AUSTRALIA POOR ON PRIVACY PROTECTION BUT US THE WORST IN THE DEMOCRATIC WORLD
January 9th 2008 03:36
A new international privacy report claims governments around the world are increasingly invading the privacy of citizens with surveillance, identification systems and archiving of private data -- and Australia is no exception, according to CNET News.
The lowest ranking countries in terms of privacy protections continue to be Malaysia, Russia, and China, with Greece, Romania, and Canada ranked highest.
Australia is far from having a good record with privacy, achieving the second lowest ranking band – "systematic failure to uphold safeguards". Reasons for the ranking included data breaches occurring in organisations such as the tax office, child support agency, and even amongst the police; expanded surveillance powers; and de-identified medical data being approved by the Privacy Commissioner for sale to pharmaceutical companies, the report said.
CNET said that in terms of statutory protections and privacy enforcement, the US was deemed the worst country in the "democratic world" and is outranked by both India and the Philippines on overall privacy protection. The US has fallen into the "black" category reserved for countries with "endemic surveillance".
The UK was the worst ranked country in the EU, particularly with regard to surveillance.
The report, prepared by Privacy International and the Electronic Privacy Information Centre, is based on the latter’s annual Privacy and Human Rights survey, an 1,100 page report that covers 75 countries.
- MediaBlab
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