Contributed by Ben Wilson

According to CHOICE, Australians want changes to the Privacy Act, which will give them greater protection from those who will steal their privacy. They want a limit on what can be accessed about them by organisations and individuals.

CHOICE is the commonly used name used for the Australian Consumers’ Association. it is a not-for-profit consumer advocacy organisation founded in 1959. and its main functions are to regularly give consumers information about the products they are buying, about fair prices, the quality of products, and the performance of those who provide goods and services. CHOICE fights for the rights of consumers, and therefore provides the community with a valuable service.

A big part of this work is conducting research and polling the opinions of the Australian community. The new survey on the state of our privacy is a good example. This comes after revelation that hackers have stolen health information and other personal details from 13 million people, after a cyber-attack on prescription deliverer MidiSecure in April. This is but one of a series of large-scale data breeches in recent times. Examples are Optus, Medibank, and Latitude Financial.

MediSecure’s cyber-attack and data theft in April was a catalyst for action

Another part of its work is to wage campaigns to bring about positive changes. CHOICE is now backing the demand coming out its recent Consumer Pulse survey. that Australian for a much tougher response on the protection of persona; information. Senior Campaigns and Policy Advisor Rafi Alam says that after years of massive leaks, people are fed up and want change.

A petition currently underway calls for the fair use of data by all businesses.

Part of the problem is the over collection of data, often by, but not limited to government agencies. A second problem is the extremely wide scope in how this data can be used. Both combine to create the conditions for misuse and an opportunity for obvious criminal activity.

Outlawing collection of data above what is strictly required for a specific purpose would help. Banning the use of data without a clear consent from the person concerned is another must.

A third is the rampant and rising use of data collection by government for the purpose of spying on us. The rise of the computer age is helping to bring in big brother government, and this carries its own type of threat. This was not part of the topic covered by CHOICE. But this doesn’t make it any less important. Many of our basic rights are threatened by this.

The concern of this campaign is how private businesses accesses personal data and misuses it, and the response to the federal government’s introduction of new legislation to amend the Privacy Act. While it provides the right to sue for serious breaches, extra enforcement powers for the regulator, greater transparency obligations, and how businesses use algorithms to make decisions. there are telling omissions.

Little will come out of it if there is no limiting of the type and amount of information that can be lawfully collected. The Act remains full of loopholes, and the emphasis on self-regulation by business remains as the dominant feature of regulation.