We’re in the midst of a worsening democracy deficit, and you need look no further to see this on full display than within the shambolic process around the Telecommunications and Other Legislation Amendment (Assistance and Access) Bill. This Bill will introduce unprecedented new powers for government and law enforcement, and Coalition politicians are treating the […]
A state’s capacity to spy on its citizens has grown exponentially in recent years as new technology has meant more aspects of our lives can be observed, recorded and analyzed than ever before. At the same time, much to the frustration of intelligence agencies around the world, so has the ability to keep digital information […]
The Australian Government has finally released its draft bill on encryption, which would see law enforcement granted unprecedented new powers, including the ability to crack open encrypted communication.
Last week, Singapore’s ministry of health admitted information from 1.5 million citizens had been copied in “a deliberate, targeted, and well-planned cyber attack” by hackers who were specifically going after the personal data of the country’s prime minister, Lee Hsien Loong. It took authorities a week to detect the breach, which, to be fair, is […]
The government says its planned anti-encryption mandate will empower law enforcement, but it will enable far more crime than it will prevent, and regular citizens will bear the cost.
It has been a tough two years for the technology industry. The 2016 US election was a turning point for what was formerly the face of upbeat, self-actualising capitalism. Today the common view is that a tiny minority has been making money by disrupting things at the expense of the majority. Technology companies are out […]
The Cambridge Analytica revelations have spawned outrage across the world, as well they should. The mass manipulation of millions of individual Facebook users, psychometric profiling to reveal potential pressure points, micro-targeted advertising and black-ops electoral interference are certainly something worthy of the headlines.
The extraordinary revelations from the Observer/Channel 4 investigation into the practices of the digital marketing firm Cambridge Analytica have, like many a great internet controversy, produced great outrage but few answers or ways forward. People are rightly horrified at the prospect of such comprehensive personal information being used to manipulate them by the million, but […]
Facebook’s reckless vanity has made the headlines again, with the revelation that data it held on about 50 million users was exploited commercially without their consent, and that when Facebook found out about this, it did pathetically little. We only know this thanks to the bravery of a whistleblower. This is yet another scandal in […]
One of Australia’s richest sources of statistical data has had both its reputation and trust destroyed by the decision to retain name and address data – a decision made with little consultation and with no regard to the ramifications for individual’s right to privacy. But does this warrant an overall boycott of the census?
