Secret Use of Personal Digital Data Shocks Australians · Global Voices
Kevin Rennie

A current affairs exposé In Google We Trust, has caused a flutter on twitter in Australia. The ABC TV Four Corners episode, broadcast on 9 September 2013, looked at how individuals’ digital data is being collected and used.  The extent of breaches of privacy, lack of online security, commercial use of personal information such as shopping habits, and even police tracking and storage of car number plates, came as a shock to many viewers.
Image from Nathan O'Nions Flickr (Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic)
Many tweeps were concerned by the revelations:
#4corners report scaring the living daylights out of me! Wow.
— Cameron Ross (@cameronross00) September 9, 2013
@4corners is melting my brain this evening. If Westfield didn't scare me before, it does now. I want to go back to pens and paper. #4corners
— Owen L (@ohh_ell) September 9, 2013
Apparently three Westfield Shopping Centres already have smart phone tracking ready to go. It is similar to RetailNext, instore analytics used in the United States.
This #4corners is A-mazing. This RetailNext stuff in particular. In store analytics. Customer heatmaps & face tracking via security cams.
— Greg Barila (@GregBarila) September 9, 2013
Thanks #4corners I'm super paranoid now!
— Roza Germian (@RozaGermian) September 9, 2013
Simon Johnson was one of many who think that there was nothing new in the episode:
Watching #4corners – none of these issues re US spying, apps used by kids, or Police car tracking are new. Need a detailed follow up story.
— Simon Johnson (@SimonAJohnson) September 10, 2013
There was also plenty of humorous reaction:
I'm happy to check everyone's security in the @4corners audience tonight for FREE. Just tweet me your netbank details #4corners
— Jonathan Brown (@JB_AU) September 9, 2013
#4corners my Mum just realised how untraceable she is. She has no phone, car, email address, credit card or social media account!
— Cat Cantina Whitlam (@TheCatCantina) September 9, 2013
Just for the record those porn sites I visited were part of a proposed Phd "Digital Sexuality & Cyber Dystopia"#honest#4corners
— Toby Nottabe (@Loose_id) September 9, 2013
There were also the inevitable political concerns:
switch over to ABC's #4corners and see why we should've put @WikiLeaksParty & @piratepartyau in the Senate. Big Brother is watching…
— James Stewart (@amorphic) September 9, 2013
"…no way a govt can collect that volume of data and remain incorruptible…& when you've got it, you'll find a use for it"… #4corners
— Kat Loughrey (@KatLoughrey) September 9, 2013
Concerns that big brother is secretly mining our big data are bound to increase with growing public awareness. However not everyone is that worried:
I'm happy for companies to use my data if it's not done maliciously. It would make a lot of things, like shopping, much easier. #4corners
— Tim Christodoulou (@tim_chr) September 9, 2013
(Featured image by Flickr user – Nathan O'Nions – Creative Commmons Attribution 2.0 Generic)