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submission
mask.of.sanity writes:
Google could be the biggest threat to Australia's big four banks because of the trust online users place in it and its ability to engage with customers, banking executives say. They told an audience from the finance sector that companies like Google and PayPal are more responsive and trusted than banks, and cited emerging technology with an emphasis on online applications as a means for the smaller credit unions to challenge the position of incumbent banks.
It's welcome news for Australia's credit unions: the nation's banks have taken turns in being the first to lift interest rates above the official reserve bank rate, with others collectively following suit, leading some to speculate they are in collusion.
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submission
mask.of.sanity writes:
The Australian Government's privacy commissioner has slammed its plans to implement a data retention scheme, in which it would asked telcos and internet to store the browsing and calling logs of Australian subscribers.
He said the scheme would put user privacy in jeopardy because data will lie around at the behest of law enforcement.
The Aussie scheme would be based on that which exists in Europe under the EU Directive. The directive aims to give law enforcement authorities the ability to ascertain the identity of a person using a public network to communicate by mobile, fixed line, email, or internet. The directive defines "data" to be collected as "traffic data and location data and the related data necessary to identify the subscriber or user".
