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This weekly blog is to explore the larger issues around Digital Health, data security, data privacy and related matters.
I will also try to highlight ADHA Propaganda when I come upon it.
Just so we keep count, the latest Notes from the ADHA Board are dated 6 December, 2018! Secrecy unconstrained! This is really the behavior of a federal public agency gone rogue – and it just goes on! When you read this is will be 11 months + of radio silence.
Note: Appearance here is not to suggest I see any credibility or value in what follows. I will leave it to the reader to decide what is worthwhile and what is not! The point is to let people know what is being said / published that I have come upon.
Note: Appearance here is not to suggest I see any credibility or value in what follows. I will leave it to the reader to decide what is worthwhile and what is not! The point is to let people know what is being said / published that I have come upon.
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The robodebt scheme was a political disaster — but that's not necessarily why the Government is ditching it
By Laura Tingle
23 November, 2019
It sounded so reassuring at the time: "The Coalition's plan for better management of the social welfare system". It emerged in the maelstrom of the 2016 election campaign.
"Better management of Australia's social services will support continued record investment in social welfare and other assistance", it said soothingly, going on to list a range of spending on the disabled and women's safety and the like, and mentioning lots of huge figures for spending on social welfare.
"Through the smarter use of technology, we can better manage our social welfare system to ensure that every dollar goes to those who need it most," the Coalition said.
And there, in a nutshell, was the beginning of what has become known as robodebt: the ham-fisted, computerised matching of Centrelink and Tax Office records, with little recourse to actually talking to anyone if the computer suggested you were ripping off the Government.
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Most voters want political advertising banned from social media
By Michael Koziol
November 24, 2019 — 12.00am
An overwhelming majority of Australians want political advertising on Facebook and other platforms to be subject to tough new rules, with two thirds in favour of an outright ban on political advertisements on social media.
The findings follow a federal election in which online misinformation played a controversial role, with Labor hit by false claims - largely on Facebook - that it planned to introduce death taxes on inheritances or a "car tax" on utes.
Almost three quarters of those surveyed by Essential Media for left-leaning think tank The Australia Institute said social media companies such as Facebook should be required to ensure the political ads carried on their websites are factual. Seven out of ten people said they should be forced to confirm the organisations behind the ads are registered locally rather than foreign.
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Media release: Critical Roadmap to equip Australian health workers for global digital transformation
20 November 2019: The Australian Digital Health Agency (the Agency), in collaboration with the Digital Health CRC, today hosted the National Digital Health Workforce and Education Summit.
This crucial Summit brought together leading academics, industry, policy makers, consumers and health and care workers nationally to discuss and collaborate on the draft National Digital Health Workforce and Education Roadmap (the Roadmap) to support the Australian health workforce in the global transformation to a digital health future.
The Roadmap builds upon Australia’s National Digital Health Strategy and the associated Framework for Action. The Roadmap describes the current state of the workforce in health, including volunteers and health consumers and their associated digital capability.
The Roadmap also anticipates how the application of digital health tools and technologies in health is currently impacting and is likely to impact the health workforce in the future. In addition to the requirements for digital health education and training in the short to medium term, it provides a framework for target setting and measuring success.
Australian Digital Health Agency CEO, Tim Kelsey said “The benefits of digital health technologies are significant and compelling.
Note: Does not seem to have a link to the current draft?
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We hate data collection. That doesn’t mean we can stop it
By Farhad Manjoo
November 21, 2019 — 12.32pm
We're being watched. We know we're being watched, and we don't think the watchers have our best interests at heart. They try to mollify us, arguing we're being watched for our own good and that in fact we're the ones in charge of the scale and scope of all the watching, but deep down most of us are confused and suspicious about this sudden state of affairs.
Why are they watching us so closely? What will they do with all they learn about us? Is there any hope of stopping them? And does it even matter that we do not want to be watched — or is it of no consequence because they know we're trapped, and so do we?
The above may sound like the ravings of a wretch imprisoned in the Panopticon, but according to a survey of more than 4000 people conducted this summer by the Pew Research Center, it is the widespread sensibility of the day.
According to the survey, Americans in 2019 feel adrift and powerless about living under the glare of digital surveillance.
