Peter A Clarke

The Victorian Law Reform Committee inquiry into Sexting has produced a 252 report.  It is found here.

The focus in the media has been on the recommendation to reform the law so as not to target those who were not intended to be the target of prosecutions, such as young teenageers.  The Committee recommended a range of defences to avoid the unintended consequences of how the law currently operates.  In its deliberations the Committee looked at the broader issues involved.  One of those issues was privacy.  Not surprisingly the press coverage has glossed over this part of the report.

Chapter 7 of the Report reviews the privacy protections in place in Victoria (and Australia).  The Committee endorsed the Victorian Law Reform Commission’s recommendation to introduce a statutory right of privacy.  It relevantly stated:

The Privacy Amendment (Privacy Alerts) Bill 2013 was introduced into Parliament and read a second time today.  The homepage for the legislation is found here.  The Bill is found here (in PDF format).  The Explanatory Memorandum is found here.

The Second Reading Speech was moved.

Hot on the heels of the Attorney General’s announcement that a mandatory breach notification bill will be introduced into Parliament tomorrow the  Privacy Commissioner has issued a press released titled  Australians better protected with mandatory data breach notification.

It provides

The Australian Privacy Commissioner, Timothy Pilgrim, has welcomed the mandatory data breach notification laws announced by the Attorney-General the Hon Mark Dreyfus QC MP today. The proposed laws, to commence on 12 March 2014, require notification of serious data breaches that will result in a real risk of serious harm.

‘I have supported Read the rest of this entry »

The Attorney General held a press conference and issued a press release announcing the introduction into the Parliament of legislation requiring mandatory notification of data breaches which affect privacy.

The press release states:

PRIVACY ALERTS TO NOTIFY AUSTRALIANS OF DATA BREACHES

New laws to be introduced in Parliament tomorrow will require businesses and government agencies to notify people when a data breach affecting their privacy occurs.

“With businesses and government agencies holding more information about Australians than ever before, it is essential Read the rest of this entry »

Germany has strict privacy and surveillance laws. The country’s experience with dystopia in the form of the Nazi regime has bred a hypersensitivity to  any of its practices, even in a mild form.  It is therefore interesting to see the proposal by Deutsche Ban to test drones to collect evidenc of vandalism in  German railways to test anti-graffiti drones.

It provides:

Germany’s national railway company, Deutsche Bahn, plans to test small drones to try to reduce the amount of graffiti being sprayed on its property.

The idea is to use airborne infra-red cameras to collect evidence, Read the rest of this entry »

In Protectors of privacy and proprietary are beginning to speak out, originally a  New York Times story, the issue of the privacy invasive technology is discussed in a sensible, balanced manner.  Google Glass and any other wearable computers have the potential to interfere with privacy. They may compromise security for much the same reason why cameras are banned in certain governmental buildings, law courts and parts of airports . Their use may threaten intellectual property; a for instance is wearing the computer while a product is being made.  Used in conjunction with a suitable app and using specially designed alogorithims a wearable computer with a camera facility could be much more effective, read damaging, than a video camera or audio recorder, or both combined.  The law is struggling to keep up with these developments and legislatures are non plussed.

The article provides:

Perhaps the best way to predict how society Read the rest of this entry »

Facial recognition technology has been touted both as part of a dystopic nightmare or a leap forward in policing and enhanced security.  Without privacy safeguards the former is a likelihood.  As to how it will be used by police or security will determine how effective it is.  The real question however is whether it actually works.  To date the evidence has been at best mixed.  It does not work well with people who are wearing headgear.  Without a sufficient view of a target’s face it can be ineffective and it needs to be sufficient focused to work.  The industry touts its benefits and the media love facial recognition stories but it is technology which has had a long gestation and there is no guarantee of a safe delivery.

In Google Glass gets face recognition the AFR reports on an app being develop which will have face recognition glasses for Google Glasses.  The article provides:

Updated: Now this is why I would fork over $1500 and risk looking like a tool to wear a pair of Google Glasses: face recognition.

Lambda Labs, a San Francisco-based augmented reality company, says it has developed facial recognition software for Google’s Read the rest of this entry »

The latest edition of the Harvard Law Review was released today (Volume 126 Number 7).  It is notable because it includes papers delivered at a Symposium on Privacy And Technology.

The Papers are:

Introduction: Privacy Self-Management and the Consent Dilemma.

The extract reads as follows:

Symposium by Daniel J. Solove :: During the past decade, the problems involving information privacy Read the rest of this entry »

Salon reports in Senate: Drones require new privacy laws  about testimony before a Senate panel calling for an upgrading of privacy protections in light of the increasing proliferation of drones in the US.

The article provides:

As domestic surveillance drones proliferate, the public needs greater protection experts tell hearing

WASHINGTON – Privacy laws urgently need to be updated to protect the public from information-gathering by the thousands of civilian drones expected to be flying in U.S. skies in the next decade or so, legal experts told a Senate panel Wednesday.

A budding commercial drone industry is poised to put mostly small, unmanned aircraft to countless uses, from monitoring crops to acting as lookouts for police SWAT teams, but federal and state privacy laws have been outpaced by advances in drone technology, experts said at a Senate hearing.

Current privacy protections from aerial surveillance are based on Read the rest of this entry »

Today the Privacy Commissioner issued a press release regarding cyber security in line with National Cyber Security Awareness week, commencing today.

It states, in part:

Australian Privacy Commissioner, Timothy Pilgrim today encouraged all Australians to take steps to protect their personal information during National Cyber Security Awareness Week (20 to 24 May 2013). The aim of the Awareness Week is to help people understand the simple steps they can take to protect their personal and financial information when online.

‘The web has Read the rest of this entry »