Keeping your privates private

THE GOVERNMENT WANTS AUSTRALIANS TO HAVE MORE CONTROL OVER HOW THEIR DATA IS USED AND ACCESSED, BUT THERE ARE ALREADY THINGS YOU CAN DO TO IMPROVE YOUR PRIVACY AND SECURITY.

AFTER CONDUCTING A six-month investigation, in October the Federal Government’s Productivity Commission has released a new draft report that suggests sweeping reforms to Australian data laws. Specifically, it wants more transparency, so consumers can to easily see what data companies and government agencies have collected about them, and additionally, for the ability to request edits to that data and have greater control over how that information is shared with third-parties and greater options when it comes to opting-out of data collection.

It also wants organisations to co-operate to make data more portable so that, for example, medical information can easily be transferred between relevant organisations — presumably, with the individual’s consent. The report has recommended that the new framework would be overseen by the ACCC.

Those are positive steps that should bring Australia’s data privacy protections more broadly in line with Europe’s. It’ll be a while before any of those recommendations get turned into laws, but in the meantime, there’s still plenty you can do to take control of how your data is collected and used online. Lets start with Google.

Back in June, the search giant changed its long-held stance on tracking cookies, making them more lax when it comes to your privacy — in short, it’s allowing advertisers more capabilities when it comes to following you around the web and may make it easier for advertisers to more easily identify you. The argument for this kind of tracking is that it allows more relevant and targeted delivery of ads and advertising-related information but, frankly, I think most of us feel at least a little uncomfortable about this kind of activity.

You can limit how much Google’s ad system is allowed to track you at www.google.com/

settings/ads — while I’m happy for the company to track some of my activity to improve how its own apps and services work, I’ve deactivated ‘Ads Personalisation’ entirely... this is one area of modern life where I’d rather be considered a number than a real person.

Facebook, of course, can be just as creepy when it comes to ad-tracking — it’s been known to follow you around (using those ubiquitous Like buttons) even if you’re signed out of your Facebook account.

To get that locked down, check out our online sister publication Tech-Radar’s guide here: tinyurl.com/tla58-fbook.