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How Facebook is entering the world of health screening
Antony is a medical reporter with a special interest in technology and pharmacy.
22nd November 2019
First it was Apple with its atrial fibrillation alerts. Now, that prince of social media darkness, Facebook, is getting into health screening too.
The online behemoth with one billion users has started encouraging people to have blood pressure checks, mammograms and cholesterol tests.
Like Apple’s AF system, it’s a US-only tool for now.
There, users can type ‘preventive health’ into Facebook’s search bar and receive suggestions on what screening tests they should undergo, based on their age and gender.
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Google's obsession with your health
19 Nov 2019
Google is no longer just a search engine, it's one of the biggest players in the global healthcare market. Google wants to make medicine more predictive, and to do that it wants to access our most private health records.
But who else gets to see the valuable patient data?
Publication Details
Copyright: Australian Broadcasting Corporation 2019
Language: English
License Type: All Rights Reserved
Published year only: 2019
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Data protection and privacy in Australia
Law and the regulatory authority
Legislative framework
Summarise the legislative framework for the protection of personally identifiable information (PII). Does your jurisdiction have a dedicated data protection law? Is the data protection law in your jurisdiction based on any international instruments on privacy or data protection?
The Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (Privacy Act), which was enacted to give effect to Australia’s agreement to implement the OECD Guidelines on the Protection of Privacy and Transborder Flows of Personal Data (1980), governs how personal information is handled in Australia by the Commonwealth Government and private sector entities with an annual turnover of at least A$3 million (APP entities). Some small businesses (with a global aggregate group turnover of A$3 million or less) are also covered by the Privacy Act, including private health services providers that hold health information, businesses that sell or purchase personal information, credit-reporting bodies and contracted service providers for a Commonwealth contract.
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Making digital giants liable for online posts is unworkable
Jennifer Duke
Media and telecommunications journalist
November 21, 2019 — 12.00am
Forcing Facebook to be liable for defamatory posts on social media could undermine the business models of the tech titans, threaten grassroots activism and fail to fix the issues that news organisations face.
Attorney-General Christian Porter has added his voice to a growing chorus that social media websites need to be treated with a firmer hand by suggesting digital giants be more accountable for online posts.
It is not controversial to suggest, as Porter has, that the legal environment for traditional media companies is unfair and the playing field needs to be levelled. But the biggest issue with defamation laws isn't that they are too narrowly focused but that they are too onerous for public interest journalism.
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Quantum technology discussion paper
15 Nov 2019
This discussion paper has been prepared to help inform the development of a quantum industry roadmap for Australia. The final roadmap will explore emerging quantum technologies and the associated opportunities that Australia might pursue within the global quantum sector.
This paper summarises findings from CSIRO Futures’ initial consultation and desktop research into opportunities, challenges and enabling actions related to advancing the Australian quantum technology sector by supporting the translation of Australia’s quantum research. These findings are not final, and the enabling actions proposed for discussion should not be considered recommendations.
Stakeholders are invited to respond to the discussion paper. The closing date for responses is 20 December 2019.
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Poor debate, understanding damaging tech laws: Labor
By Justin Hendry on Nov 20, 2019 1:37PM
"Policy has fallen too far behind the pace of technological change".
Public policy is failing to adequately account for the impact and scale of technological change, with MPs forced to consider key IT issues such as encryption on the fly, often without grasping the crucial details.
That’s the take of Shadow Minister for Technology Clare O’Neil, who used a speech to the Consumer Policy Research Centre on Tuesday to reset Labor’s rapport with the IT industry.
It follows sustained criticism over the party’s handling of Australia’s anti-encryption laws, which it waved through Parliament in the dying days of 2018 largely unchanged.
Just five months into the job, O’Neil said poor understanding of complex IT issues had created a situation where “public policy has fallen too far behind the pace of technology change”.
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November 19, 2019
Who invests more than $260m per annum on a venture where there is no meaningful measurements of return on investment?
In March 2018 our sister publication to doctors, the Medical Republic, attempted to score the Australian Digital Health Agency’s (ADHA) My Health Record (MHR) project on what it thought were its most important tasks, those listed below in ‘the 10 commandments’. That analysis is here if you want to check it. Much of it is still applicable today, which is not a good sign.
