Xenophon boycotts name details in census protest

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news Nick Xenophon, Independent Senator for South Australia, has said he will fight for the right to privacy by refusing to provide his name in the 2016 census, despite the risk of prosecution the protest will bring.

Saying he does not take the step “lightly”, Xenophon said: “I do so in full knowledge that I may face prosecution under the Census and Statistics Act of 1905, and that currently involves a fine of $180 per day that is cumulative for every day of non-compliance.”

Writing on his blog, the senator said he plans to contest any attempt at legal notice relating to his lack of compliance and, by so doing, aims to turn it into a “test case of the validity of this request”.

Xenophon will in the meantime be seeking amendments to Section 14 of the Act, so that people cannot be prosecuted for failing to provide their name.

“In other words it will ensure such information is unambiguously non-compulsory,” he said.

Describing his reasons for the protest, he wrote: “First and foremost, privacy matters”, citing a description of privacy as “an inherent human right and requirement for maintaining the human condition with dignity and respect”.

Acknowledging that the right to privacy “must be measured against public interest considerations”, such as national security and public safety, he suggested that the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), has not made a “compelling case why names must be provided, and stored for four years”.

Further, he cited a source suggesting the ABS is investigating commercial opportunities that could arise from selling the data to private companies,

“[U]nlike any other census in this nation’s history since that first census on the 2nd of April 1911, all names will be turned into a code that ultimately can be used to identify you,” he said.

Xenophon described the consultation process that led to the situation as “woeful” and “lacking transparency”, adding that it has “also come about because the government has either been wilfully clueless or recklessly indifferent to the risk this census poses to our privacy”.

In the blog post, he raised NSW Privacy Commissioner Elizabeth Coombs’ warning in The Daily Telegraph of “a range of risks, not just the misuse” of the information provided in the census.

Coombs added that people may lie on their census forms due to a fear their data may be misused.

The senator said that he intends write to both the Prime Minister and Opposition Leader, as well as “crossbench colleagues”, to seek their support for the amendment, which he pointed out “will need to be made retrospective to Census night”.

“The government should be requesting our consent, rather than requiring our names through coercion,” Xenophon said. “Australians expect the rule of law, not ruled by law.”

“This is a battle worth fighting,” he said.

Image credit: Parliamentary Broadcasting

17 COMMENTS

  1. If we have “rule of law”, aren’t we therefore “ruled by law”???????

    Of course we could go for an anarchical society :) Then we would have privacy. If we’re allowed to.

    • Just thought I’d do a media release… :) Just in case anybody thought they didn’t tell anyone :)

      ABS to conduct a Privacy Impact Assessment
      11 November 2015 | CO/81

      The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) today announced it will conduct a Privacy Impact Assessment on the retention of names and addresses from responses to the 2016 Census of Population and Housing.

      The ABS is considering the retention of names and addresses as a key enabler for improved household surveys and high quality statistics.

      The retention of names and addresses would support the integration of Census data with other high value survey and administrative data to provide a richer and dynamic statistical picture of Australia.

      Historically, the ABS has destroyed all name and address information after statistical processing of the Census has been completed.

      In considering this change, the ABS remains committed to maintaining high levels of community trust. No information will be released in a way that would enable users of Census data to identify any particular individual or household. Names and addresses will be separated from other household and personal data collected in the Census. Addresses and anonymous versions of names will only be used for approved projects.

      To inform both our decision and approach, the ABS will undertake a Privacy Impact Assessment (PIA) and is seeking feedback on this proposal.

      Further information is contained in the ABS Statement of Intent. To provide feedback on the proposal, please write to privacy@abs.gov.au by 2 December 2015.

      The ABS Privacy Policy outlines how the ABS will handle any personal information that you provide to us.

      Have a nice day. :)

  2. They didn’t get any meaningful details from me either, all questions answered with bogus answers. Fuck them.

  3. ABS comedy continues; ABS squealing “attack”, when nothing of the sort.

    “Figures from the Australian government’s procurement agency AusTender show IBM was paid more than $9.6 million in 2014 to design, develop and implement the “eCensus”.

    Melbourne-based company Revolution IT was also paid $378,332 for IT consulting and “load testing” on the census and agricultural census. “Load testing” is a process intended to ensure a website can handle a high volume of simultaneous users without crashing.”
    http://www.smh.com.au/national/census-website-attacked-by-hackers-abs-claims-20160809-gqouum.html

    They sure know how to get value for taxpayers money;-)

    • There were 4 separate DDOS attacks from the USA that hit roughly around when peak times could be expected (ie lunch/when people get home/dinner). Apparently hardware melted (aka failed) under the loads (when geo blocking didn’t work).

      I still don’t think 1 million users would have been enough for the inevitable 7pm flood though (especially because literally no where was it stated you didn’t have to do the typical sit down at 7pm to fill it out … this coupled with the threats of $180/day fines). I bet when they figured a 25-30 churn time it was a best case number as wouldn’t surprise me if took a lot of folk over and hour to do if there’s a distraction or three about.

