Facebook’s reckoning is fast approaching

Original article by John McDuling
The Age – Page: 20 : 6-Apr-18

Despite the recent data breach controversy involving Cambridge Analytica, Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg still believes that he is the right person to run the social media company, while he does not seem to think the scandal has affected Facebook’s advertising business to any great extent. Zuckerberg will shortly testify before the US Congress, and Facebook’s executives in Australia are also likely to face scrutiny given that more that 300,000 local users may have been affected by the scandal. Facebook is also the subject of investigations by the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission and the Federal Privacy Commissioner.

CORPORATES
FACEBOOK INCORPORATED, CAMBRIDGE ANALYTICA LLC, AUSTRALIA. OFFICE OF THE FEDERAL PRIVACY COMMISSIONER, AUSTRALIAN COMPETITION AND CONSUMER COMMISSION, GOOGLE INCORPORATED

Calls for action on Facebook data privacy

Original article by Tom McIlroy
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 4 : 22-Mar-18

The Australians Greens have sought support in the Senate for a motion which would require all political parties to reveal whether they had supplied any government data to Cambridge Analytica. Meanwhile, Communications Minister Mitch Fifield says laws regarding copyright and online activity need to be constantly reviewed in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal. Lawyer George Newhouse notes that Australians do not have a constitutional right to privacy, and the position regarding a common law right to privacy is unclear.

CORPORATES
CAMBRIDGE ANALYTICA LLC, AUSTRALIAN GREENS, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF COMMUNICATIONS AND THE ARTS, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, FACEBOOK INCORPORATED, UNITED STATES. EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT

Regulator slams Facebook over breach

Original article by Tom McIlroy
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 3 : 21-Mar-18

Australia’s Information Commissioner Timothy Pilgrim has advised that he is seeking clarification from Facebook as to whether the personal data of local users was compromised in the Cambridge Analytica scandal. Cambridge Analytica registered an Australian office in 2015, and it has been revealed that executives of the data analytics firm held meetings with Social Services Minister Dan Tehan and Liberal Party officials in April 2017. The firm is also believed to have met with Australian Labor Party officials. The Greens’ Jordon Steele-John says MPs should disclose any links with the firm.

CORPORATES
FACEBOOK INCORPORATED, AUSTRALIA. OFFICE OF THE FEDERAL PRIVACY COMMISSIONER, CAMBRIDGE ANALYTICA, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF SOCIAL SERVICES, LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIAN GREENS, REPUBLICAN PARTY (UNITED STATES), BREITBART NEWS, SCL GROUP

NAB client data sent to adult website owner

Original article by James Frost
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 17 : 10-Jan-17

An error at National Australia Bank (NAB) has resulted in the transfer of the personal details of 60,000 clients to David Weissenberg’s Real Assets Limited. The business owns domain names of a sexual nature such as sexpornhost.com, porncocktail.com, supersleazy.com and adultorientatedmaterial.com. NAB has reported that Weissenberg responded positively to the bank’s request to correct the error.

CORPORATES
NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LIMITED – ASX NAB, REAL ASSETS LIMITED

Down for the count: census thrown into chaos

Original article by Simone Fox Koob, Rosie Lewis
The Australian – Page: 1 & 4 : 10-Aug-16

Concerns about the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ management of personal information have been underscored by the failure of its website to cope with the nation’s inaugural digital-first census. Many people who tried to fill out their census form online on 9 August 2016 encountered server problems, with the website either not available or generating error messages. Some federal politicians have refused to put their name on the census form due to fears that such information will be retained for much longer than in the past.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN BUREAU OF STATISTICS, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, THE STATISTICAL SOCIETY OF AUSTRALIA INCORPORATED, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIAN GREENS, NICK XENOPHON TEAM

Coroner takes aim over privacy

Original article by Chris Merritt
The Australian – Page: 26 & 28 : 13-Jun-16

The Seven Network’s Bruce McWilliam has expressed concern about the broader implications of a proposal for the inquest into the death of cricketer Phillip Hughes to scrutinise media coverage of the tragedy. He warns that this would give coroners greater power to regulate the reporting of incidents in which people died. The Ten Network’s senior litigation counsel, Tasha Smithies, says it is not appropriate for issues such as breaches of privacy to be handled by a coronial inquest.

CORPORATES
SEVEN NETWORK LIMITED, SEVEN WEST MEDIA LIMITED – ASX SWM, TEN NETWORK HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX TEN, NEW SOUTH WALES. CROWN SOLICITOR’S OFFICE, HIGH COURT OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIAN COMMUNICATIONS AND MEDIA AUTHORITY, AUSTRALIAN PRESS COUNCIL