Just when you thought it would not get much worse, it has. Added to the litany of computer assisted privacy violations perpetrated by Government custodians of “your personal information” we now find yet another and separate agency involved in more poor behaviour.
As Ben Woodhead reports in today’s Australian:
“Tax office sacks 'spies'
Ben Woodhead
August 29, 2006
A SECOND government agency has been forced to sack staff for spying on client records, with the Australian Taxation Office taking action against 27 workers for breaches of privacy.
The tax office took action against 24 employees over inappropriate access to taxpayer files last financial year, with another three cases detected this year.
ATO first assistant commissioner for people and place, Anne Ellison, said 12 of the staff caught spying last year resigned on the spot. Four were sacked, two were fined and six had their salaries reduced or were demoted.
Two were ultimately prosecuted for breaches of the Tax Administration Act, with one sentenced to community service and the other fined."
The article then goes on to point out that there is considerable suspicion that leaked tax details of a range of celebrities may be linked to these unauthorised intrusions and searches.
Even more alarming are the comments from “Medicare Australia spokesman Peter Sexton said that agency had also had talks with Centrelink as part of a review of its privacy systems.
"We have engaged a consultant to review a number of our processes including audit logging, access profiles and risk assessments," Dr Sexton said. "There is swift disciplinary or legal action taken whenever a case of fraud or unauthorised access is detected."
This confirms what we already knew. Right now the security of your Medicare records (among others) is inadequate. Why else would consultants be asked to help and sort things out?
The points made in the earlier article are just confirmed. Public trust is on the way down and the effect of these ongoing problems not only confirms their right to be concerned but enhances it!
One has to ask why it is only now, with all these reviews having been underway for the last years, do we know what has been and continues to go on. The present system is clearly just not working.
If the public confidence in electronic health records is not going to be destroyed it seems time that a few of the senior managers of these “sticky beaks” who browse and leak information need to be faced with the ultimate disciplinary sanction and terminated. Maybe, then, we would see the cultural change that is so obviously required.
David
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