Personal data 'being shared'

UNPRECEDENTED volumes of personal information on millions of ordinary Australians are being shared between federal government departments under dramatic extensions of a little-known "data matching" scheme, privacy advocates have warned.

Federal agencies are increasingly cross-matching the personal data held in vast government databases to spy on Australians.

The depth of personal information held by the Government has reached extraordinary levels, with the Tax Office keeping records of such details as religious affiliation and criminal convictions.

"Matching is inherently contrary to the privacy principle that (personal) information should only be used for the purpose it was collected," Australian Privacy Foundation spokesman Nigel Waters said.

The attorney-general's department says identity theft costs the Australian economy more than $1.1billion a year.

But privacy advocates, already concerned about the renewed Australia Card debate, believe the increased use of data matching could actually stymie the Government's efforts to combat identity theft.

They are also concerned that inappropriate information is being shared by government agencies.

Data-matching personal information between departments to improve the accuracy of identity details could create more "data quality" problems than it solved, Mr Waters said.

"Matching invariably brings major data quality (problems) as the data has been collected for different purposes."

While the largest federal government data-matching program is covered by laws restricting the use of personal information, most activity is covered by less stringent voluntary guidelines administered by federal Privacy Commissioner Karen Curtis. Ms Curtis was not available for comment yesterday.

By James Riley, Selina Mitchell and ID Alert 23 July 05

Ed: The Privacy Act

Yet if a client contacts you from an institution including a psychiatric hospital or prison and says that they have been mistreated can you help? The response from the Ombudsman, the psychiatric facility or the prison:

"Under the Privacy Act's provisions you do not have permission to act for or seek any information about your client."

So the client who contacted your organisation by phone "in a crisis situation" and who believes they have no other means of getting help, can't get assistance from the community.

Even after they themselves have contacted the authorities, have to find the materials means to write out an authorisation to that organization, which would include the purchase of a stamp.

Then get it posted and wait for the post to arrive at that organization. And until that organisation send the authority to the authority complained to, even though (their client asked by phone to assist them urgently) no further enquiries can be made.

Why is the "data matching" scheme more important than a human being in a crisis situation in relation to personal information and should it be the other way around?

Should it be left up to the authorities to deal with complaints when the community can assist just in case the authorities are overlooking the situation intentionally, under resourced, understaffed or there is no utility or funding and or if someone in the government can be bothered at all?

Related:

Gov't Failure Card: Community
The Federal Government has dismissed renewed calls to revisit the idea of an Australia card. (His ABC) 14 July 05.

Australia Card-Identity plan: Community
Federal fascist Attorney-General Philip Ruddock says the Government has taken into account privacy issues while developing a new system to identify fraudulent documentation.

No ID Cards
There is already an ID card the tax-file number cross referenced with medicare card drivers license and or passport. Why not just have us implanted with micro-chips as that will be the most convenient for the State by whoever runs it...no those laissez faire tax-dodging Libs will split. Their bosses like BHP-Billiton owe $850 million in tax. Will they also do a Vizard ? Meanwhile in Britland....

Thank God they're looking out for me
That's the thing about Australians who look and talk funny, they don't respect our culture. Good Aussies ALWAYS carry ID in case the Gestapo, I mean, Culture Police pick them up.

More police powers for spyware
Federal and state police now have the power to use computer spyware to gather evidence in a broad range of investigations after legal changes last week.

Community seeks more power to interrogate ASIO suspects
Greens Senator Bob Brown does not think increased police powers are necessary. "We have enormous powers for surveillance, apprehension or punishment of people who are engaged in or intending to engage in or thinking about being engaged in terrorist acts in this country," he said.

Greens warn of 'politicised' terror trials
AUSTRALIA/CUBA?: The Australian Greens say they are concerned that new anti-terrorism laws being debated in the Senate allow for the "political black-banning" of defence
lawyers at terrorism trials.

A corrupt way to treat the community?
I seen the police bleeding on Nine's Sunday program arguing that promotion should depend on how many crimes police have solved and not how many brains they have and that was coming from police commissioner Ken Moroney and Police Minister John Watkins?

AFP: The unlikely CRIMINAL
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Ruddock moves to give police access to emails
Police could get access to stored voicemails; emails and SMS messages under a Bill introduced to federal Parliament today. Attorney-General Philip Ruddock says police have had trouble getting access to stored messages because of the laws preventing them intercepting phone calls.

Dictatorship under the crimes Act?
Attorney General Phillip Ruddock said yesterday under the Crimes Act Izhar Ul Haque committed a crime.

