Giving privacy the credit it deserves - News

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This story was printed from ZDNet Australia.
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Giving privacy the credit it deserves

By Rachel Lebihan, ZDNet Australia News
October 26, 2000
URL: http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/soa/Giving-privacy-the-credit-it-deserves/0,139023165,120106530,00.htm

Whilst the government is playing the role of pamphleteer and busily promoting a safe environment for online credit card transactions, it is being condemned for privacy legislation "so full of holes" that it actually discourages consumer confidence in the use of credit cards over the Net.

A ministerial release titled 'Credit cards safe for online transactions' was distributed by the office of the Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, Senator Richard Alston today.

In it Alston welcomes a government-backed pamphlet - 'The Phantom Menace: Setting the Record Straight about Online Credit Card Fraud for Consumers'.

However, "companies' handling of personal information [on the Internet] is a bigger issue [than fraud]," Tim Dixon of the Australian Privacy Foundation told ZDNet.

"A lot of research says consumers are concerned in Australia about credit card information security," Dixon said. "Consumers are openly worried and feel they're losing control," he added.

Dixon questions what actually happens to consumers' credit card information once it hits the wires.

"We're talking about comprehensive lifestyle information here," Dixon said, not only email addresses but home addresses, as well as interests, age and other demographic information.

"There have been cases when hundreds of thousands of credit card numbers and customers' personal details have been disclosed by hackers," Dixon added

Dixon claims that at a recent international conference he attended, there was "open laughter" at the Australian privacy policy, which grants 94 percent of Australian businesses an exemption from the proposed legislation.

"It's a flagrant example of the government directly ignoring the overwhelming opinion of the majority of Australians," Dixon said, pointing to the fact that consecutive research shows that 80 to 90 percent of Australians want a strong online privacy safeguard.

"I'm not surprised that the government has brushed the issue of privacy aside," Dixon said, "its privacy legislation is so way below global standards".