      • @sm they were quick to claim attack and now retreating.

        “While some described the system error as a cyber attack by foreign hackers, Mr Kalisch said a “confluence of events” had caused the fiasco: the system’s geo-blocking protection was not working effectively, a hardware router failed, and a monitoring system “threw up queries we needed to investigate”.”
        http://www.theage.com.au/national/census-2016-treasurer-scott-morrison-says-there-is-no-need-for-a-rerun-20160810-gqpg5a.html

        Reports of DoS appear to be a few script kiddies. All sites hit by thousands of them a day.

        Typical ballsup; 5 years and $100m not enough (they’ll already be asking for more). Review will be conducted, no one will be held accountable (as happens all the time). Moved onto the next failure (myGov, disability portal, eVoting?).

        1m an hour when 10+m expected in 4-5 hours is on the low side. But to completely incapacitate a system is a classic.

        • oh for sure nothing they’ve been hit with should have surprised them or even had an effect in the least. To the average tech their worst case figures sounded like best case too so its their own damn fault.

          IBM contract was only $10m and I bet it was spec’d to handle 1m concurrent (and probably can) just it was under spec’d :( it’d be nice to see someone held accountable though (including the piss poor decision to not update security because they wanted to support obsolete browsers).

      • @Simon M

        Was it really 4 separate DDOS “ATTACKS” from the U.S.A …

        OR; A whole heap of Aussies with US vpns, for tv/movie streaming &/or privacy protection, from the Coalitions Meta-Data-Retention scheme, all seeking to be good citizens by doing their online Census forms at around the same time frame.

        Thereby overwhelming the underprovisioned census site & hence creating a DDOS from the US.

        Later, RIPP :)

    • Of course we will ignore the fact that 65 million was gutted from ABS, and their IT was outsourced.

      And up until this Census, their IT systems have been pretty good, its only the recent decisions made by the recent head of the ABS that have caused all these issues.

      But no we have a major fail by a government department, clearly it is because of government incompetence and all government should be consigned to the dustbin.

      I mean Major fails NEVER happen to private industry do they?

      By the way, History shows that Libertarian doctrines are as much of a failure as socialist doctrines, or Fascist doctrines, or any of the other extremist doctrines out there.

      • ABS was gifted $250m to upgrade their IT in 2015, annual budget ($600m pa) double 2009 almost 50% higher than 2008 census. Seriously a basic website for a survey beyond these public sector “geniuses”, information collected from many other sources available to them anyway.

        Difference with private sector is they can’t fine non-participants $180 a day. No one will take responsibility, head keeps his $700k salary.

        Socialist doctrine failing everywhere; Venezula their latest poster child (surprisingly little in the msn despite the tradegy). Indeed it has never succeeded anywhere. Libertarian doctrine has failed where? In what way is it extremist?

        As predicted; claims for more money, failure excused. Eyes closed as usual.

        • LOL. You assume that $250 million could cover the upgrades needed. A private organisation that deals with Data spends a LOT more than that. I know how much we spend in the organisation I am in, and that $250 million would barely touch the sides, and we are not a data processing company. We are a mining company.

          Didn’t I say that. All the “Doctrines” fail. Because they DON’T WORK. Duh.

          Libertarian doctrine has been around for a loooooong time. You guys just won’t admit that what you call libertarian, is in fact a step above anarchy.

          A libertarian society lasts for about 2 seconds. After which it quickly devolves into a system run by the guys with the biggest stick.

          Feudal france, Pinochet’s chile, Somalia, etc etc.

          When Government Fails, as it does everytime people start pulling money out of it, a different organisation steps in and takes over(the Yakuza in Japan for example). Whether that is the local police who start taking protection money, or urban street gangs, or some religious nutters or the local feudal warlord.

          A true libertarian state is as big a myth as a true socialist state. They don’t exist. Because they have one enormous fail point. US. Human beings. We are too different, and we change from generation to generation.

          History is literally littered with examples of libertarian ideals that have resulted in revolution. Just like socialism. People think socialism is new, but it really isn’t. It is just a “modern” version of tribal society.

          The only solutions that work, are governments that moderate. The more extreme the government the more extreme the failures. We are seeing the results of libertarian influence in the US right now. The US was built on a lot of libertarian ideals, and it would have died on them if not for some fairly significant social changes in its history, many of which have been undone over the last 20 years. The result being the mess the US got themselves in, and are now trying to pull themselves out of.

          Ask yourself this, why are Libertarians so often associated with Racists and Religions?

          Your ideology is broken Richard. You can give no example that would work any better than socialism. Because BOTH are failures.

          • “You assume that $250 million could cover the upgrades needed.”
            No, pointing out your ABS budget’s is strained claim is ridiculous. Private companies are free to spend their money as they like; investor will hold them accountable.