Standing up for liberties
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Fascist wants more power for ASIO
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Gulag bill: ASIO set to ignite blazing debate
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Criminal's DNA filed under relative's name
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Surveillance
It is up to ordinary people to raise the level of debate about the undemocratic surveillance practices of the many faceless and unaccountable agents who make daily intrusions on individual privacy, and about the apologists and propagandists for the War nn Terror who applaud every new attack on human rights and freedoms as "prudent" or "necessary". If there is no discussion of reverse surveillance in the national media, create it on the streets on a citizen to citizen basis. If nobody is talking about the outrageous assaults on privacy and human rights embodied in the new antiterrorist acts forced through US, UK and Australian legislatures, start talking about it to your neighbours and friends.

Welcome to the MatrixB
US - In what civil liberties advocates call the most massive database surveillance program in US history, the Multistate Anti-Terrorism Information Exchange, or Matrix, continues to compile billions of records on law-abiding citizens and receive federal funding, despite public outcry and suspicion.

Govt tests airport security eye scanner
Technology that identifies people by scanning their eyes could be introduced into Australian airports as early as next year.

Ruddock foreshadows new terrorism laws
The new laws will allow police to access emails and mobile phone SMS messages, enable wider use of surveillance devices, and protect sensitive national security information during terrorism trials.

Putting Your Finger on the Line: Biometric Identification Technology The NSW Department of Corrective Services has progressively been implementing biometric identification technology (BIT) for use on all entrants into maximum security prisons since August 1996. It currently operates in seven prisons in NSW and is scheduled for introduction at Parklea prison later this year. BIT has raised the ire of many community agencies, the legal fraternity and government authorities. Framed examines what the controversy is all about and what the implications of this technology are.

Seriously Ten seriously blue and seriously flawed!
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NSW Police Force may get 'special powers'
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Xerox workers to strike over satellite tracking plan
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Police Chronology 1994-2001
View events in the NSW Police Force since the Wood Royal Commission began in 1994. 1994 May Justice James Wood is appointed Commissioner of the Royal Commission into the NSW Police Service ('WRC').

Justice Action: Access to our community

We have been battling for access to our community with our publications

NSW: Justice Action went to the NSW Supreme Court before the last Federal election on the constitutional right for prisoners to receive information for their vote. The government avoided the hearing by bringing prisoners' mobile polling booths forward. We pursued it after the election. This is the report.

NSW Prison Commissioner of Corrective Services Mr Ron Woodham has dropped his ban on Justice Action publications.

Kingsford Legal Centre corresponded with Mr Woodham's office following the Supreme Court action challenging the banning of The Australian Prisoners' Election Newspaper in NSW prisons.

We submitted a slightly altered version of the national newspaper for prisoners, to make it specific to NSW. The paper was submitted asserting the protection of the Constitutional right of Australian citizens to receive political information in order to cast an informed vote at elections.

The Department tried to stall, taking 3 months to respond to the submission of the draft newspaper. Only when Kingsford set a deadline, after which we would again take them to court, did Mr Woodham respond.

He said,

"I note that the editorial section of the submitted 'newspaper' contains a number of provocative and misleading comments... While it is arguable that some of the material does not consist of communication about government or political matters, I have no objection to the content of the majority of the newspaper... It is not my intention to place a ban on this newspaper but I insist that only those individuals who expressly indicate their interest in receiving a copy of the newspaper be sent one."

This is an important precedent, allowing even 'provocative and misleading' material.

We are now contacting prisoners to organise for internal distribution.

Below is the full text of Woodham's response, with his attached analysis of the newspaper.

Justice Action
65 Bellevue St, Glebe, NSW 2037, Australia
P.O. Box 386, Broadway, NSW 2007, Australia
ja@justiceaction.org.au
voice: 612-9660 9111 fax: 612-9660 9100

Please log into the Justice Action Web site, designed and sponsored by
Breakout Design & Print, exercising good corporate citizenship:

New South Wales Government
Department of Corrective Services

Ms Joanne Moffitt
Principal Solicitor
Kingsford Legal Centre
11 Rainbow Street
KINGSFORD NSW 2032

Dear Ms Moffitt,

I refer to your letters of 23 February 2005 10 March 2005 and previous correspondence on behalf of Justice Action in which yo have sought my permission for copies of the 'Australian Prisoners Election newspaper' to be distributed to inmates in NSW correctional centres. I understand that your client is now only seeking approval in relation to pages 1 to 4 of this newspaper.

I note that the editorial section of the submitted 'newspaper' contains a number of provocative and misleading comments and also invites inmates to submit "Écommentary, personal accounts, short stories and letters to the editor on any topic". This is inconsistent with the purported purpose of the paper which according to your correspondence is to "provide prisoners with political information relevant to their right to vote". I can only conclude that the real intention of this publication is to provide inmates with a vehicle for criticism of the Department of Corrective Services and to circumvent the ban that I have imposed on the distribution of 'Framed'.

