http://www.thepunch.com.au/tags/privacy/ Politics, political opinion, world news, sports news and the latest news and views updated live, daily on The Punch - Australia's best conversation. en Copyright 2012 The Punch penberthyd@newsltd.com.au penberthyd@newsltd.com.au Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:45:28 +0000 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:45:28 +0000 Politics, opinion, world news, sports news, latest news, views, Barack Obama, Kevin Rudd, Julia Gillard, Nathan Rees, Malcolm Turnbull, Peter Garrett, Barnaby Joyce, Australian, federal politics, opinion polls, election, The Punch, thepunch, punch ExpressionEngine 1.6.7 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss 15 http://www.thepunch.com.au/images/punch-logo-rss.png http://www.thepunch.com.au/ 144 70 Politics, political opinion, world news, sports news and the latest news and views updated live, daily on The Punch - Australia's best conversation. Search The Punch keywords http://www.thepunch.com.au/search/ http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Stripped-of-civil-liberties-for-a-night-on-the-town/ Stepping out for a fun night and a few drinks sure isn’t as simple as it used to be. In case you hadn’t noticed, an increasing number of Australian bars and clubs are introducing security technology that would be more fittingly encountered in a Police state than a casual night out for a drink in one of Australia ‘s cities. In a dystopian display of modern surveillance technologies overtaking common sense, nowadays if you feel inclined to venture out for a dance in one of Melbourne or Sydney ‘s bars or clubs, you can expect to have your ID scanned into a computer. And in extreme cases, be prepared to have your irises scanned as a pre-requisite for entry. Talk about a party killer! feedback@thepunch.com.au (Tory Shepherd) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Stripped-of-civil-liberties-for-a-night-on-the-town/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Stripped-of-civil-liberties-for-a-night-on-the-town/#item7562 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:45:28 +0000 Fifteen years ago, when I was at uni studying Anthropology, Political Discourse, and the Hegemony of the Hate Media, I couldn’t have foreseen the day I’d be eager to defend Rupert Murdoch’s newspapers. Back then I also thought a belly button piercing would give me a certain je ne sais quoi, when all it gave me was a deep and revolting infection. Things change. But although I can feel my gorge and my blood pressure rise when I hear the way politicians pretend adverse media coverage is to blame for their entirely self-created debacles, it’s still hard to leap into the fray. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/the-news-world-is-not-as-limited-as-you-think/ Fifteen years ago, when I was at uni studying Anthropology, Political Discourse, and the Hegemony of the Hate Media, I couldn’t have foreseen the day I’d be eager to defend Rupert Murdoch’s newspapers. Back then I also thought a belly button piercing would give me a certain je ne sais quoi, when all it gave me was a deep and revolting infection. Things change. But although I can feel my gorge and my blood pressure rise when I hear the way politicians pretend adverse media coverage is to blame for their entirely self-created debacles, it’s still hard to leap into the fray. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Tory Shepherd) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/the-news-world-is-not-as-limited-as-you-think/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/the-news-world-is-not-as-limited-as-you-think/#item6750 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:45:28 +0000 Fifteen years ago, when I was at uni studying Anthropology, Political Discourse, and the Hegemony of the Hate Media, I couldn’t have foreseen the day I’d be eager to defend Rupert Murdoch’s newspapers. Back then I also thought a belly button piercing would give me a certain je ne sais quoi, when all it gave me was a deep and revolting infection. Things change. But although I can feel my gorge and my blood pressure rise when I hear the way politicians pretend adverse media coverage is to blame for their entirely self-created debacles, it’s still hard to leap into the fray. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/the-right-to-privacy-would-come-at-a-social-cost/ Paul Keating’s fondness for picking up the phone to relay his displeasure about media coverage is the stuff of legend. From the half-dozen spirited conversations I’ve had as a publisher with the former PM, the most memorable went to the issue of privacy. An item had appeared in Sydney Confidential about his daughter being spotted on a date with a rugby league player at a city bar. The article didn’t suggest any hanky-panky, simply that they had met for a drink. Keating didn’t think it should have run at all and took particular issue with the accompanying photograph, which had been tagged as digitally altered, featuring separate merged images of his daughter and the said footy star. Keating prefaced his remarks by reflecting on the level of moral bankruptcy which would attract someone to a career as a gossip writer, and indeed a career as the publisher of their work. To give you a sense of it, in his opening salvo he described gossip writers as “ugly biker’s molls who couldn’t get a root on a troop ship, couldn’t get a root on a troop ship coming home” and he concluded that whenever he rang editors about articles of this kind he routinely received a lecture about public figures and the public’s right to know which had no relationship to the “horseshit” we chose to publish. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Tory Shepherd) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/the-right-to-privacy-would-come-at-a-social-cost/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/the-right-to-privacy-would-come-at-a-social-cost/#item6456 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:45:28 +0000 Fifteen years ago, when I was at uni studying Anthropology, Political Discourse, and the Hegemony of the Hate Media, I couldn’t have foreseen the day I’d be eager to defend Rupert Murdoch’s newspapers. Back then I also thought a belly button piercing would give me a certain je ne sais quoi, when all it gave me was a deep and revolting infection. Things change. But although I can feel my gorge and my blood pressure rise when I hear the way politicians pretend adverse media coverage is to blame for their entirely self-created debacles, it’s still hard to leap into the fray. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Push-for-toughened-privacy-is-supreme-hypocrisy/ The Gillard government, in concert with the Greens, is planning to toughen up privacy laws. The immediate spark for this has been the appalling electronic hacking by the News of the World in the UK. A cynic could say that this re-kindled interest in personal privacy is an attempt to put the carbon tax issue out of peoples’ minds. There is a federal Privacy Act, which prevents private organizations from obtaining information about people without their consent. There is a federal Privacy Commissioner, whose task it is to monitor and act on breaches of privacy laws. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Tory Shepherd) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Push-for-toughened-privacy-is-supreme-hypocrisy/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Push-for-toughened-privacy-is-supreme-hypocrisy/#item6425 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:45:28 +0000 Fifteen years ago, when I was at uni studying Anthropology, Political Discourse, and the Hegemony of the Hate Media, I couldn’t have foreseen the day I’d be eager to defend Rupert Murdoch’s newspapers. Back then I also thought a belly button piercing would give me a certain je ne sais quoi, when all it gave me was a deep and revolting infection. Things change. But although I can feel my gorge and my blood pressure rise when I hear the way politicians pretend adverse media coverage is to blame for their entirely self-created debacles, it’s still hard to leap into the fray. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/unforgiveable-sin-confessing-to-child-abuse/ Moves are afoot in Ireland to lift the sacred secrecy of confession - so priests will be jailed if they don’t report child sex abuses revealed to them. SA Senator Nick Xenophon has been pushing for similar changes in Australia, arguing that innocent children deserve more protection than religious practice. We asked him for some more details. What changes would you like to see in the way confessions are handled? The admission of child abuse to a priest during confession should not be exempted from mandatory reporting requirements.  No church should be complicit in the cover up of child abuse just so some paedophile can attempt to clear his conscience.  The rule of law should come before religious beliefs, and there should be no exceptions. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Tory Shepherd) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/unforgiveable-sin-confessing-to-child-abuse/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/unforgiveable-sin-confessing-to-child-abuse/#item6338 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:45:28 +0000 Fifteen years ago, when I was at uni studying Anthropology, Political Discourse, and the Hegemony of the Hate Media, I couldn’t have foreseen the day I’d be eager to defend Rupert Murdoch’s newspapers. Back then I also thought a belly button piercing would give me a certain je ne sais quoi, when all it gave me was a deep and revolting infection. Things change. But although I can feel my gorge and my blood pressure rise when I hear the way politicians pretend adverse media coverage is to blame for their entirely self-created debacles, it’s still hard to leap into the fray. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/when-your-facebook-friends-pimp-you-out-for-kicks/ In one of the earliest scenes in The Social Network, the nerds are shown using the net to rank the hotness of women at their university. That nerds are still using Facebook for these very same purposes a decade on should surprise few. In recent days a private Facebook group has been exposed as trading in images of women. Of pilfering snaps from the pages of friends, of reposting them, of ranking the women like cuts of meat. In a surprising twist, a group which clearly demonstrates no ethics apparently has a code of conduct for members including a mandate to never discuss the group, a rule I daresay imposed for fear of outing oneself as a geek, a letch and as a perv rather than to preserve any Stonecutter secrets. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Tory Shepherd) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/when-your-facebook-friends-pimp-you-out-for-kicks/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/when-your-facebook-friends-pimp-you-out-for-kicks/#item5881 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:45:28 +0000 Fifteen years ago, when I was at uni studying Anthropology, Political Discourse, and the Hegemony of the Hate Media, I couldn’t have foreseen the day I’d be eager to defend Rupert Murdoch’s newspapers. Back then I also thought a belly button piercing would give me a certain je ne sais quoi, when all it gave me was a deep and revolting infection. Things change. But although I can feel my gorge and my blood pressure rise when I hear the way politicians pretend adverse media coverage is to blame for their entirely self-created debacles, it’s still hard to leap into the fray. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/when-old-misogyny-meets-new-technology/ Safe sex used to be simple. Step A: take one vending machine prophylactic. Step B: use it. These days, everything is much more complicated. These days, protecting yourself from “going viral” may also involve checking for hidden webcams and erasing your ex-partner’s flash drive. Most of Australia is now familiar with the case of the 18-year-old Australian Defence Force Academy cadet whose peers called her a “skank” and a “dirty whore” after a male cadet secretly recorded the two of them having sex. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Tory Shepherd) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/when-old-misogyny-meets-new-technology/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/when-old-misogyny-meets-new-technology/#item5642 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:45:28 +0000 Fifteen years ago, when I was at uni studying Anthropology, Political Discourse, and the Hegemony of the Hate Media, I couldn’t have foreseen the day I’d be eager to defend Rupert Murdoch’s newspapers. Back then I also thought a belly button piercing would give me a certain je ne sais quoi, when all it gave me was a deep and revolting infection. Things change. But although I can feel my gorge and my blood pressure rise when I hear the way politicians pretend adverse media coverage is to blame for their entirely self-created debacles, it’s still hard to leap into the fray. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/filming-births-why-would-you-want-to/ This week online forums fired up with talk about whether or not you should be allowed to film births, after a report it had been banned. I’d like to know why you’d want to in the first place. I know it’s all about documenting the miracle of birth and so on, but why would you even think about taking a video camera into a delivery room? Maybe there’s some confusion with the operating “theatre” concept. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Tory Shepherd) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/filming-births-why-would-you-want-to/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/filming-births-why-would-you-want-to/#item4992 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:45:28 +0000 Fifteen years ago, when I was at uni studying Anthropology, Political Discourse, and the Hegemony of the Hate Media, I couldn’t have foreseen the day I’d be eager to defend Rupert Murdoch’s newspapers. Back then I also thought a belly button piercing would give me a certain je ne sais quoi, when all it gave me was a deep and revolting infection. Things change. But although I can feel my gorge and my blood pressure rise when I hear the way politicians pretend adverse media coverage is to blame for their entirely self-created debacles, it’s still hard to leap into the fray. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/what-is-google-really-doing-with-your-personal-details/ In today’s society, most Australians are pretty comfortable with sharing personal information, with at least one major caveat – that we clearly know what our information is being used for. Understanding how the information that organisations collect from us is used is the key guiding principle of our Privacy laws. Our privacy regime is consent-based – if you understand why private and personal information is being collected and consent to the purpose for which it is being collected then that information can be used for that purpose. Social media and the more successful Internet business models fundamentally challenge this notion – because commercial success is often predicated on knowing as much as you can about your individual users and being less than upfront about how that information will be used. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Tory Shepherd) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/what-is-google-really-doing-with-your-personal-details/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/what-is-google-really-doing-with-your-personal-details/#item4435 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:45:28 +0000 Fifteen years ago, when I was at uni studying Anthropology, Political Discourse, and the Hegemony of the Hate Media, I couldn’t have foreseen the day I’d be eager to defend Rupert Murdoch’s newspapers. Back then I also thought a belly button piercing would give me a certain je ne sais quoi, when all it gave me was a deep and revolting infection. Things change. But although I can feel my gorge and my blood pressure rise when I hear the way politicians pretend adverse media coverage is to blame for their entirely self-created debacles, it’s still hard to leap into the fray. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/johnathan-thurston-and-the-rise-of-the-so-what-scandal/ Is anyone really that shocked at a rugby league player having a big night on the turps? The arrest in Brisbane this morning of Cowboys captain Johnathan Thurston is, as Darren Lockyer said of his mate, a real pity for him and he’ll be cursing himself for (allegedly) pushing the boundaries with the cops. But it’s neither corrupt like a salary cap rort nor a flagrant moral infraction like taking performance-enhancers. It’s a low-level bit of stupidity and right-minded people will assess it with a shrug. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Tory Shepherd) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/johnathan-thurston-and-the-rise-of-the-so-what-scandal/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/johnathan-thurston-and-the-rise-of-the-so-what-scandal/#item4052 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:45:28 +0000 Fifteen years ago, when I was at uni studying Anthropology, Political Discourse, and the Hegemony of the Hate Media, I couldn’t have foreseen the day I’d be eager to defend Rupert Murdoch’s newspapers. Back then I also thought a belly button piercing would give me a certain je ne sais quoi, when all it gave me was a deep and revolting infection. Things change. But although I can feel my gorge and my blood pressure rise when I hear the way politicians pretend adverse media coverage is to blame for their entirely self-created debacles, it’s still hard to leap into the fray.