Some might belittle this attempt at measurement. It was quite anecdotal in some respects. But that’s the point. There weren’t and there still isn’t much in the way of base performance criteria against which anyone can assesses the progress of the ADHA and its ROI.
Last month the Agency released its annual report 2018/19. Before that it announced that it was intending to commit to measuring and monitoring the effectiveness of the MHR and making the information available via a publically accessible dashboard. They indicated that part of the reasoning was an attempt to show people how well things were going in order to get faster traction on what has been a somewhat controversial and divisive project. But why has such measurement never been in place anyway?
Performance benchmarking and governance are the very essence of most annual reports.
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Robotics reaching for the ripest fruit
12:00AM November 20, 2019
They mightn’t get you moving faster than a speeding bullet, but lightweight exoskeletons are as close to a real Superman outfit as we’ve got. This powered and programmable clothing makes it easier for an elderly person to sit up, or in farming, can transform a fruit picker into a super picker. It depends how it’s configured.
Leading robotics investor Michael Harries, partner AI & technologies at The Robotics Club, refers to them as lightweight exoskeletons with the nous to identify when you want to stand up, giving you a nudge to make it easier. They are at the forefront of robotics and artificial intelligence, he told The Australian.
Mr Harries chaired a discussion on robotics at the UBS Australia investment conference in Sydney on Monday.
A producer of this apparel, Seismic, describes the programmable clothing as working in collaboration with your body to give you strength, stability, and power. “We start by keeping it simple, like getting dressed in the morning, but with a powerful processor and an integrated sensor matrix, our Powered Clothing is programmable, tailored to your body and your lifestyle,” says Seismic on its website.
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Artificial Intelligence: solving problems, growing the economy and improving our quality of life
14 Nov 2019
Stefan Hajkowicz, Sarvnaz Karimi, Tim Wark, Caron Chen, M. Evans, Natalie Rens, Dave Dawson, Andrew Charlton, Toby Brennan, Corin Moffatt, Sriram Srikumar, K.J. Tong
In April 2019, Australia’s national science agency CSIRO and the Department of Industry Innovation and Science (DIIS) co-developed a discussion paper for an AI ethics framework to respond to issues associated with AI, ensuring we use ethical and inclusive values to manage the deep influence it will have on the way we live, work and play.
In conjunction with the discussion paper, we have worked with DIIS to develop this report which lays the path for how AI can boost the productivity of Australian industry, creating jobs and economic growth and improving the quality of life for current and future generations.
This report leverages CSIRO’s expertise, working in deep collaboration with our network of digital specialists, and incorporating feedback gathered through national consultation with government, academic and industry stakeholders.
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Google will mine Fitbit data for advertising, ACCC warns
Nov 19, 2019 — 12.40pm
Google is likely to renege on its promise not to hoover up data from Fitbit to bombard consumers with advertising targeted to their private health conditions, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has warned.
Google announced in early November that it was acquiring the fitness tracking company Fitbit for $3 billion, to help it compete with Apple and Samsung in the wearable computer market.
The advertising company promised not to mine the vast array of sensitive, health-related data which Fitbit gathers moment to moment from wearers of its devices, but given Google's track record of reversing such promises, it shouldn't be trusted not to do so, ACCC chairman Rod Sims said at the Consumer Policy Research Conference in Melbourne.
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Medicare fraud bill would make 'honey pot'
Finbar O'Mallon
Australian Associated Press19 November 2019
Putting Australian's personal information all under Medicare's roof could create a "honey pot" for hackers, experts warn.
The federal government has proposed new laws to crack down on Medicare fraud that would see departments sharing information with Medicare.
But Vanteum chief executive Alistair Muir warns by centralising such sensitive information, the government was putting Australians at risk.
Australia's top medical body has also warned the proposed bill fails to balance privacy obligations and the need for privacy.
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FIRB puts data, security top of alert list
12:00AM November 19, 2019
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg and the chair of the Foreign Investment Review Board have warned Chinese investors that takeover bids that had the potential to access private data and “critical infrastructure” would receive a high level of scrutiny.