While it is arguable that some of the material does not consist of communication about government or political matters, I have no objection to the content of the majority of the newspaper and have attached comments in relation to the individual sections. I am however not prepared to arrange for the distribution of this newspaper to all inmates in NSW correctional centres.

It is not my intention to place a ban on this newspaper but I insist that only those individuals who expressly indicate their interest in receiving a copy of the newspaper be sent one. I also reserve my decision in relation to any future issues of the newspaper and require your clients to submit these for consideration should your client wish them to be approved for distribution to, or otherwise made available to inmates in NSW correctional centres.

Yours Sincerely

(signature)

RON WOODHAM
Commissioner
23 March 2005

Encl.

1 Editorial....The editorial lies outside the scope of political discussion and parts of its content is provocative in its reference to:

* "I see no criminals, I see before me political prisoners" (paragraph 1)
Comment: The Department would not accept that it detains political prisoners

* Labor party banning distribution of this newspaper (paragraph4)
Comment: Any decision to allow distribution of this newspaper to inmates is departmental

* "(Labor-appointed) prison Commissioner decide that prisoners are better off without one specific human rightÉ "(paragraph5)
Comment: Statement incorrect and provocative

* ..."if you're freezing and starving alone in your cell in the High Risk Management Unit" (paragraph6)
Comment: The Department would not accept that it detains inmates without adequate clothing or food

* (the newspaper) "will include articles, commentary, poetry, personal accounts, short stories and letters to the editor on any topic "(paragraph9)
Comment: It is apparent that the newspaper intends to carry articles, which lie outside the scope of political discourse

* Reference to "The Prisoner's Paper"
Comment: It would appear that this publication is intended to replace "Framed" as a vehicle for criticism of the Department

Suggested Action: Justice Action be advised that in its current format the editorial is unacceptable

Every Vote Sacred? No issues of concern identified
Inmate voting cartoon No issues of concern identified

2 Greens Advertisement No issues of concern identified
Australian Democrats Advertisement There is no authorisation from the Australian Democrats to validate its authenticity. However no issues of concern identified in relation to content

Socialist Alliance Advertisement. There is no authorisation from the Socialist Alliance to validate its authenticity. However no issues of concern identified
How to vote if you're a prisoner No issues of concern identified

3 Helping Communities Fight Crime. There is no authorisation from 'the Coalition' to validate its authenticity. However no issues of concern identified in relation to content

Labor's Plan to protect and strengthen human rights in Australia. There is no authorisation from Labor to validate its authenticity. However no issues of concern identified in relation to content

Have you been sentenced for a federal crime? No issues of concern identified

Q&A: Prisoners ask why? There is no authorisation from the political parties to validate the authenticity of answers provided however no issues of concern identified in relation to content

4 Q&A Continued. In response to the final question, the Socialist Alliance response makes reference to inmate work being "much like slave labour". The department would not agree with this

First Prisoners' Newspaper. It would appear that this publication is intended to replace "Framed" as a vehicle for criticism of the Department. Requests for suggestions for the name of the newspaper is at odds with the stated name, The Australian Prisoners' Newspaper

The History of the prisoners Vote. No issues of concern identified

By Justice Action 15 April 05

Related:

Elections:

REPORT: AUSTRALIAN PRISONERS' ELECTION NEWSPAPER
There was high drama as the only state prisons department in Australia to refuse the The Australian Prisoners' Election Newspaper, was challenged in an emergency hearing before the NSW Supreme Court.

'HOW TO VOTE' MATERIAL BANNED
Australian voters have been blocked from receiving 'how to vote' material from the political parties.

Emergency Supreme Court action for prisoners' vote
Renowned constitutional lawyer, George Williams QC, assisted by Ben Zipser of Selborne Chambers and Joanne Moffit of Kingsford Legal Centre will argue for the right of prisoners to receive voting information in the form of The Australian Prisoners' Election Newspaper. The newspaper has been banned by the prisons commissioner, Mr. Ron Woodham. No explanation has been given.

RE: URGENT - Prisoner enrolment to vote!
Justice Action has been talking to the Australian Electoral Commission over the past three weeks about what steps were being taken to ensure that prisoners were given the opportunity to enrol to vote in the Australian Election on October 9.

Prisoner's right to vote attacked again!
On the eve of the election the Howard government has rushed a new law into the Parliament which will further remove the rights of prisoners to vote.

Howard wants prisoner vote ban
Politicians opposed to a federal government plan to ban all prisoners from voting were soft on crime, Special Minister for State Eric Abetz said.

Govt moves to strip prisoners' voting rights
The Australian Council for Civil Liberties has condemned a Federal Government move to stop prisoners voting. Under current laws, prisoners serving less than five years can vote.

