After a huge campaign to encourage every smartphone user in Australia to install and use the ‘COVIDSafe’ app, the effectiveness of the app has been negligible. The ‘sunscreen’ we needed to stay safe has done almost nothing. The number of at-risk people located through the app that weren’t previously found…
Australia needs to face up to the dangers of facial recognition technology
In the 20 years of the “war on terror” Australia has led from the front in expanding powers for law enforcement and ramping up surveillance at the expense of public rights and freedoms. Among the seemingly endless barrage of national security legislation and surveillance that creeps into every aspect of…
Digital Rights Watch
I served on the board of Digital Rights Watch for some years, and also worked on a number of projects. As well as the Press Freedom report co-sponsored by GetUp!, I worked on DRW’s response to the Australian Government’s flawed CovidSafe smartphone application, and did a substantial amount of systems…
The Damn Roni App
Some disjointed thoughts on the governments then-new COVIDsafe app, a $10 million dollar shambles that assisted in the identification of no more than a couple pof dozen virus close contacts.
GetUp!
I co-authored a report into the erosion of press freedom in Australia since the atacks of September 11, 2001.
When they deploy the announced changes, Facebook will offer considerably better privacy protections than Australian political parties
Before the next election, the most important digital advertising platform — used by 12 million Australians every day — will set out a standard much higher than anything any Australian political party (except perhaps the minuscule Pirate Party) adheres to themselves.
How Do You Solve A Problem Like Analytica?
The activities of Cambridge Analytica that came to light in the last week are the inevitable consequence of an arms race of marketing and political campaign methods.