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In the 2001 census, the government first offered Australians a choice as to whether they would like their name-identified information kept. This year that opt-in system will be a compulsory system. Your name will be kept whether you like it or not' (Berg, C 2016).
Happy census night folks! Catch you on a blacklist some time :) #ALC205— Brendan Williams (@Brendan_L_W) August 9, 2016
On the 9th of August I, like
millions of other Australians sat down to complete the Census of Population and
Housing. In previous years the census had been an understandable curiosity, an
excuse to sit down with a glass of wine and some pizza, and contribute some
useful data. This time however, the process was undertaken with a somewhat
heavy heart. The government’s decision to make this year’s census individually
identifiable, with the compulsory inclusion of one’s name, has changed it from
a ‘snapshot of Australia, showing how our nation has changed over time,
allowing us to plan for the future’ (Biddle, N Montaigne, M 2016), to something
more in line with the controversial 1985 ‘Australia Card.’
The unique code that identifies each census effectively becomes the Australia
Card’s ‘Universal Identification Number’ (UIN), which ‘will be the common ‘key’ to the databases of the agencies allowed to
participate in the scheme, and will enable ‘matching’ of databases where
authorised’ (Greenleaf, G, & Nolan, J 1986 p.410).
Then this happened…
This page has made my night! Thank you ABS, I feel safer already #ALC205 #censusjustgotawesome pic.twitter.com/OIg3bXsHAB— Brendan Williams (@Brendan_L_W) August 9, 2016
Now I would hope that the security concerns of this
type of identified, and rich data gathering would be apparent to all, but the
aspect that stuck with me is that there is no option to opt-out. Much has been
made of this situation with many seeing it as no different to the kinds, and
amount of information that we routinely divulge to Facebook and the like. The
obvious retort to this argument is that participation in social media is
voluntary, the census however, is not, with the threat of ever increasing
penalties for non-compliance. Case closed? I’m not so sure.
My uncertainty lies in the relationship we
have with the respective platforms and/or institutions that gather our data. With
the ABS I can sit atop my righteous indignation, knowing that I am being
strong-armed into submission, but with say Microsoft, I opted-in with no coercion
on their part (except for maybe advertising). I am in control.
At least I was, until I received an email
from them regarding changes to their privacy policy, and what got me was the
final paragraph…
They may as well have written ‘suck it up,
or get out!’. Just like the census, I am left with no recourse except for
compliance or punishment of sorts, where the penalty in this case is exclusion
from a platform I have been using for over a decade and am tied to by the bonds
of familiarity and habit (not to mention the fact that I pay for their
services).
It would be easy to extend this situation to
nearly any popular data gathering entity (Google, Facebook, twitter, etc.). We
all opt-in to these services considering to some degree the powers they wield, and
weigh that up against the perceived benefits we get from the relationship yet,
‘what is presented as a bargain actually lacks mutuality, disclosure or roughly
equal bargaining power. In such cases, the bargaining frame will highlight the
absence of the possibility of a bargain’ (Pallitto, RM 2013 p.5).
The rules governing how our data is handled
lie on shifting sands, and there is little we can apparently do about it. We
can opt-in, and ignore or tolerate the surveillance, or we can opt out and
become pariahs in an inescapably technological world. It would seem that
surveillance, in the form of data gathering, is not just becoming the norm but
is also becoming compulsory.
Unsuprisingly, they still want me fill out the census...
Unsuprisingly, they still want me fill out the census...
Gotta hand it to 'em... they're keen! Just got this in the mail #ALC205 #itsforyourowngood pic.twitter.com/pdpfPS53D9— Brendan Williams (@Brendan_L_W) September 2, 2016
References:
Greenleaf, G, & Nolan, J 1986, 'THE
DECEPTIVE HISTORY OF THE "AUSTRALIA CARD', Australian Quarterly, vol. 58, no. 4, pp. 407-425.
Pallitto, RM 2013, 'Bargaining with The
Machine: A Framework for Describing Encounters with Surveillance Technologies',
Surveillance & Society, vol. 11,
no. 1/2, pp. 4-17.
Berg, C 2016, If you're worried about privacy, you should worry about the 2016 census,
ABC, retrieved July 28 2016, http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-03-15/berg-census-privacy-threat/7244744
Biddle, N Montaigne, M 2016, Explainer:
what is the census, and why does it matter?, The Conversation, retrieved August 8 2016, http://theconversation.com/explainer-what-is-the-census-and-why-does-it-matter-62493
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