Australian Greens and Coalition groups want amendments to the Digital ID Bill that would put checks on law enforcement access and protect against racial bias. The bill, which includes restrictions for banning of data profiling and collection of data on sexual orientation and race, is designed to add business and personal protections to The Privacy Act.
How many friends do you share your tax return with? Just guessing not a lot – but despite that, US company TurboTax thinks you’ll be happy to share them with the world at large if they ask nicely. And they do – despite the fact your tax return is otherwise privacy-protected by law. What’s the benefit? Revenue for them and other tax services that offer the same, at minimum enabling ad-targeting – and beyond that, just imagine the possibilities of full financial disclosure.
While transparency is touted as the “best” word for businesses to use to assure customers their privacy is being carefully tended to, customers would do well to look to a business’s privacy policy for the real truth about the relationship. A report from Australia’s Consumer Policy Research Centre and the University of New South Wales shows where the pitfalls are. A key problem for survey participants was they didn’t understand much of the policy terminology often used, including ‘pseudonymised information’ (81%), a ‘hashed email address’ (74%), or an ‘advertising ID’... Read More >
Google lashed out at the Department of Justice’s threat to break up the company, calling the proposals “radical.” Among other things, Google says the proposals would threaten users’ privacy, stifle innovation and break Android and Chrome. Given the appeals process, it will likely be years before we know whether Google will stay in one piece.