Facebook claims it can’t be sued by Aussie privacy watchdog
In a court hearing on Friday, 26 June 202, US-based Facebook has argued that it does not carry on business in Australia despite users in Australia accessing its website, calling for the dismissal of action brought by the Australian Information Commissioner over alleged privacy breaches and Cambridge Analytics.
A blog relating to Internet legal issues by Professor John Swinson, University of Queensland
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Showing posts with label privacy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label privacy. Show all posts
Facebook in Court over Cambridge Analytics
This recent Australian judgment concerns substituted service on Facebook. It relates to Cambridge Analytics breach. Interestingly, it discusses COVID-19. Facebook did not appear in court.
Australian Information Commission v Facebook Inc [2020] FCA 531
Facebook in Court
In a surprising move, the Australian Information Commissioner has sued Facebook in Australia over giving access to personal information of thousands of Australians to Cambridge Analytica.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-03-09/facebook-privacy-oaic-information-commissioner/12039642
https://www.businessnewsaus.com.au/articles/australian-information-commissioner-takes-facebook-to-court.html
"We consider the design of the Facebook platform meant that users were unable to exercise reasonable choice and control about how their personal information was disclosed," says Australian Information Commissioner and Privacy Commissioner Angelene Falk.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-03-09/facebook-privacy-oaic-information-commissioner/12039642
https://www.businessnewsaus.com.au/articles/australian-information-commissioner-takes-facebook-to-court.html
"We consider the design of the Facebook platform meant that users were unable to exercise reasonable choice and control about how their personal information was disclosed," says Australian Information Commissioner and Privacy Commissioner Angelene Falk.
Assaults on Privacy in the USA
A good article in Harvard Magazine titled "How surveillance changes people's behaviour: assaults on privacy in America." See article here.
EU ePrivacy
On 10 January 2017, the European Commission published a
Proposal for a Regulation could have significant implications for Internet-based services and technologies.
The Proposal seeks to revise the current EU ePrivacy Directive. It creates strict new rules
regarding confidentiality of electronic communications, including
content and metadata. In addition, the Proposal amends the current rules
on the use of cookies and similar technologies, and direct marketing.
The rules apply to EU and non-EU companies providing
services in the EU, and are backed up by significant enforcement
powers—fines of up to four percent of a company's global turnover.
The Proposal is the next major step in the EU's review of its data protection legal framework and follows the adoption of the
General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in April 2016.
Apple Store Privacy Issues
Do you trust Apple Store employees when they take away your phone to fix it?
Staff in a Brisbane Apple Store reportedly lifted photos from some Apple customers' iPhones and took more than 100 close-up and explicit photos of female customers and staff without their knowledge.
This raises both privacy and copyright issues. It is also creepy.
See Brisbane Times
Staff in a Brisbane Apple Store reportedly lifted photos from some Apple customers' iPhones and took more than 100 close-up and explicit photos of female customers and staff without their knowledge.
This raises both privacy and copyright issues. It is also creepy.
See Brisbane Times
Personal Information
The Australian Administrative Appeals Tribunal has decided that companies who collect operational data about services they provide
to individual end users, is not personal information about customers.
See Telstra Corporation Limited and Privacy Commissioner [2015] AATA 99 (18 December 2015)
See Telstra Corporation Limited and Privacy Commissioner [2015] AATA 99 (18 December 2015)
Dallas Buyers Club decision - who won?
The Australian Federal Court decided today that ISP iiNet was required to identify some of its customers who have downloaded the movie "Dallas Buyers Club". The court imposed restrictions and costs on the copyright holder. No email addresses were ordered to be disclosed. Dallas Buyers Club LLC v iiNet Limited [2015] FCA 317.
See Court Decision and SMH Article.
See Court Decision and SMH Article.
Recommended Reading
I recommend these recent books, which relate to law and technology. Kindle editions are available.
Privacy
The Australian Privacy Commissioner has released a revised guide to "reasonable steps" to protect personal information.
Comments due 27 August.
"Effective ICT security requires protecting both computer hardware (the physical devices that make up a computer system) as well as the data (including personal information) that the computer hardware holds from misuse, interference, loss, unauthorised access, modification and disclosure. However, ICT security measures should also ensure that the hardware and the information stored on it remain accessible and useful to legitimate users."
Privacy in the Digital Era
The Australian Government announces the release of the Discussion Paper for this Inquiry, Serious
Invasions of Privacy in the Digital Era (DP 80).
The
Discussion Paper provides a detailed account of ALRC research so far,
and includes 48 proposals and a number of questions for people to
consider and provide feedback on. The ALRC
is proposing a model for a new statutory cause of action for serious
invasions of privacy to be included in a new Commonwealth Act, and also
is putting forward other alternative proposals to strengthen privacy
protection.
The Discussion Paper is available in HTML, PDF, and as an ebook.
·
See Media
Release >>
·
See Discussion
Paper >>
Privacy Guidelines in Australia
The Privacy Guidelines are no longer consultation drafts – the final version was released today (link below).
They have reversed
their view on the application
of the Privacy Act to foreign website operators. So much so that the
guidelines now conclude that “Where an entity merely has a website that can be accessed from Australia, this is generally not sufficient to establish that the
website operator is ‘carrying on a business’ in Australia”
Informational Privacy on the Web
A Data Broker Offers a Peek Behind the Curtain
The Acxiom Corporation is to open a Web site that will allow individual consumers to see some of the information that the company has collected about them. http://nyti.ms/17slfwv
Social Networks and Right of Publicity
From a Kenyon & Kenyon newsletter looking at legal trends for 2013:
An important “Right of Publicity” issue for 2013 is the use by social networks of their members' names and/or likenesses in advertising. Many social networks have broad Terms of Service which purport to allow them to exploit any content that a member posts on the networks' websites. Social networks take the position that these service terms permit them to use aspects of their members’ identities in advertisements appearing within the social networks. As social networks grow and compete for advertiser dollars, they will naturally want to allow advertisers to create the most effective ads possible. Studies have shown the persuasive potential of an online connection's recommendations (due to the apparent lack of bias), and therefore many advertisers are likely to request advertising that uses the identities of a social network's users.
An important “Right of Publicity” issue for 2013 is the use by social networks of their members' names and/or likenesses in advertising. Many social networks have broad Terms of Service which purport to allow them to exploit any content that a member posts on the networks' websites. Social networks take the position that these service terms permit them to use aspects of their members’ identities in advertisements appearing within the social networks. As social networks grow and compete for advertiser dollars, they will naturally want to allow advertisers to create the most effective ads possible. Studies have shown the persuasive potential of an online connection's recommendations (due to the apparent lack of bias), and therefore many advertisers are likely to request advertising that uses the identities of a social network's users.
Privacy for Mobile Apps
From The New York Times:
F.T.C. Suggests Guidelines on Privacy for Mobile Apps The Federal Trade Commission said the mobile industry should include a do-not-track feature in software and apps and take other steps to safeguard personal information. http://nyti.ms/X0xWcG
Does Disneyworld have privacy and copyright rights?
Lawyers nightmare, in relation to film made at Disneyworld, Escape from Tomorrow.
See also clip and NYTimes.
See also clip and NYTimes.
Google Street View Privacy Lawsuit
A privacy claim was made against Google for its StreetView product. A Google camera car drove on to private property to take the photos.
See Boring v. Google. Original Decision; Third Circuit decision
See Boring v. Google. Original Decision; Third Circuit decision
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