Good privacy is good business

Privacy should not be underestimated or taken for granted. Following the Privacy @ Play Summit last month, Malcolm Crompton explains why good privacy is good business.

Standards: paving the way to a better cloud computing future

Concerns over privacy and security risks in cloud computing are still widespread. Malcolm Crompton says a new code of practice for cloud service providers handling personal information could be a game changer.

There’s more to the national security debate than ‘more powers please’

National security remains high on the government's agenda. Malcolm Crompton says it is time to have a complete debate over the issue and think it through in order to avoid waking up in the Surveillance Society.

BOTPA – ‘Because Of The Privacy Act’ – rears its thoughtless head again

The rate of growth in privacy laws around the world is accelerating. Malcolm Crompton says that privacy legislation itself isn’t the problem, but rather the response to it by business.

What have Big Data, the Internet of Things and Civil Rights have to do with each other?

Where is the connection between the collection of digital data and the civil rights movement? Malcolm Crompton explains and urges us to consider the implications.

Are times a-changing or has commerce got a tin ear?

Along with iappANZ Board members Julie Inman Grant, Peter Leonard and esteemed Chair Emma Hossack, I have just been to the annual IAPP Summit in Washington DC.

Brave new thinking in a brave new world II

Malcolm Crompton continues his look at the future of data processing policies and how businesses can win the trust of their customers through improved services.

In my last post , I alluded to Microsoft’s Trustworthy Computing Next paper and spoke about the need to rebalance the focus in privacy protection focus between user control of data collection and what firms are actually doing with that information so that there is an increased focus on the latter without ever denying the importance of the former.

Brave new thinking in a brave new world

The traditional privacy protection model focuses on user control at the point of data collection, but Malcolm Crompton says it is time to change our thinking on privacy to better serve individuals.

When will we shift from outdated thinking on privacy?

2012 is the 10-year anniversary of Microsoft’s Trustworthy Computing initiative (TwC), which began when Bill Gates sent around a companywide memo emphasising security, privacy and availability as the keys to instil trust in computing. To mark the occasion, on February 28 the Corporate Vice-President of Microsoft TwC, Scott Charney, delivered a paper entitled Trustworthy Computing Next, which reflected on the past 10 years and the new challenges that lie ahead. His observations on the latest developments in technology and their consequences on privacy are particularly noteworthy.

US privacy in the age of big data, mobile and the cloud

This year the United States took a big step in the protection of data by announcing an online privacy plan that would give consumers more control over how their personal data is collected, shared and used by websites and advertisers. Malcolm Crompton says the next big step will be implementation and global interoperability.

Will the boat come in for privacy law reform in 2012?

Throughout 2011 we saw some promise for better, updated privacy laws in many parts of the world, with changes afoot in the EU, the USA and Australia. While in the end things were still ‘promising’, 2012 looks set for some real progress, according to Malcolm Crompton.  

Real Names – to insist or not to insist? A cloudy issue…

When Google+ launched, Google insisted that its members use real names and aggressively closed accounts that it considered were not based on real names.

This reignited a debate that has periodically flared around the internet.

Answering it wisely will be essential if the individual citizen is going to take full advantage of the wonderful opportunities of Cloud Computing.

Privacy law reform in Australia gets going again!

The process of reviewing and reforming the main law protecting privacy in Australia, the Privacy Act 1988, had all but stalled by 30 June this year.