacy breach by a telco, to wit Vodafone, in accessing one of its customers phone records in 2011. The customer, Natalie O’Brien, is a Fairfax journalist who ran a story, Vodafone mobile records leaked earlier in 2011 about a data breach by Vodafone. Unfortunately telcos have a dreary record when it comes to poor privacy practices and are notable in Read the rest of this entry »

In the United States there is some form of legislative structure developing regulating the use of drones in built up areas.  As is the way it is being done on a state by state basis.  In Australia the States have looked to the Commonwealth while the Commonwealth looks at its shoes.  In the aviation sphere the Commonwealth has Read the rest of this entry »

Timothy Pilgrim in a speech Office of the Australian Information Commissioner — Update delivered on 1 September 2015 to the New South Wales Government Solicitors conference in Sydney gave some insight into the role  and future of the Office of the Information Commissioner.  It is a subject of some debate and Read the rest of this entry »

Following from my earlier post yesterday about Fortesque using drones in the Pilbara Itnews reports in Rio Tinto to lean more heavily on drones  on Rio Tinto’s use of drones beyond mine monitoring into its wider operations such as inspection of infrastructure. It is also contemplating using drones for Read the rest of this entry »

Damages for privacy related breaches is a vexed issue. What is the loss is often raised by defendants even if the breach is established.  The measure of damages is an area of development in the United Kingdom. In a recent Federal case of Seungtae Kim v. BMW Financial Services a jury awarded the plaintiff $250,000 for creditworthiness loss, $150,000 for emotional distress and a civil penalty of $300,000 for violition of identity theft law. The case has Read the rest of this entry »

The Toronto Star reports in Hospital clerk pleads guilty to stealing, selling patient records about how a person in a relatively junior position was able to access, download and sell highly confidential personal information held in a hospital data base.  Hospitals are notorious for the poor privacy practices. There is often a lack of Read the rest of this entry »