In a digital environment, approval of a data transfer makes about as much sense as approval of an ocean current.

In its preoccupation with a perceived threat to its independence arising out of the recommendation for a private right of action for invasion of privacy, the media commentary on the ALRC's Privacy Report has missed its most significant aspects. 

Among its many recommendations, the following deserve wide public discussion: regulating cross-border data flows; rationalisation of exemptions and exceptions; and uniform privacy principles and national consistency.

Regulating cross-border data flows

The existing law, which is based on the 1980 OECD Privacy Principles, regulates cross-border data flow by requiring an assessment of the level of privacy protection that will be provided to the data in the jurisdiction to which it is being transferred.  While some flexibility is built into the tests, the basic concept is that privacy protection in the receiving jurisdiction should be similar to that in Australia.  This approach was also taken, in a more bureaucratic form, in the European Union's Privacy Directive of 1995. 

As Web 2.0 technologies and the threat landscape continue to evolve, it's now more important than ever that both private and public sectors join forces.

Last week, I participated in the Over the Horizon Visionary forum which was held as part of National E-security Awareness Week. The forum was attended by a number of industry representatives from across Australia and aimed to promote discussion on the government's future e-security policies. One of the discussion groups at the forum focused on how the public and private sectors can partner to better educate the public on safe Internet practices.

Many in the group, including myself, agree that there needs to be a working partnership between the public and private sector to educate and equip Australian PC users.  By working in collaboration and building a strategy around education, the public and private sector can help make the Internet a positive and safe place to learn, communicate, and socialise.  

For many businesses, justifying a budget for IT security remains a perennial challenge.

As part of McAfee's participation in E-security Awareness Week, I've spent the last three days talking directly to customers at an Executive Summit we hosted in the Hunter Valley in New South Wales, and gleaned some of the challenges organisations are currently facing.

In the context of what challenges face CxO's and security managers when it comes to better securing corporate networks and managing risk, there is a definite sense of this being a "work in progress". Their call was to make the proposition simpler while providing higher levels of protection and compliance.

These stakeholders understand the evolving complexity and escalation of threats to their organisations and their data.  On the one hand they are witnessing a proliferation of "smart" devices, many of which are being carried into the office and connected up to the corporate network without being properly checked for malware or not having the disk encrypted in the event of the device being lost.

By Dr Martyn Wild

Our kids might understand and recite the safety messages we tell them, but this rarely has much impact on their everyday behaviours.

The cybersafety discussion is more important today than it has ever been. Not simply because of the scare stories that are emerging with ever-increasing frequency (only last Thursday [5 June] we witnessed large numbers of Australians, including at least one teacher and a police officer, identified in the worst type of child exploitation). But more so because, (i) children are changing their use of the Internet; and (ii) their parents are evidently not taking responsibility for the implications that arise from that use.

New data arising from studies very recently conducted in the UK and Australia tell us that 57% of parents are not aware how to keep their children safe online, what actions to take to minimise potential adverse impacts on their children's well-being or even what to do at times of crisis.