Secrecy, privacy, security, intrusion

There are many, I decided to turn off flash in the browser on Friday and after about 5 minutes had to turn it back on as a number of websites the content would not be shown. The only one I can remember was BOM where radar images need flash.

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Flash has been disabled on my computer for quite a while - or at least so I thought. I revisited my browser settings and it was enabled! That has now been corrected - although the browser only provides for ā€˜ask firstā€™.

The BOM radar image seems to work fine without Flash - but the Bureau needs to fix its websiteā€™s lack of security. (There were a couple of locations where it was impossible to know whether it was working, such as Longreach. Of course this is simply because of a lack of interesting weather there.)

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I donā€™t know whether thatā€™s the right Section to settle the question, but for clarity ā€¦

s51(xxxi) applies only to the Commonwealth government, not to state governments.

So you canā€™t directly compare the Commonwealth compulsorily acquiring an asset with a state compulsorily acquiring an asset.

So ā€œThe Castleā€ was about an airport, not a suburban road.

The situation if a territory were to compulsorily acquire an asset on unjust terms could be more complex. As you say, the Commonwealth has the right (the power) to step in and override the injustice but I would take additional convincing that the Commonwealth has an obligation to step in - and Section 51 (xxxi) still doesnā€™t directly apply to a territory government.

I didnā€™t intend to muddy the waters by talking about territories. The intention was to contrast Commonwealth and state.

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State Govts responses are mainly derived from application of Common Law. They are not always fair and so hope is based on an outcome that may be better in that Stateā€™s Supreme Court. As you rightly point out it is a State only matter but the land will still be acquired. Compensation is not always made and this is what caused the Supreme Court action over the rail corridor which the litigant failed to sway the Court to get the Govt to pay compensation.

In the Castle they retained their land, while this made a great film the underlying point was that the Fed Govt could not acquire the land. This is not true, the only requirement was that fair compensation was made, and the Courts have held that market value at the time is fair. I should have made it clearer that the Constitution applies to Fed Govt responsibilities and this is which gives a protection of fair compensation in Federal acquisitions. I have amended my previous post to make it more evident.

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Also very clearly spelt out in the respective Commonwealth Land Acquisitions Act 1989 (LAA).

https://www.finance.gov.au/sites/default/files/2019-12/compulsory-acquisition-of-land-brochure.pdf

Interesting points on acquisition,

Of interest is the CofA can exercise itā€™s rights without agreement, and subsequent to acquisition settle the fair value. Responsibility for the Act rests with the Dept of Finance and Minister.

History of one sample:
With reference to State Govts (EG Qld) our physical property tittles had references on the rear reserving specific rights to the Crown. Our conveyancing solicitor explained they were on all freehold titles, and indicated the crown could at any time reclaim the title or exercise other rights.

In the 1960ā€™s a local council used that authority to resume a large parcel of urban land (farm) from a family member. Adequate compensation was considered the unimproved value on the rates notice at the time. This was many times less than market value of the day, and was not contestable. Subsequent re-zoning saw the land substantially converted from public purpose (the legal justification required for the acquisition) and sold to development for premium housing lots. Weā€™ve come a long way with Qld now rating properties based on market value on the day, and compensation including the value of improvements. The significant land acquisition costs incurred for the ex Traverston Crossing Dam project on the Mary River bear witness to this.

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Another day another attempt to further develop the desire of Govts to know all about all their citizens. The Facial Recognition system is going to be further rolled out in the Federal Govtā€™s stable of Departments that deal with clients (hereā€™s :wink: looking at you :wink: MyGov) . Some are warning a step possibly too far with the concern that implementation isnā€™t what it should be.

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So people on unemployment benefits will need to use their mobile phone camera to confirm who they are? And this will work fine in remote communities, of courseā€¦?

If you have nothing to hide you have no reason not to allow your face to be recorded in a centralised government database that will of course be as well protected as all the other information said government holds on you which will all be in that one place that is not at all attractive to hackers.

(Slightly paraphrased.)

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No argument from me of your between the lines concerns as well as your written ones. I have no great love for any intrusion that these Govts today make towards depriving us of liberty, privacy, and their desire for overall control of every step we take.

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Clothing company H & M fined 35.3 million euros for spying on their employees.

https://www.9news.com.au/world/hm-germany-fined-spying-on-workers-privacy-watchdog-retail-shopping-news/740d24cd-5291-4d3e-a755-68a697d0cbf8

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Data Breach too since:

The privacy violation was discovered after the data briefly became visible to all people on the company network

Great ā€¦

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An article regarding whether the State Premiers are actually telling the truth.

And another one claiming that some of them are not.

https://www.msn.com/en-au/news/australia/former-victorian-health-minister-accuses-premier-dan-andrews-of-lying/ar-BB19Q5YG?ocid=msedgdhp

As the old saying goes. ā€œHow do you tell when a politician is lying?ā€

ā€œYou can see their lips movingā€.

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An article regarding claims that the AEC is investigating whether Labor supplied electoral data to unions.

The interesting part is not the claims but that the ABC News does not know the correct word for electoral rolls.

image

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It appears to also be a problem an nine.com.au

ā€œRoovesā€?

I am apparently archaic, as while I generally do not use the word I consider it acceptable English.

Oh, and my browser (with a bunch of privacy extensions) almost totally refuses to load that Nine News page. Good to see all is working correctly.

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Nine now has a news page? a real news page? since when? :rofl:

ā€¦ and as it pertains to roo{f|v}ing -
image

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A book touting story, but.

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Whether companies are a bigger threat or a smaller threat than governments is bit beside the point.

The threats add together.

The threats are also not independent e.g. government buying data from companies and/or government leaning on companies for data and/or government legislating to force companies to cough up data.

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An article regarding a small sample poll by The Guardian finds overwhelming support for a Federal ICAC.

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I am not sure if it should be the same as the NSW ICAC, but a separate, independent body which investigates complaints and misconduct within the Commonwealth. Maybe the Qld CCC model is a better one.

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Perhaps, but the Commonwealth proposal is even better? At protecting politicians from public scrutiny in the opinion of some. First comments.

Apparently what we donā€™t get to hear about canā€™t hurt us.
No public enquires into politicians behaving badly?
Investigations can only be initiated at the request of the government/minister?

Still itā€™s only a draft. Plenty of time over 6 months to fine tune the legislation to silky perfection. :roll_eyes:

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