Peter A Clarke

Hard situations make bad laws.  That legal maxim, that an extreme case makes bad law, should be scratched onto the screen of every policy maker in every government.  It usually ends in tears.

The terrible and tragic case of William Tyrrell has been covered extensively in the media since he disappeared from care.  That coverage, or at least the extent of it, found its way into the New South Wales Court of Appeal in  Secretary, Department of Family and Community Services v Smith [2017] NSWCA 206.  In that case the Court rejected the Departments appeal from Read the rest of this entry »

There are no shortage of cyber strategies being announced and even re announced by governments and agencies and sometimes governments and agencies together .

The The Victorian Government has announced its first Cyber Security Strategy.  It is the first Australian state to do so. The 32 page strategy is found here.

The announcement Read the rest of this entry »

As of 1 September 2017 the State of Victoria will have an Information Commissioner, replacing the position of Privacy Commissioner.  The Information Commissioner will also be responsible for Freedom of Information applications.

The inaugural Information Commissioner is Sven Bluemmel.  Mr Bluemmel was Read the rest of this entry »

The Internet of Things is here to stay.  Many household appliances are now connected to the internet; from white goods, sound systems and children’s toys to name but a few.  The interconnectivity will grow not diminish with time.  The spread of the technology has not been matched by Read the rest of this entry »

The figures are sobering.  CIFAS a fraud prevention service reports that in the United Kingdom:

• 89,000 identity cases in the first six months of the year;
• identity fraud will now account for 56% of all fraud cases.

Interestingly the misuse of identity theft in the UK has changed, with credit card fraud falling 12% while bank account fraud fell 14% to 25,000. Then again Read the rest of this entry »

Hackers have always been resourceful and skillful.  Even  hackers motivated for commercial gain by criminal means can demonstrate impressive skills and panache. Now they are moving ahead of screen writers and sci fi novellists in their ingenuity.  The Atlantic reports that a well known team of computer scientists have encoded malware on DNA to take advantage of vulnerabilities in software that is used in analysing DNA.  And that is what hacking is all about.  Finding vulnerabilities.

Over at Wired there is a report of hackers Read the rest of this entry »

The Indian Supreme Court, in a unanimous decision of Justice K S Puttaswamy (Retd) & anor v Union of India & ors, has today found that individual privacy is a fundamental right. It is a comprehensive decision running to 547 pages and 5 years in gestation.  Even so India has recognised such a right ahead of Australia.

This event has been Read the rest of this entry »

According to a very recent report titled FTSE 350 Cyber Governance Health Check Report 2017,  of directors at the top 350 UK firms Directors at the UK’s top 350 businesses are not always given all the information they require to discuss cyber risks posed Read the rest of this entry »

On 15 July 2017 I posted on the very serious data breach by Flight Centre.  It has been covered fairly widely by the media, on the ABC, MSN Nine and the Sydney Morning Herald to name a few.

A month later the Privacy Commissioner has decided to investigate the data breach.  It made its announcement on 18 August 2017.  The announcement provides:

On 15 August 2017, the Acting Australian Information Commissioner opened an investigation into Flight Centre, examining an alleged data breach involving the release of the personal information of customers to third-party suppliers.

Flight Centre is cooperating with the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner’s (OAIC) inquiries. Once the investigation has concluded a further statement will be published.

If any person has any concerns about how their privacy has been managed they can contact the OAIC at www.privacy.gov.au or on 1300 363 992.

This announcement has Read the rest of this entry »

The misuse of drones, or to be more precise unmanned aerial vehicles, has always been a real problem since they moved from military to commercial and then to everyday use and their capacity grew from a difficult to control curiosity to a highly sophisticated aerial vehicle which can mount powerful cameras and videos on stable platforms.  Along with the incredible benefits that have come from the commercial use of drones has come real and potential privacy intrusive activity.  The lack of regulation has been apparent from the outset.

The legal issues and gaps in the law have been apparent for a long time ( I have posted on them here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here for example) For some reason this problem has in the last few days attracted the attention of both the Australian with Drone reforms needed to protect privacy  and the Canberra Times with ‘Highly intrusive’: Drone complaints on the rise in Canberra and its editorial  Drone misuse in Canberra a real concern for all. The articles cover well worn ground but are welcome nevertheless.

Drones are a challenge in Read the rest of this entry »