Catching up: open health data privacy risk exposed, WA reform blueprint drops News Happy New Year! There's a lot of people still on well earned holidays across the public sector and The Mandarin's offices are still deathly quiet…
Government agencies must consider ethics of data use, and not just their own Thursday July 13, 2017 By Stephen Easton Features A surprising example of how government data can be put to "appalling" use came up at yesterday's Data+Privacy Conference, where ethical frameworks that go beyond…
Privacy commissioner 'making inquiries' about Centrelink's flexible privacy principles Tuesday February 28, 2017 By Stephen Easton News Centrelink maintains it is legal to release a client's personal details to "correct the record" but the privacy commissioner is asking questions about its decision…
Pilgrim: mandatory data breach notifications to 'strengthen community trust' Thursday February 16, 2017 By Stephen Easton News Some organisations don't want anyone to know when they've been hacked for fear of reputational damage, but Australian Information Commissioner Timothy Pilgrim thinks coming clean…
De-identification: the de-vil is in the de-tail Thursday November 3, 2016 By Timothy Pilgrim Features As public servants increasingly handle data for public release, gaining expertise in de-identification will be essential. It's still the most powerful approach available, writes Australian…
The give and take of public privacy in the big data era Tuesday October 4, 2016 By Stephen Easton News The Commonwealth has finally responded to the fact that anonymised data might not be safe. But there is still reason to question its commitment to…
Service provider IDs unmasked in open health data, investigation underway Thursday September 29, 2016 By Stephen Easton News Some health data was removed from data.gov.au after service provider IDs were unmasked. The department and the information commissioner are investigating what went wrong, but…
Banned FOI lobby group will sit on new open government board Thursday September 1, 2016 By Harley Dennett News The complainant, respondent and adjudicator of a highly public FOI privacy spat will all find themselves sharing duties to usher in Australia's commitment to open…
Pilgrim: Census shutdown was a 'pro-privacy' move Thursday August 11, 2016 By Stephen Easton News The privacy commissioner says ABS chief David Kalisch erred on the side of privacy when he decided to switch the online Census form off. Scott…
Where is the trust? Census DDoS claim faces early scepticism Wednesday August 10, 2016 By Stephen Easton News Chief statistician David Kalisch faces the media to explain #CensusFail. "Not an attack, nor a hack" says the Assistant Treasurer, so what was it?…
Tim Pilgrim: privacy and innovation in the data-driven economy Tuesday May 17, 2016 By Timothy Pilgrim Features SPEECH: The re-funded OAIC will put a strong focus on major data holders in government and business, the commissioner says launching Privacy Awareness Week.
Tim Pilgrim: a smart approach to privacy, data and de-identification Tuesday May 3, 2016 By Timothy Pilgrim Features SPEECH: Australia's acting information commissioner spoke at CeBIT about the issues for government in using the public data it holds, and the complexity of…
Thawley shut out privacy commissioner from data policy statement Wednesday February 3, 2016 By Harley Dennett News The Commonwealth's foremost expert on privacy issues was shut out of the whole-of-government public data and data management policy design work ahead of last December's…
Timothy Pilgrim: OAIC has a mandate, powers, and is not afraid to use them Thursday September 3, 2015 By The Mandarin Career Advice Acting information commissioner Timothy Pilgrim has a message for government's chief executives and lawyers looking to cut corners with Australians' privacy and information rights. Don't…
OAIC to be left without statutory officers Monday July 13, 2015 By David Donaldson News The Privacy Commissioner's appointment expires this week, while the Australian Information Commissioner formally resigns on July 31, leaving the OAIC potentially without any statutory officers.