Mr Frydenberg, speaking at The Australian’s Strategic Forum in Sydney yesterday, said the government was “looking much more closely at what is critical infrastructure”.
“We’re now very conscious of what data centres and the nature of the particular types of data that may be part of any foreign acquisition,” Mr Frydenberg said.
“If you buy a health company you will be possessing the data of hundreds of thousands, potentially, of Australians and their sensitive information.”
The government approved a $1.5bn takeover of dairy producer Bellamy’s last week.
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'Wildly inaccurate': Patients turning to crowd-diagnosis for a second opinion
Rada is the editor-at-large of Australian Doctor.
19th November 2019
Some patients might think about getting a second opinion after receiving advice or a diagnosis from a doctor, but is the availability of online social networking taking this to a new and concerning level?
In the web 2.0 era, indiscriminate ‘crowd-diagnosis’ may be overtaking blind faith in Dr Google, according to researchers in the US.
They have looked at how, since 2010, on the sharing and discussion site Reddit, increasing numbers of people have been asking strangers to help diagnose their diseases.
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The 'father of the internet' sends a warning about social media
By Mike Wright
November 19, 2019 — 11.31am
Social media content is too "ghastly" to be monitored by humans, the British inventor of the web has said.
Sir Tim Berners-Lee said sifting through harmful and dangerous online content was an "awful job" that left people "changed" by the things they saw.
The 64-year-old - seen as the father of the modern internet - called for a "midcourse correction" by governments and tech firms to prevent it "plunging towards things which could be really bad".
On Sunday, Sir Tim gave this year's Richard Dimbleby Lecture to mark 30 years since he created the world wide web system that forms the basic architecture of the internet.
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Without funding the government's AI plan is too little too late
The Morrison government must massively lift national AI investment if its plans to harness the benefits of this technology are ever to eventuate.
Nov 18, 2019 — 3.12pm
In November last year, I made what I thought was a straightforward request of Industry Minister Karen Andrews - I asked for a briefing on the status of the government’s draft artificial intelligence roadmap.
Plans for the AI roadmap were announced in the May 2018 budget, and as a shadow minister you would normally get these briefings when requested without any problems.
Remarkably, Andrews refused. No plausible justification was provided.
The reason for such reticence became clear last week with the release of the Morrison government's AI roadmap.
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My Health Record Benefits
Explore some of the key benefits of the My Health Record system. ADHA Propaganda
E.C.A.R.E
Evolving Capability to upload to My Health Record is evolving.
It is anticipated that eventually all discharge summaries or letters from ED and the broader hospital will be uploaded, even if they aren’t now.
It is anticipated that eventually all discharge summaries or letters from ED and the broader hospital will be uploaded, even if they aren’t now.
Consolidated My Health Record is a consolidated collection of patient health documents.
You can find information from outside your local hospital network and from other healthcare providers you wouldn’t normally be able to access remotely eg. GPs, private specialists and community healthcare practitioners.
You can find information from outside your local hospital network and from other healthcare providers you wouldn’t normally be able to access remotely eg. GPs, private specialists and community healthcare practitioners.
Accessible You can access My Health Record at any time.
There’s no need to wait for the GP practice to open when it’s after-hours. Summary information can be accessed at any time of the day.
There’s no need to wait for the GP practice to open when it’s after-hours. Summary information can be accessed at any time of the day.
Reduce Test Duplication My Health Record helps to reduce unnecessary testing by collecting a record of pathology and diagnostic imaging reports.
You may find previous results to avoid having to re-take blood or perform scans.
You may find previous results to avoid having to re-take blood or perform scans.
Electronic My Health Record is a digital tool and accessible online.
In some cases, this will eliminate requests for faxed or paper records when you need patient information from outside your ED. Patients may also be able to show you their My Health Record via an app on a tablet or mobile device.
In some cases, this will eliminate requests for faxed or paper records when you need patient information from outside your ED. Patients may also be able to show you their My Health Record via an app on a tablet or mobile device.
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Politicians a decade late in realising the power of the cloud
Big cloud computing corporations like Microsoft and AWS are the world’s most valuable companies because they are the custodians of the data that is running the planet’s companies.
Nov 18, 2019 — 11.00am
Ever since the early 1980s big tech companies have been closely analysed, with their motives beyond selling computers, phones or software scrutinised for nefarious intent.
Microsoft was the first to feel the ire of regulators who had lost patience with the feeling that they had given away control of something very important (that they didn’t really understand,) culminating in antitrust rulings at the start of the century, which threatened to derail the company.
The eye of suspicion has largely moved on from Redmond in recent years to rest on the robotic malevolence of Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, the bewildering disruptors and profitless industry killers like Uber and the monopolistic global tax experts like Google.
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Emergency Department Clinicians' Guide to My Health Record in ED
This guide aims to provide ED clinicians with essential information about the features and capability of My Health Record. ADHA Propaganda
More support for frontline emergency care staff
Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care
A national initiative launched today will support the time-critical work and informed decision making of frontline hospital emergency department (ED) clinicians through the use of patients’ My Health Record.
With over 22 million Australians now having a My Health Record, a suite of clinical tools and resources released today at the Australasian College for Emergency Medicine (ACEM) 36th Annual Scientific Meeting 2019 will support ED staff using the system to inform clinical decision-making on the frontline of emergency care.
The tools and resources, developed by the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care (the Commission) in partnership with ACEM, include a guide for ED clinicians with practical information on accessing up-to-date My Health Record data for people requiring emergency care.
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The future of the truth economy in a web of internet lies
Jennifer Duke
November 18, 2019 — 12.01am
"Fires not due to climate change: expert". That was the headline on a six-year-old SBS article that spread online last week as bushfires ravaged Queensland and NSW, resulting in the destruction of hundreds of homes and a rising death toll.
The public broadcaster pulled the piece down from its website - triggering criticism in some quarters - before posting it again with a new disclaimer.
The situation offers a glaring reminder of the divisions within our country but also a glimpse into the difficulties news publishers and the public face when trying to make sense of highly emotive situations of national importance.
Truth is not static and, as news events unfold, articles, tweets and online posts of any kind can be quickly left out of date, only to be re-surfaced by algorithms or users at any time in the future. It also means news organisations have lost control over the context in which articles are read.
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Negative interest rates threaten to choke bank IT systems
By Julian Bajkowski on Nov 18, 2019 1:41PM
ANZ, CBA, NAB, Westpac scramble to test tech.
“We have many systems that cannot handle negative interest rates… There's just no scope for it.”
That’s the chilling matter-of-fact admission of the National Australia Bank’s interim chief executive Phil Chronican, following tests of how his institution’s massive IT systems would cope with interest rates inverting from positive to negative, in what is shaping up to be a core systems horror show.
As of last Friday, all of Australia’s Big Four banks have essentially conceded they would struggle to make their transactional and mortgage systems cope with a switch to negative interest rates, with their CEO’s confirming a rapid testing is now underway to model the consequences of a flip.
In what is shaping up to be a new Y2K moment, chiefs at the ANZ, CBA, NAB and Westpac have all confirmed they are war-gaming the implications of trying to enter negative values into systems that were only ever coded to process positive interest as rate cuts increasingly lose their effect.
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The Govt’s data-matching laws: should GPs be worried?
Professor Willcock is clinical director of primary care at Macquarie University Health Sciences Centre, Sydney, NSW.
18th November 2019
The Federal Government has finished receiving submissions on its Health Legislation Amendment (Data-matching) Bill, and we are now waiting to see how the law will appear in its final form.
The consultation guide issued in September makes a strong argument for matching existing data from a range of sources to help combat fraudulent use of Medicare.1
Some examples of fraud covered in the guide will clearly be supported by any honest person. These include if the GP or patient is out of Australia at the time that a service is claimed, which can be uncovered by matching immigration and Medicare claims data.
And, if a practitioner with restrictions on their registration bills for items they’re excluded from, that surely warrants identification and correction.
However, experience has taught us to be sceptical of accepting new laws without considering the potential abuses or misapplications that could arise, with both medical organisations and individuals expressing concerns.
