Analysing the need for new privacy laws requires 2700 pages in three volumes, according to the Australian Law Reform Commission’s Report 108, ‘For Your Information: Australian Privacy Law and Practice’. It will take months to dissect such a dense offerin…
The future directions for laws and legal matters in Australia is determined in three meetings a year of the Standing Committee of Attorneys-General (SCAG), which also includes New Zealand.
The July 2008 meeting covered a range of important matters, incl…
The Admininstrative Appeals Tribunal in the ACT has ruled that American defence contractors can break Canberra law, and discriminate against employees. The extraordinary ruling means US foreign policy and rules trump Australia’s own laws. CLA’s media rel…
The Internet’s future was the reason for a major OECD conference in Seoul in June, at which Australia’s Communications Minister, Stephen Conroy, was a keynote speaker. Here, from Nigel Waters of the Australian Privacy Commission, is a rundown on the key…
Former journalist and barrister, David Solomon, is recommending sweeping changes to the Queensland Freedom Of Information (FOI) regime, turning it into Right To Information (RTO), which could open up government to the people. Premier Anna Bligh has promi…
Major challenges for the internet’s future, from security and competition to enhancing social and economic development, are the subject of the Seoul, Korea, OECD Ministerial Meeting 17-18 June 2008. Here’s the contribution by a coalition of civil libert…
A bill prohibiting discrimination and bias by health insurers and employers based on people’s genes has passed both Houses of the US Congress by a vote of 509-1. The Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act is a powerful shield for Americans. Meanwhile,…
CLA spokesperson Dean Prail spoke with Radio NZ recently over vague proposals in Australia to allow company bosses to spy in secret on employees’ emails, in the name of cyber-security. The Australian Attorney-General, Robert McClelland, has since acknowl…
The UK’s High Court has delivered a withering rebuke to the British Government, senior Ministers and the Serious Fraud Office. Neither government nor the executive – or foreign princes – are above the law in a parliamentary democracy, the High Court has…
Germany’s Constitutional Court has created a new right to privacy of computers, and privacy of some personal data on them. As well, the court has cemented into German law the notion of rights to ‘personality’ as expressed by personal documents held on co…