privacy

Banks argue against privacy protecting dead people’s data
Australian banks don’t think dead people’s data should be as well protected as the living because community attitudes to the issue are unclear, despite law reform commissions arguing for better protections. In a submission to the current review of the Australian Privacy the Australian Banking Association, which represents most major

GitHub ditches cookies to protect developers’ privacy
The world’s best known software development platform GitHub will remove all non-essential cookies from its websites to improve developers’ experience and protect their privacy. Visitors to the website will not see a cookie banner on GitHub.com or its subdomains. The announcement made Friday comes just a week after French regulators

Apple ups the ante on privacy
Starting next year Apple will require apps to collect explicit permission from users to track them and turn the capability off by default. Last week the tech giant revealed apps that don’t comply will be removed from the App Store. The privacy measure, which Apple calls App Tracking Transparency (ATT),

Regulator calls for 70 changes to Australian privacy law in legislation review
Australia’s privacy regulator has called for a raft of changes to privacy law to ensure they remain “consistent with Australian values” and suitable for an increasingly digital world. But the watchdog stopped short of supporting GDPR style data regulation and consent management, as the government considers the biggest reforms to

Social media privacy policies average 6,000 words, difficult to understand, study finds
It would take nearly half a day of non-stop reading to read the privacy policies of the top 16 most downloaded social media apps, which total more than 92,000 words, according to a new study. On average, social media privacy policies are 6,152 words long and take over 47 minutes

Privacy regulator yet to receive complaint about COVIDSafe app
Australia’s privacy regulator received several queries about the controversial COVIDSafe mobile app but no formal complaints within the first six months of its use. The regulator has also not been notified of any data breaches related to the contact tracing app. The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner today released

Quantcast upgrades privacy management tool for a ‘world without cookies’
Quantcast has released a privacy preference management tool it says will simplify consent management and improve users’ browsing, and is urging local marketers and publishers to respect consumer choices before regulators make them. On Wednesday adtech company Quantcast launched Permisio, an expansion of Quantcast Choice, the popular consent management platform

McDonalds’ martech reveals ‘no consent, no cookies’ privacy option
Dynamic Yield, a personalisation platform bought by McDonalds last year for a reported US$300 million plus, today unveiled a new feature that allows brands to guarantee consumers no data is collected on them without explicit consent. The company says the option is in response to the rising tide of global

Californians vote to bolster data privacy laws
Consumer data privacy protections received a boost at the recent US general election, with voters passing a ballot measure that amends and expands the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018. Proposition 24 passed by more than 1.7 million votes, or around 56 – 44 per cent so far, with 87

Privacy focused web browser Brave passes 7 million users in first year
In November last year Brave launched its version one browser, promising a safe, fast and private alternative to market leader Google. One year in, Brave says it now has over 20 million monthly active users and 7 million daily active users. Developed by Brendan Eich, co-founder of Mozilla and Firefox