Peter A Clarke

The Economist has written a very interesting story on recent developments in on line privacy in Difference Engine: Nobbling the internet .

It provides:

TWO measures affecting the privacy internet users can expect in years ahead are currently under discussion on opposite sides of the globe. The first hails from a Senate committee’s determination to make America’s online privacy laws even more robust. The second concerns efforts by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), an intergovernmental body under the auspices of the United Nations, to rewrite its treaty for regulating telecommunications around the world, which dates from 1988, so as to bring the internet into its fief.

Many fear Read the rest of this entry »

Lord Neuberger gave a speech to the UK Association of Jewish Lawyers on 28 November titled Privacy in the 21st Century.

It is an excellent consideration of the history of privacy protections in the UK and a thoughtful analysis of future challenges.  It should be required reading for those with an interest in privacy and privacy related jurisprudence.

It provides, absent citations:

(1) Introduction1
1. Good evening. It is a pleasure to have been asked to give tonight’s lecture. Privacy is a subject which seems to be forever topical. It excites (in both senses of the word) public discussion, while demanding considered reflection. And it raises many difficult and, often, controversial questions. Is privacy a value which society should protect? If so, to what extent? Is protection of privacy a fetter on freedom of expression? If so, can and should a balance be struck between them? And if so, what type of balance? Should, for instance, freedom of expression always trump privacy, as it is sometimes suggested is the position in the United States? A suggestion, I may add, which ignores a variety of US statutes and constitutional provisions which protect certain aspects of privacy to varying degrees, subject to the First Amendment protection of freedom of speech and expression.
2. And is privacy a value which is, on deeper analysis, not inimical to or a fetter on freedom of expression: is it actually a necessary and vital aspect of freedom of expression? Or should we maintain the straightforward and generally held view that the two are wholly distinct, indeed often in conflict?
3. These are all difficult questions. They go to the heart of issues concerning Read the rest of this entry »

The Right Honourable Lord Justice Leveson delivered a speech titled PRIVACY & THE INTERNET, to the Communications Law Centre, University of Technology Sydney last Friday.

It is worth reprinting (absent footnotes). It provides:

(1) Introduction
1. Can I start by thanking the Communications Law Centre at UTS for the invitation to attend and speak at this important Seminar? I am delighted to be here.
2.I doubt that it comes as a surprise to anyone to learn that I have spent the last 17 months engaged in an Inquiry in connection with the culture, practices and ethics of the press in the United Kingdom. My Report, which with an Executive Summary, runs to over 2,000 pages was published on 29 November – just over a week ago – and already a great deal of water has passed under the bridge in connection with it. It may be some of you are hoping that I will elaborate or take you behind the scenes of the Inquiry. I am afraid that you are going to be disappointed. When I launched the Report which must be read in the context of the Terms of Reference for the Inquiry, I said this:
I believe that the Report can and must speak for itself; to that end, I will be making no further comment. Nobody will be speaking for me about its contents either now or in the future.
3. I should explain Read the rest of this entry »

In today’s Age, in New law could prevent invasions of privacy: Greens,

The Australian Privacy Commissioner has released a Guide to information security.

It is a comprehensive document.  It is worth extracting some of the opening passages such the “The purpose of the guide” which  provides:

This guide provides guidance on the reasonable steps entities are required to take under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) to protect the personal information they hold from misuse, loss and from unauthorised access, use, modification or disclosure.
This guide is aimed at helping entities meet their Privacy Act obligations by:

• outlining Read the rest of this entry »

The Economist article Gone into the ether reports on a massive privacy breach with the hacking of tax records of every South Carolinians since 1998.  That is records of over 3 million individuals and 700,000 businesses.

The article provides:

HER hopes of joining a Romney administration now vanished, Nikki Haley, the Republican governor of South Carolina, is expected to announce next summer that she will seek a second term in 2014. But her chances may be crippled by the fact that, in October the news broke that an international computer hacker had stolen from the South Carolina Department of Revenue’s data base the tax records of every South Carolinian who has filed a state tax return online since 1998—3.8m individuals Read the rest of this entry »

The Attorney General has issued a press release regarding the passage of the amendments to the Privacy Act.

It provides:

 FAMILIES TO BENEFIT AS PRIVACY REFORMS PASS THE PARLIAMENT

Australia’s privacy laws have been brought into the digital age, under landmark reforms passed by the Parliament today.

“These reforms are the most significant changes to privacy law since Labor introduced the Privacy Act in 1988,” Attorney-General Nicola Roxon said.

“In the digital age, as Australians connect with each other through social media, purchase footy tickets or pay bills online it is vital that we protect consumers’ personal information.

“These reforms give consumers Read the rest of this entry »

Today the Privacy Commissioner issued a press release today regarding the passage of the amendments to the Privacy Act.

It provides:

The Privacy Amendment (Enhancing Privacy Protection) Bill 2012, passed Parliament today, and is due to come into effect in March 2014. The Australian Privacy Commissioner, Timothy Pilgrim, says the new laws are an important milestone for privacy in Australia. He is confident the reforms will enhance the protection of peoples’ personal information.

The reforms Read the rest of this entry »

The Senate has released the Schedule of Amendments to the Privacy Amendment (Enhancing Privacy Protection) Bill 2012. I have also extracted the Hansard of the debate in the Senate.

The amendments are:

2010-2011-2012

THE PARLIAMENT OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA

THE SENATE

Privacy Amendment (Enhancing Privacy Protection) Bill 2012

Schedule of the amendments made by the Senate

(1)     Govt (1) [Sheet BP262]

Clause 2, page 2 (table item 2, column 2), omit “9 months”, substitute “15 months”.

(2)     Govt (2) [Sheet BP262]

Clause 2, pages 2 to 3 Read the rest of this entry »

Naomi Wolf, author of the Beauty Myth amongst others, provides some an analysis of the surveillance society in the context of the television show Cheaters in Cheaters and the sinister normalisation of our surveillance society.

It provides: