Australian Government Sharing All Sorts Of Data
from the piecing-your-privacy-away dept
Just as the US Congress is realizing that (as many people suspected), the TSA has been breaking privacy laws in compiling information about people, it appears that the Australian government is going much, much further. The government has allowed "data matching" rules quietly be extended, meaning that many of the various databases that the government possesses are being connected to share all sorts of info that it doesn't necessarily make sense for certain government organizations to have. For example, why should the Tax Office know about your religious affiliation? Of course, similar systems have been designed in the US, but haven't gotten as far. Once again, it seems like government agencies are confusing "more data" with "smarter data."Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
No Subject Given
[ link to this | view in chronology ]