Published on the 19/07/2018 | Written by Heather Wright

Get ready for backlash against data free-for-all…

A new survey has sounded a warning for businesses big and small, showing Australian consumers are unhappy about how their data is being collected and used and want the government to provide more protection from data misuse.

The Consumer Policy Research Centre (CPRC) Consumer Data and the Digital Economy report, has highlighted consumer concerns, with the CPRC saying the benefits of open-data are being overshadowed by risk consumers face in protecting their data.

Lauren Solomon, Consumer Policy Research Centre CEO, says while open data can drive huge benefits to consumers and society, consumers need to have adequate control and choice.

“Business is obtaining a benefit from this data but often consumers are not.”

The report shows 95 percent of the 1,004 Australians surveyed want to be able to opt out of certain types of information collected about them, how it can be used and/or what can be shared with others. Seventy-three percent of those surveyed said they accepted privacy policies despite being uncomfortable with them because it was the only way to access a product or service.

Seventy-three percent also believe government should ensure companies provide consumers with opt out options around what data they provide and how it can be used and shared, while 67 percent felt government needed to develop protections to ensure consumers are not unfairly excluded from essential products or services based on the data or profile.

The CPRC report calls for greater transparency, using elements of the GDPR as a starting point; providing ‘genuine options’ for consumers around what data is collected, shared and used; and making privacy management easier for consumers.

It also recommends implementing Privacy by Design in business IT systems or practice, a review of potential gaps in current law and regulation, investment in regulatory bodies to audit unlawful discriminatory practices and increased penalties to disincentivise companies from non-compliance.

Speaking at the National Consumer Data Policy Research Centre conference this week, Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) boss Rod Sims said the data ‘genie is out of the bottle, now we have to decide what to do with it’.

The ACCC is overseeing the Consumer Data Right (CDR) – dubbed by Sims as ‘a fundamental competition and consumer reform – which will be rolled out sector by sector beginning with Open Banking, followed by energy and telecommunications.

However, the CPRC notes the CDR, while ‘a very welcome move’, will be voluntary and only for certain types of data, falling short of the GDPR introduced in the EU and the new California Consumer Privacy Act.
“These economy-wide protections enable much greater transparency and things such a the right to erasure or ‘right to be forgotten’, added protection for the processing of children’s data and greater transparency with initiative such as clear ‘Do Not Sell My Personal Information’ buttons on websites,” Solomon says.

Sims says the CDR, isn’t intended to act like the GDPR or be the one-stop-shop for regulation and control of consumer data, with privacy rules and frameworks continuing to be the primary tools to address privacy issues.

“The CDR will give consumers the right to safely access data about them, held by businesses, and direct this information to be transferred to trusted third parties of their choice. It is essentially a data portability right,” he says.

In May, the Australian government announced it was investing $65 million over the next four years to ‘reform’ Australia’s data system, including the creation of the CDR and the establishment of a National Data Commissioner.

“The way data is used within society is changing rapidly,” Sims says. “Business is obtaining a benefit from this data but often consumers are not. Indeed, innovations that arguably benefit consumers such as targeted news or advertising are controlled almost exclusively by business interests rather than consumer decisions or choice.

“In this context, attempts to redress the balance and give more control to consumers, and to spur competition, are to be strongly welcomed,” he says.

Solomon warns that consumer discontent could spell trouble for businesses, with Australians likely to demand policy settings, or adopt new technologies, to limit the ability of companies to hold private data, unless companies find ways to create a more even value exchange.

And, if the private sector doesn’t self-regulate, consumers will likely demand government intervention.