"Creepy" inquiry into online privacy puts AG on defensive
A Senate enquiry into online privacy continued with hearings at Parliament House on Friday, and both Google and the Attorney General’s Department found themselves on the defensive. The Senate Standing Committee on Environment, Communications and the Arts appear to be taking our privacy online seriously, and followed up on written submissions with some probing questions. […]
Did Google steal your password?
Yesterday I spoke to the PM program on Radio National for a follow up on Google’s WiFi privacy debacle, and have spoken to a few other media outlets as well. No doubt there’s a lot of interest in the story because of Google’s household name and seemingly unstoppable rise towards digital dominance. The “don’t be evil” […]
SA Electoral amendments and anonymity online
There has been a lot of discussion about the recent changes to the South Australian Electoral Act 1985, and in particular the amendment to s 116 which extends the requirement of attribution to the internet. The law seems poorly drafted and unworkable, but it may not pose as much of a threat as is suspected. […]
DFAT briefing on the current state of ACTA
by Nic Suzor Today I attended a briefing session on ACTA (Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement ) hosted by the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT). I felt it was a good meeting, and I really got the sense that DFAT were interested in public participation. There was a good deal of frustration on both […]
EFA condemns Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement negotiaton process: No transparency, No balance
Electronic Frontiers Australia (EFA) today expressed its concern about the lack of transparency in the development of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA). EFA is also troubled by the little information that is available about the substantive content of the proposed plurilateral agreement, which threatens to dramatically alter the copyright balance in favour of corporate rights owners, impose significant liability on Internet Service Providers, and require the institution of invasive surveillance and filtering.
EFA Chair Dale Clapperton slammed the negotiation process. “Negotiations for ACTA have been conducted secretly. The public have a right to be involved in the development of measures which will significantly alter their legal rights. So far, only copyright owners have been involved in this process, and the outcome will undoubtedly favour their interests over the legitimate interests of users and reusers of copyright material.”