From exploding Ford Pintos to racist algorithms, all harmful technologies are a product of unethical design. And yet, like car companies in the ’70s, today’s tech companies would rather blame …
Australia’s role in the Christchurch attacks, and the work to be done
From across the ditch, the news that the Christchurch terrorist was an Australian was accompanied by a sinking feeling. The way in which our everyday public debate is steeped in …
There are no easy fixes for the live streaming of real-life hate
Scott Morrison has called for the G20 to regulate social media companies in the wake of the terrorist massacre in Christchurch last Friday. The knee-jerk reaction to the mass shooting …
One giant step backwards for cyber security in encryption bill fiasco
Australia will soon be relegated to the backwaters of the global digital community. We will no longer have a functioning security software industry, nor will we have faith in the …
Sleepwalking into a digital dystopia
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 …
Australia Wants to Take Government Surveillance to the Next Level
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 …
The internet holds society together and the government is setting out to break it
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.
The positives and perils of My Health Record
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 …
Turnbull’s attacks on encryption will enable crime at the cost of our rights
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.
Tech has no moral code. It is everyone’s job now to fight for one
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 …
It isn’t just greedy corporations using and abusing your private data
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.
How Do You Solve A Problem Like Analytica?
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 …
Time to cut ties with the digital oligarchs and rewire the web
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 …
The census is too important to boycott, despite serious privacy concerns
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?
If you’re worried about privacy, you should worry about the 2016 census
The debate over warrantless mandatory data retention was just the tip of the iceberg, as the ABS’s removal of census anonymity demonstrates, writes Chris Berg.
Big Data, Big Opportunities
Big data can tell us a lot about the problems and people human rights advocates are working with, but we have to ensure we use this information responsibly. Lizzie O’Shea writes on the Human Rights Opportunities and Challenges Presented by Big Data.
Government haste lays waste to consultation
Inadequate consultation and seemingly unnecessary haste in drafting and passing certain laws has been a shared frustration linking diverse policy issues in the past year.
Australian court holds Google is responsible for linking to defamatory websites
The South Australian Supreme Court this week found that Google is legally responsible when its search results link to defamatory content on the web. In this long-running case, Dr Janice …