[LINK] Public data

[Roger Clarke]

At 17:00 +1000 4/5/16, Marghanita da Cruz wrote:
>As a reuser of government data (Annandale Short Walk Books http://ramin.com.au/walks/) I welcome this:
>
>> Public data. The data that is produced and held by the Australian
>> Government is a
>> national resource with the potential to help grow the economy, stimulate
>> innovation, improve service delivery and enable more targeted policy
>> outcomes.   ...

If the interpretation of 'data that is produced and held by the Australian Government' excludes personal data, then I'm sure many of us would join you in welcoming it.

But there are reasons to believe that they mean it to *include* personal data.

So some qualifications to the enthusiasm are needed.

A key context is the Productivity Commission Inquiry into 'Data Availability and Use'.

Its Terms of Reference are laced with mentions of personal data.

This includes a strong agenda to force the big banks to donate their vast treasure-trove of people's credit-related data to Equifax.

(Equifax is the US consumer-profiling behemoth that has recently taken over the Australian all-but-monoploy on credit reporting, Veda - which originated as the industry association CRAA).

The Terms of Reference also make blithe assumptions about personal data being easily anonymised, irrespective of how rich the data-set is.

So the stage is set for a right royal scrap.

____________________________________________


At 17:00 +1000 4/5/16, Marghanita da Cruz wrote:
>As a reuser of government data (Annandale Short Walk Books http://ramin.com.au/walks/) I welcome this:
>
>> Public data. The data that is produced and held by the Australian
>> Government is a
>> national resource with the potential to help grow the economy, stimulate
>> innovation, improve service delivery and enable more targeted policy
>> outcomes.
>> The Prime Minister's December 2015 Australian Government Public Data
>> Policy
>> Statement is an important step towards the better management of this
>> national
>> resource. It commits Australian Government agencies to optimise the
>> use and reuse
>> of public data; to release non-sensitive data as 'open' by default;
>> and to collaborate
>> with the private and research sectors to share valuable public data
>> for the benefit of
>> the Australian public. Requests for access to public data can be made via
>> data.gov.au.
>http://www.budget.gov.au/2016-17/content/bp4/html/
>
>As would Google:
>
>> A data-sharing agreement obtained by New Scientist shows that Google DeepMind's collaboration with the NHS goes far beyond what it has publicly announced
>
>https://www.newscientist.com/article/2086454-revealed-google-ai-has-access-to-huge-haul-of-nhs-patient-data#link
>
>Marghanita
>
>-- 
>Marghanita da Cruz
>Telephone: 0414-869202
>Email:  marghanita at ramin.com.au
>Website: http://ramin.com.au
>
>_______________________________________________
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-- 
Roger Clarke                                 http://www.rogerclarke.com/
			             
Xamax Consultancy Pty Ltd      78 Sidaway St, Chapman ACT 2611 AUSTRALIA
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Visiting Professor in the Faculty of Law            University of N.S.W.
Visiting Professor in Computer Science    Australian National University