This week, Arj is joined by elevenM colleague Brett Watson to discuss regulators – who they are, what they do, and the influence they have on public policy.

The conversation focuses on one regulator in particular – Australia’s privacy regulator, the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner. In a few recent public communications, most notably an opinion piece relating to TikTok’s information handling practices, the (relatively) new Privacy Commissioner Carly Kind appears to be taking a more direct and forceful approach to advocating for law reform than we have typically seen from Australian regulators.

Arj and Brett embrace their ‘policy wonk’ tendencies, unpacking a range of political, economic and social factors that help to explain the approaches that regulators take.

Links:

Commissioner Kind’s opinion piece about TikTok and social media organisations harvesting data (paywall) https://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/technology/new-laws-needed-to-stop-tiktok-and-other-social-media-giants-harvesting-data-privacy-commissioner-carly-kind/news-story/186676ee74ad7378d9a82b465a976cc5

The OAIC’s media release following filing civil penalty proceedings in the Federal Court against Medibank https://www.oaic.gov.au/newsroom/oaic-takes-civil-penalty-action-against-medibank

Sydney Morning Herald opinion piece on the Medibank proceedings https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/medibank-on-the-hook-for-trillions-but-there-s-more-at-stake-than-money-20240604-p5jj62.html

A recording of the OAIC’s appearance at Senate Estimates on 29 May 2024 (the OAIC’s appearance starts at 19:29:30) https://www.aph.gov.au/News_and_Events/Watch_Read_Listen/ParlView/video/2488552

Commissioner Kind appearing on the ANU Tech Policy Design Centre’s ‘Tech Mirror’ podcast, discussing the remit of her role, priorities for law reform, the TikTok matter, Digital ID and privacy as a check and balance on power https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/tech-mirror/id1598491978?i=1000660836306

Credits:

Editing and post-production by Martin Franklin (East Coast Studio) eastcoaststudio.com.au

Music by Bensound.com