iscover
Share this article on:
Powered by
MOMENTUM
MEDIA
A new report from the Consumer Policy Research Centre has found that it takes Australians half an hour each day to manage privacy settings online.
Australians have long been aware that we pay a lot more for certain goods and services in Australia – the so-called Australia tax.
However, according to a new report from the not-for-profit Consumer Policy Research Centre (CPRC), Australia tax could easily refer to the time it takes to manage privacy settings, especially compared to jurisdictions such as the European Union.
“With the Privacy Act due for reform late in 2024, we know that many businesses will be talking to the federal government about the costs they may face if Australia lifts privacy protections to match those in parts of the United States or Europe,” Erin Turner, the Consumer Policy Research Centre’s CEO, told Cyber Daily.
“At CPRC, we want the discussion about privacy reform to be balanced with information about the costs to consumers from the current weak regulations.
“We know that companies can treat customer data with care and respect because we see it happening in countries with stronger privacy laws. We found that it takes an average of two minutes to fully manage privacy settings on Australian websites, compared to just 3.1 seconds in the EU.
“Australians wanting to actively manage their privacy settings would need to spend at least 30 minutes a day changing settings on apps and websites and 14 hours reading the privacy policies in full.”
The CPRC’s The Cost of Managing Your Privacy report also revealed that privacy policies are generally too long, with the longest running to 300,000 words. By comparison, the size of the average novel is between 70,000 to 120,000 words.
The privacy settings themselves are less than transparent, with 45 per cent of those polled saying they had difficulty finding and updating their privacy settings.
Turner said that the report’s findings “show that the ‘notification and consent’ protections we currently have in Australia just aren’t workable. They leave Australians consenting once to companies and having their data used in ways they can’t possibly engage with or understand.”
“CPRC wants to see strong reforms to the Privacy Act, including a clear requirement for companies to opt consumers into privacy-by-default settings,” Turner said.
David Hollingworth has been writing about technology for over 20 years, and has worked for a range of print and online titles in his career. He is enjoying getting to grips with cyber security, especially when it lets him talk about Lego.
Be the first to hear the latest developments in the cyber industry.
