Telecommunications giant Telstra plans to spend $700 million – $100m annually – over the next seven years to ramp up its data and artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities in a joint venture with its long-time partner Accenture. The US consultancy firm is already pouring $3 billion into its own AI capabilities and will own 60% of… Read more »
The National Reconstruction Fund Corporation (NRFC) has gone into Christmas shopping mode, investing nearly $50 million in two days in two tech companies, today announcing $22.5 million for 12-year-old sovereign cloud data security company Vault Cloud. The equity investment comes just 24 hours after leading a $50 million raise for Adelaide IoT and satellite maker… Read more »
Facebook’s parent company, Meta, has struck a $50 million deal with the Australian Information Commissioner to settle a Federal Court case over privacy breach involving the Cambridge Analytica political scandal. While it’s the second largest settlement struck by Meta over the matter, its a fraction of the US$725 million (A$1.14bn) the tech giant paid to… Read more »
Transport for New South Wales has defended the use of technology to track commuters’ devices, often without their knowledge, after privacy concerns were raised by local media. The system, which uses Wi-Fi signals to collect data from devices such as mobile phones, is being trialled on a small number of Sydney light rail services for… Read more »
The use of facial recognition technology in Bunnings stores across Victoria and NSW over three years was a breach of privacy and consent laws, Australian Privacy Commissioner Carly Kind has ruled. The landmark decision on breaches to the Privacy Act follows a two-year investigation by the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner, which found that… Read more »
Since it was founded nearly two decades ago, 23andMe has grown into one of the largest biotechnology companies in the world. Millions of people have used its simple genetic testing service, which involves ordering a saliva test, spitting into a tube, and sending it back to the company for a detailed DNA analysis. But now… Read more »
Facebook acknowledged in a Senate inquiry yesterday that it is scraping the public photos of Australian users to train its artificial intelligence (AI) models. Facebook’s parent company Meta claims this excludes data from users who have marked their posts as “private”, as well as photos or data from users under the age of 18. Since… Read more »
The annual Startup Muster survey has extended its response deadline until this Monday, September 9. Already more than 150,000 questions have been answered in the free, independent report, which shines a light on the progress of Australian startups, as well as the challenges and opportunities they face. UTS Startups director of entrepreneurship Murray Hurps, the driving… Read more »
Despite being drafted and tabled in the Australian Senate in 2022, the Action Initiation Bill was only passed last week. Action initiation would transform the Consumer Data Right (CDR) from merely a data-sharing framework into a dynamic system that empowers consumers to take action based on the insights they gain. The CDR was created to… Read more »
This week’s passing of the Treasury Laws Amendment (Consumer Data Right) Bill 2022 by the Australian Parliament has reignited discussions about its potential to drive positive change. While concerns about complexity, data quality, low consumer uptake, and high implementation costs persist, the government’s commitment to extending and simplifying the CDR by focusing on high-value use… Read more »
On Tuesday, Australia’s minister for government services, Bill Shorten, announced the federal government is developing a new digital identity and credential system. Known as the Trust Exchange (TEx), Shorten said the new system will be “world leading” and represents an “exciting step forward for Australia’s digital infrastructure”. But details about the system are scarce. Shorten… Read more »
The minister for government services, Bill Shorten, will unveil a new initiative that would allow people to have more control over the personal information they share. The scheme, called the Trust Exchange (TEx), would allow people to verify their identities and credentials based on official information already held by the federal government. The plan is… Read more »
Automated facial recognition is becoming widespread in Australia. The technology has already been used by retail outlets, sport stadiums and casinos around the country. And in November, the Australian government’s digital identification system will be expanded, after new laws passed parliament earlier in the year. As the technology becomes less expensive and more powerful, it… Read more »
Our insatiable demand for digital content and services has been driving a rise in energy-hungry data centres. The International Energy Agency reports global data centre electricity consumption could double in a few short years, reaching 1,000 terawatt hours (TWh) by 2026. That’s roughly the same as generated by the whole of Japan per year. Some… Read more »
Approximately 12.9 million Australians had their personal and health information stolen during a data breach involving MediSecure, the defunct electronic prescriptions company has confirmed. The figure means almost half of the Australian population was likely impacted by the breach of scripts distributed by MediSecure up until November 2023, making it one of the largest cyber… Read more »
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