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Monday, 18 November 2019 10:58
Ransomware: ACSC urges those affected not to pay ransom
The Australian Cyber Security Centre has reiterated its advice to Australians regarding ransomware infections, saying that it strongly advised people not to pay any ransom.
The ACSC was responding to queries from iTWire about a Sydney-based company, Fast Data Recovery, that is offering to decrypt files which have been encrypted by the Dharma ransomware, something which nobody else has been able to do given the strength of encryption used.
"There's no guarantee paying will restore files, and paying a ransom could make victims vulnerable to further attacks," an ACSC spokesperson said in a statement.
"We advise Australian individuals and businesses affected by ransomware to log a cyber crime report via ReportCyber."
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More support for frontline emergency care staff
Monday, 18 November 2019
A national initiative launched today will support the time-critical work and informed decision making of frontline hospital emergency department (ED) clinicians through the use of patients’ My Health Record.
With over 22 million Australians now having a My Health Record, a suite of clinical tools and resources released today at the Australasian College for Emergency Medicine (ACEM) 36th Annual Scientific Meeting 2019 will support ED staff using the system to inform clinical decision-making on the frontline of emergency care.
The tools and resources, developed by the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care (the Commission) in partnership with ACEM, include a guide for ED clinicians with practical information on accessing up-to-date My Health Record data for people requiring emergency care.
Dr Andrew Hugman, emergency physician and Fellow of ACEM, is the Commission’s Clinical Lead on the project. He explained: “Immediate access to additional information about a patient’s medical history can be crucial in time-critical settings such as EDs. My Health Record facilitates clinicians’ viewing of material that is otherwise hard to see outside of their regular hospital network. It’s not surprising that there is increasing interest among ED clinicians to better understand the system.”
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Theo Hayez’s Google data with destiny
The search for Belgian teenager Theo Hayez raises questions about whether tech giants could assist police more.
November 17, 2019
When Belgian teenager Theo Hayez disappeared in Byron Bay on May 31, very little was known at first about his movements. But after his family cracked his Google account, they had an incredible amount of information at their fingertips.
Theo’s case — detailed in The Australian’s new investigative podcast series The Lighthouse — raises fresh questions about the role the tech giants play when someone goes missing, and if the companies adequately respond to emergency requests for user data. In many cases, hackers have proven more adept than law enforcement and the tech giants themselves when it comes to tracking down missing persons.
Google was tracking and recording Theo’s movements and activities on the far north coast of NSW via his smartphone, an Oppo R17. This meant his family could see he went from Cheeky Monkey’s to Cosy Corner on Tallow Beach. It was tracking his location every 15 seconds after he left Cheeky Monkey’s.
Google’s location data is accurate to within 3m for most of Theo’s route, and the trove of data from the tech giant included his precise latitudes and longitudes, time-stamped to the millisecond.
Theo’s family could see a whole range of other things as well — what Theo had looked up online, when he’d checked maps and what he was searching on the maps.
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Code of conduct needed to stop market failure: Sims
Nov 18, 2019 — 12.00am
Competition tsar Rod Sims says a code to govern business deals between Facebook, Google and traditional media companies is the most important of 23 recommendations made to government by the regulator to deal with the growing influence and power of digital platforms.
The Morrison government is due to hand down its response to the Digital Platforms Inquiry by the end of the year.
"I think the most important recommendation we came up with was indeed the bargaining code, recommendation seven, in relation to the media," Mr Sims told the Law Council of Australia Media and Communications Seminar on Friday.
"We think the code is needed because of that imbalance in bargaining position. We think that imbalance leads to market failure and does damage to journalism and needs to be addressed."
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Sharing my health record — it’s my choice
Your My Health Record is an online summary of your health information, such as your medicines, any allergies you may have, and your medical history.
Once your My Health Record is created your doctor, hospitals and other healthcare providers involved in your care can automatically access your health information, unless you set up your privacy controls.
Using these privacy controls lets you decide which healthcare providers can access your My Health Record and what they can view. You can also ask a provider not to upload certain information. If you decide you don’t want a My Health Record you can cancel it at any time.
Watch our video to learn how you can take control of your My Health Record privacy.
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Comments more than welcome!
David.
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