This week, Arj and Jordan explore why privacy and data protection laws sometimes fall short of delivering the outcomes we need and desire - especially those crafted using a principle-based approach.

The discussion follows another insightful paper by UNSW law academic Katherine Kemp on the continued practice of ‘data enrichment’, which Prof. Kemp argues is illegal.

They also discuss the failed compliance of law enforcement agencies with laws that allow them to access private data.

Links:

Katherine Kemp paper "Australia’s Forgotten Privacy Principle" https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4224653

Katherine Kemp oped https://www.choice.com.au/consumers-and-data/protecting-your-data/data-laws-and-regulation/articles/why-we-need-to-enforce-laws-against-data-enrichment

Australian Law Reform Commission report https://www.alrc.gov.au/publication/for-your-information-australian-privacy-law-and-practice-alrc-report-108/

Report on Commonwealth ombudsman review (Saturday Paper) https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/news/politics/2022/09/17/pretty-creepy-agencies-illegally-obtained-emails-voicemails-and-texts#hrd

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It's been labelled “the most important election you’ve never heard of”. 

This week, Arj and Jordan dive into an upcoming debate over the election of the next secretary-general of the International Telecommunication Union, a 150-year-old body that has been pivotal in the setting of internet standards and policy.

The backdrop is a fascinating discussion about whether the long-held Western vision of an open, global, free and secure internet is now over, as more anti-democratic regimes clamp down on networks and platforms in their jursidictions, while Western governments themselves seek new ways to fix the ills of an unregulated internet.

Links:

White House Listening Session on Tech Platform Accountability https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2022/09/08/readout-of-white-house-listening-session-on-tech-platform-accountability/

Council on Foreign Relations report - Confronting Reality in Cyberspace: Foreign Policy for a Fragmented Internet https://www.cfr.org/report/confronting-reality-in-cyberspace

Report on ITU election (SMH) https://www.smh.com.au/technology/future-of-cyberspace-on-the-line-as-us-russia-square-off-20220910-p5bh27.html

Credits:

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Should companies be forced to host all data about Australian citizens onshore? With debates about data localisation kicking off all over the globe, Arj and Jordan this week unpack the issues surrounding this policy.

They also discuss the normalising of surveillance technologies among young people, after a Sydney school introduced fingerprint scanners for access to bathrooms.

Home Affairs discussion paper https://www.homeaffairs.gov.au/reports-and-pubs/files/data-security/nds-action-plan.pdf

Tech companies on data localisation (InnovationAus): https://www.innovationaus.com/tech-giants-rally-against-data-localisation-in-australia/

ABC News story on fingerprint scanners at schools https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-09-06/moorebank-high-school-fingerprints-students-going-to-toilet/101410544

Drones with tasers https://7news.com.au/news/crime/taser-armed-drones-a-crackpot-idea-c-7048891

Salinger blog post on fingerprint scanning https://www.salingerprivacy.com.au/2022/09/07/finger-scanning/

Credits:

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What actually *is* AI? Is the term meaningful? Is it always the best answer?

This week, Arj and Jordan explore how technologies like AI and machine learning are being approached, and the growing tendency towards "AI solutionism". They also discuss a couple of provocative proposals to entirely abandon the use of the term "AI", and how this might aid our approach to problem solving and policymaking.

ABC News story on botched aged care AI trial https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-08-31/aged-care-cctv-trial-artificial-intelligence-false-reports/101390952

Ellen Broad article on use of "artificial intelligence" as a term https://www.innovationaus.com/we-need-to-let-go-of-regulating-artificial-intelligence/

Center on Privacy & Technology announcement to stop using terms “artificial intelligence,” “AI,” and “machine learning” https://medium.com/center-on-privacy-technology/artifice-and-intelligence%C2%B9-f00da128d3cd

XKCD "Here to Help" https://xkcd.com/1831/

Credits:

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This week, Arj and Jordan discuss the merits of the Albanese Government's decision to overhaul the previous government's national cyber security strategy, which included the eye-catching $10 billion funding allocation for Project REDSPICE.

They also discuss why organisations continue to consider facial recognition, in spite of the intense uproar over its use in recent weeks and months. This comes as ClubsACT considers trialling the technology in pubs and clubs to enforce self-exclusion requests from problem gamblers.

