Hello all, and happy Thursday!
With the Privacy Act of 1988, Australia was among the first countries to implement data privacy legislation in the world. But it should come as no surprise that legislation from 1988 is a bit outdated.
Over the years, the Privacy Act has received a few updates here and there, but it’s been consistently behind relative to more comprehensive data privacy regulations like the GDPR. After a recent review, the Australian government has introduced a new piece of legislation that will update the Privacy Act to bring it in line with modern data privacy regulations.
The draft bill isn’t perfect and still doesn’t match many of the protections provided by EU or US laws, but it’s a start. Notably, the act introduces:
However, the bill has only just been introduced in the Australian legislative process (which, candidly, I am not an expert on). It’s likely to go through additional changes, but if it passes, it’ll go a long way toward providing Australians with much-needed, modern privacy protections!
Best,
Arlo
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Meta Platforms is rolling out enhanced privacy and parental controls for Instagram accounts of users under 18 in a significant overhaul aimed at addressing growing concerns around the negative effects of social media. Meta will port all designated Instagram accounts automatically to "Teen Accounts,” which will be private accounts by default, the company said on Tuesday. The changes are in part a response to the US Senate’s advancement of the Kids Online Safety Act and the Children and Teens' Online Privacy Protection Act.
The Australian Government has published a draft bill showing potential reforms in the Australian Privacy Act. Among other changes, the draft bill will introduce a tort for serious invasions of privacy, establish a children’s privacy code, require data breach declarations, and create tiered sanctions for data breaches.
23andMe will pay $30 million and provide three years of security monitoring to settle a lawsuit accusing the genetics testing company of failing to protect the privacy of 6.9 million customers whose personal information was exposed in a data breach last year. The accord also resolves accusations that 23andMe did not tell customers with Chinese and Ashkenazi Jewish ancestry that the hacker appeared to have specifically targeted them and posted their information for sale on the dark web.
The Data Act establishes horizontal rules for accessing and sharing data from internet-of-things (IoT) products and related services across the EU’s data market. Since the Data Act interacts with the GDPR in many ways, the EU Commission recently published a list of FAQs that explain how the Data Act, GDPR, and other EU legislation intersect.
On September 4, 2024, the California Privacy Protection Agency (CPPA) issued an Enforcement Advisory on the importance of avoiding dark patterns. The Enforcement Advisory highlights the CPPA’s focus on ensuring consumer autonomy and choice by advising businesses to “review and assess their user interfaces to ensure that they are offering symmetrical choices and using language that is easy for consumers to understand when offering privacy choices.”
There's more to explore:
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The book inspired by this newsletter: Osano CEO, Arlo Gilbert, covers the history of data privacy and how companies can start building a privacy program from the ground up. More details here.
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