Digital Rights Watch have welcomed reports that Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt will scrap the My Health Record system and introduce legislation that ensures patient privacy.
Urgent reform of digital rights frameworks required, warn online human rights experts
Digital Rights Watch has warned of an increasingly hostile digital rights environment in which Australian citizens risk having their human rights eroded, unless a radical rethink of government policy is implemented.
Human rights groups and experts call on the Australian government to reject plans to undermine encryption
Today, a global coalition led by civil society and technology experts sent a letter asking the government of Australia to abandon plans to introduce legislation that would undermine strong encryption. The letter calls on government officials to become proponents of digital security and work collaboratively to help law enforcement adapt to the digital era.
Amidst privacy concerns, Australians urged to opt-out of national health record
Civil rights group Digital Rights Watch have urged Australian citizens to be aware of deeply concerning privacy issues in the Government’s planned digital health record system, as the opt-out period begins today.
Attempts to break encryption will have lasting effects for online freedom of speech
Digital Rights Watch has warned of wider impacts on freedom of speech and the right of Australian citizens to hold private conversations, after the Government announced plans to introduce legislation that would give law enforcement the power to break encryption protocols.
Centrelink duty of care has failed, regardless of Information Commissioner finding
Privacy rights groups Digital Rights Watch, the Australian Privacy Foundation and Electronic Frontiers Australia have slammed a statement by the Office of the Information Commissioner and the Privacy Commissioner that their investigation found no wrongdoing in the release of personal information by a government department.
New digital rights report foreshadows an eroding human rights landscape online
Australians’ human rights are being severely breached through the exploitation of online data according to a landmark report released today by Digital Rights Watch.
New report reveals dangerous lack of oversight of secret global surveillance networks, opening the door to human rights abuses
An unprecedented international collaborative investigation carried out by 40 NGOs in 42 countries has identified alarming weaknesses in the oversight arrangements that are supposed to govern the sharing of intelligence between state intelligence agencies.
Digital arms merchants selling products to Australian police forces?
Digital rights experts have expressed concerns over reports that the international firm Hacking Team have been allowed to showcase their wares at an Australian Police technology conference today.
Australian Digital Rights Organisations Call For Politicians To Clarify Their Dealings With Cambridge Analytica
In light of the revelations that Cambridge Analytica has reportedly misused the data of over 50 million people on Facebook, Australia’s leading digital and civil rights advocates call on all Australian governments and political parties to categorically answer several questions.
Data breach notification scheme an important step towards building trust with public’s right to privacy
Privacy advocates Digital Rights Watch have welcomed the start of a national mandatory data breach notification scheme.
UK court ruling on mass surveillance serves as a warning to Australian operations, warns digital rights advocates.
Following a legal challenge by UK Labour MP Tom Watson and civil rights group Liberty, the UK Court of Appeal has ruled that accessing retained data without proper oversight, or if there was no serious crime, is inconsistent with EU law.
Strong encryption serves Australia’s national interests and creates more robust systems
Digital rights groups are urging the Australian government to protect and strengthen encryption in a detailed briefing submitted to the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Law Enforcement inquiry.
U.S. FCC repeal of Net Neutrality will have global consequences
Australian digital rights advocates today condemned the decision of the United States Federal Communications Commission to dismantle the agency’s 2015 Open Internet Order which required internet service providers to treat all internet traffic equally.
Digital Rights Watch and Electronic Frontiers Australia urge the Australian Government to reinstate phone and internet access to asylum seekers
Digital Rights Watch and Electronic Frontiers Australia urge the Australian Government to ensure that the human rights of asylum seekers and refugees being held in offshore detention camps on Manus Island (Papua New Guinea) and Nauru are respected.
Australia to face human rights scrutiny in week of UN Human Rights Council vote
During the same week that Australia is expected to be granted a seat on the United Nations Human Rights Council, an expert UN Committee will grill the Australian Government over its own human rights record.
Comprehensive national face database incompatible with a free society
Australia’s leading privacy and civil liberties organisations condemn the decision by the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) to provide all images from state and territory driver’s licence databases to the federal National Facial Biometric Matching Capability.
Attorney General George Brandis declared “Villain” by Access Now for comments undermining encryption
Australian Attorney General George Brandis has been awarded a ‘villain’ award in a global digital rights ceremony
Concerns over proposed plan for national facial recognition database
Digital Rights Watch has expressed deep concerns over proposed plans that would require drivers license photographs to be included in a national facial recognition database.
Cross-border access to data: Council of Europe submission
A global coalition of civil society organisations have submitted to the Council of Europe its comments on how protect human rights when developing new rules on cross-border access to electronic evidence.