IT News story on cyber strategy overhaul https://www.itnews.com.au/news/government-re-launches-cyber-security-strategy-584180

ABC story about facial recognition trial in ACT https://www.abc.net.au/canberra/programs/drive/facial-recognition-clubs-act/101350722

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This week, Arj and Jordan discuss what it means to be identified online. Does a company "know" you if they can't link the data they hold about you to your real world identity, but can still tell that you're the same person moving from one online service to another? What does our concept of what it means to be identified mean for how privacy is regulated and enforced? 

Katherine Kemp paper on online tracking by media companies https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4141609

$60m penalty against Google https://www.accc.gov.au/media-release/google-llc-to-pay-60-million-for-misleading-representations

Credits:

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In this special episode of This Week in Digital Trust we feature an interview by our friend Jonathan Gadir with Avishai Ostrin, a director with Israeli privacy consulting firm PrivacyTeam.

Jonathan and Avishai explore the differing attitudes and approaches to privacy in Israel, many of which stem from underlying cultural attitudes. They also discuss what it's like to be a privacy advocate in a very security-focused nation, and developments involving Israeli spyware company, NSO Group.

Avishai Ostrin on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/avishaiostrin/

PrivacyTeam: https://www.privacyteam.com/

Washington Post story on US firm ending talks to buy Israeli spyware company https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/07/10/nso-spyware-l3harris-talks-ended/

Twitter: Jonathan Gadir https://mobile.twitter.com/jonoloosecannon

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This week, Arj and Jordan discuss the merits of the proposed new federal privacy law in the US. Also this week - a new once-in-a-decade report from CSIRO also lays out seven megatrends to shape our future, three of which fall squarely into the realm of technology, digital policy and other favourite topics of the podcast.

Links:

IAPP coverage of American Data Privacy and Protection Act https://iapp.org/news/a/american-data-privacy-and-protection-act-heads-for-us-house-floor/

Daniel Solove opinion on federal privacy law: https://teachprivacy.com/a-faustian-bargain-is-preemption-too-high-a-price-for-a-federal-privacy-law/

Woodrow Hartzog and Neil Richards on a duty of loyalty: https://iapp.org/news/a/were-so-close-to-getting-data-loyalty-right/

Algorithm Watch on algorithmic bias in Google and Facebook ads: https://algorithmwatch.org/en/automated-discrimination-facebook-google/

CSIRO report "Our Future World": https://www.csiro.au/en/research/technology-space/data/Our-Future-World

Credits:

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This week, Arj and Jordan look how China is using various levers to pressure Big Tech into compliance with national goals. They also look at how Meta platforms such as facebook have an impact on a range of human rights, after the US giant published a self-assessment.

Links:

Meta’s First Annual Human Rights Report https://about.fb.com/news/2022/07/first-annual-human-rights-report/

Platformer analysis of Meta's report (paywalled): https://www.platformer.news/p/meta-measures-its-human-rights-impact?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email

Influence Empire by Lulu Chen (Guardian extract): https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/jul/24/we-show-hotshots-whos-boss-how-china-disciplines-its-tech-barons

Washington Post article on China's big tech crackdown: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/05/05/china-jack-ma-arrest-alibaba/

Credits:

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The pod is back after being struck down by illness. With their return, Arj and Jordan take on virality of a different kind: videos showing "random acts of kindness" on social media platform TikTok. They dive into why the videos are problematic from a privacy perspective.

While on TikTok, they also explore growing concern about the privacy protections surrounding TikTok user data, and what access the Chinese government may have.

OAIC opens investigations into Bunnings and Kmart https://www.oaic.gov.au/updates/news-and-media/oaic-opens-investigations-into-bunnings-and-kmart

ABC article about Melbourne woman filmed without consent https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-07-14/tiktok-video-maree-melbourne-flowers/101228418

BuzzFeed story about US TikTok user data accessed in China https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/emilybakerwhite/tiktok-tapes-us-user-data-china-bytedance-access

ABC News story about Australian TikTok user data potentially accessed in China https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-07-13/tiktok-admits-australian-data-accessible-in-china/101233320

SBS: "So what if China can access your TikTok data?" https://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/so-what-if-china-can-access-your-tiktok-data/mr1anx97k

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