            “You guys just won’t admit that what you call libertarian, is in fact a step above anarchy.”
            Because it isn’t. Perhaps you should learn more.

            “Feudal france, Pinochet’s chile, Somalia, etc etc.”
            Seriously; Feudal France was centuries ago and collapsed not because of libertarianism, Pinochet was a military dictatorship, Somalia a entirely failed country (zero property protection).

            “We are seeing the results of libertarian influence in the US right now.”
            The US long ago lost any semblance of libertarianism (some looking to regain it); big govt regulation destroying what was a prosperous country. Political class and public sector feeding off it; printing money, govt debt that will never paid off, indefinite deficits, cronyism, …

            “Ask yourself this, why are Libertarians so often associated with Racists and Religions?”
            Say who? As for changing populations libertarian ideals move with them (individual freedom).

            “You can give no example that would work any better than socialism.”
            Your claim was the doctrines were equivalent.

            Hundreds of millions dead under one, the other driving the highest standards of living ever experienced. Billions lifted out of poverty in the past 30 years by implementing a fraction of freer markets.

          • “No, pointing out your ABS budget’s is strained claim is ridiculous. Private companies are free to spend their money as they like; investor will hold them accountable.”
            What? That makes no sense to the context of what I was saying.
            It doesn’t matter whether it is private or public, if you don’t have the budget, then you don’t have the budget. If you try and complete something without the budget necessary you will fail.

            “Because it isn’t. Perhaps you should learn more.”
            Of course, so what is libertarianism? Explain it in your view.

            “Seriously; Feudal France was centuries ago and collapsed not because of libertarianism, Pinochet was a military dictatorship, Somalia a entirely failed country (zero property protection).”
            Indeed. Which proves my point that Libertarianism has been around for a long time, and has been failing for a long time. Oh and Feudal France collapse was due to libertarianism. The methods put in place were a direct cause of the unrest of the population. Perhaps YOU need to learn something.

            “The US long ago lost any semblance of libertarianism (some looking to regain it); big govt regulation destroying what was a prosperous country. Political class and public sector feeding off it; printing money, govt debt that will never paid off, indefinite deficits, cronyism, …”
            BAHAHHAHAHAHAHHA.
            OMG Richard. The only reason the USA even exists today was the dialing back of those “Libertarian” ideals. The US was an absolute powder keg, with the people in several states in open conflict with the government of the time. Police brutality at the behest of the captains of industry, private armies of bullyboys clashing with workers who were demonstrating against unsafe practices and wage slavery. Etc etc etc. Cronyism… Hah that is so ironic its almost not funny.

            “Say who? As for changing populations libertarian ideals move with them (individual freedom).”
            Say many who spout Libertarianism.

            “Your claim was the doctrines were equivalent.”
            Nope, I claimed they both fail because they are extreme ideals. They don’t work. They have never been implemented. Socialist, Libertarian, etc don’t exist. They will never exist. They are impossible.

            “Hundreds of millions dead under one, the other driving the highest standards of living ever experienced.”
            Name one socialist society.

            “Billions lifted out of poverty in the past 30 years by implementing a fraction of freer markets.”
            Nope. Free Markets have definitely increased the amount of money across the world. But the main driver for reducing poverty has actually been World Health. Not wealth.
            As Nations have gotten Healthier, the child mortality rate has been reduced, this has meant a reduction in the number of children being born, which has lead to a reduction in subsistance based economies, which has lead to greater education, which has lead to more efficiency in the local economy, which has lead to more public works, which has lead to better health and schooling, which has then lead to further efficiency.

            Sometimes the above cycle is assisted by the free market. But more often than not, the free market has resulted in those economies not doing as well as they could have without it. More gross wealth is generated, but the wealth distribution and the gap between the Wealthy elite, and the poor few has grown greater and greater.

            The Free market is an ideal. As much as anything else. It is a great ideal. But as always it fails as soon as it is put into practice. Because without appropriate governance it cannot ensure that its weak points are not used against it. The same as Libertarianism, Socialism or any other extremist “idealism”.
            I am actually a free market believer. In an ideal world it is definitely the best way to go, as it eventually stabilises into equality across the board. However I am also intelligent enough to realise that Ideals, like Gods, don’t exist, and believing that they cannot fail, cannot be taken advantage of, cannot be wrong. Well that is just plain foolishness.

            This world is full of examples of Good government, and full of examples of Bad government. The reality is, its got nothing to do with the Government, and everything to do with the managers, the bureaucrats, the politicians that serve it. Pick the right ones, and any system will work well.

  4. Its sad but you’d think they would have their website with decent security in and off itself but have basically left gaping holes for the sake of someone using an obsolete browser :(

    I’m still yet to hear any real reason as to why they need the info for 4 years! or at all.

    If its so above board why all the secrecy, why not engage the public on the issue many a year ago vs last minute etc.

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