Message of Solidarity: Greens
The Australian corrections system is appalling and rife with abuse of prisoner's rights. The spiralling numbers of those locked up, now over 23,000, is an indictment on a society which purports to be fair and democratic.

Prisoners must get right to vote, says court
UK: The government will be forced to lift a ban on prisoners voting dating back to 1870 after the European court of human rights ruled yesterday it breached a lifer's human rights.

Fighting for Florida: Disenfranchised Florida Felons Struggle to Regain Their Rights US: TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - Gov. Jeb Bush looked out over a roomful of felons appealing to him for something they had lost, and tried to reassure them.

Felons and the Right to Vote One of the greatest achievements of the civil rights struggle was the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which removed most of the obstacles that kept African Americans away from the ballot box and enabled Americans who did not speak English to vote. But the voting rights movement never reached the last excluded segment of our democracy: our prisoners.

Prisons:

MORE PRISONERS LOCKDOWNS HAVE OFFICERS ON EDGE
NSW POLICE Commissioner Ken Moroney has issued an ultimatum as well, to the lawless youths holding Sydney's streets to ransom?: Learn some respect or face jail?

Tough line on crime fills jails
The tough law-and-order policies of governments around the nation are behind an explosion in the prison population by almost 80 per cent in the past two decades.

LEGAL VISITS AT PARKLEA PRISON
I am a prisoner in NSW and I am currently held in Parklea Prison. I am concerned about what is going on in NSW prisons and this is my story.

Parklea Prison: No calls for six days
The last calls that were made out of Parklea Correctional Complex by my partner, an inmate in remand at Parklea, was on Wednesday 2 February. The phone lines for the inmates have been out of service to this date.

Prison visits in crisis in NSW
The reason I am writing today is to address a difficult situation that my husband and my family are going through. My husband is currently serving a sentence at Lithgow Correctional Centre in NSW.

Prison boom will prove a social bust
Hardened criminals are not filling NSW's prisons - the mentally ill and socially disadvantaged are, writes Eileen Baldry.

The prison system requires assiduous oversight
As NSW Attorney General Bob Debus noted in 1996: "The kinds of complaints which occur in the system may seem trivial to outsiders but in the superheated world of the prison, such issues can produce explosive results."

Crime and Punishment
Mark Findlay argues that the present psychological approach to prison programs is increasing the likelihood of re-offending and the threat to community safety.

Justice Denied In NSW Corrective Services
There used to be a (VJ) or Visiting Justice who would go into the prison and judge any claim or accusation that was made by any prisoner or prison guard. If it were found that a prisoner had offended then punishment was metered out.

Prison guards test positive for drugs
NSW prison visitors banned from using the toilet The visit is only for about one hour and any thing less than that is an insult. If it's proved that a visitor has broken the rules the punishment should apply to them. But collective punishment on all visitors should not be made general when others haven't broken the rules especially if it restricts all visitors from normal human needs like using a toilet.

NSW prison visitors banned from using the toilet
The New South Wales Government has introduced several initiatives to stop contraband getting into prisons they said last Friday. But under the guise of "stricter rules" the department had also introduced banning all visitors including children from using the toilet unless they terminate their visit at any NSW prison after using the toilet.

Watchdogs slaughtered in NSW
On Tuesday the Carr Government reduced transparency and accountability yet again and New South Wales is in danger of becoming entrenched with cronyism and intimidations with the Carr Labor Government that continues to slaughter the watchdogs.

Nitschke says he is target of new laws

Euthanasia advocate Doctor Phillip Nitschke has singled himself out as the target of proposed federal laws on suicide.

Under the legislation to be introduced this week, individuals and corporations would be fined up to $500,000 for using the Internet to incite or promote suicide.

Dr Nitschke says that the website produced by his organisation could face fines if the legislation is passed.

"The electronic frontier, who put a submission into this piece of legislation, when it was first brought forward last year suggested that it was only being brought forward because of the activities of one particular group and one particular Australian," Dr Nischke said.

"I took that to mean me."

Dr Nitschke has vowed to continue providing information about euthanasia on the Internet.

He says he will lobby the Government to stop the legislation being passed.

Dr Nitschke fears that the new laws will inhibit freedom of speech in Australia.

"But I'll go down to Canberra again and point out why this is a backward step," Dr Nitschke said.

"Censoring this information is not an Australian thing to do.

"We're going back into the years of book burning."

By Euthanasia 10 March 05

Hazy logic dictates a painful prohibition
If we do more to ease the pain of the terminally ill, it may take much of the heat out of the euthanasia debate. That too is a good thing. In the end, Remy dies at home surrounded by those who love him most, and free from pain. My father was less fortunate. His family was there. But so was that unwelcome intruder, pain. With an ounce of common sense, compassion and political pluck, perhaps it need not have ended that way.