Addressing the cyber safety challenge: from risk to resilience

Addressing the cyber safety challenge: from risk to resilience describes the cyber safety issues emerging from a range of technology trends, how different populations are using technologies and the risks they face, and how we can effectively respond to each group’s unique cyber safety needs. Written by the University of Western Sydney for Telstra Corporation Ltd, the report advocates for continuing to move cyber safety from a ‘risk and protection’ framework to one that focuses on building digital resilience, as well as fostering trust and confidence in the online environment. To do this we need to: Address the needs of populations often neglected by current policies and programs – including adults, seniors, parents, and small to medium enterprises Continue to build the digital literacy skills of all populations, because digital literacy strongly influences users’ ability to engage safely online – this is best achieved by a hands-on learning approach Keep risk in perspective – the risks and benefits of digital participation go hand in hand Broaden the focus from awareness-raising to long-term behaviour change. As digital technologies become further integrated into the everyday lives of Australians, users are potentially exposed to greater risks. However, the risks and benefits of digital participation go hand in hand. The challenge, therefore, is to support users to minimise the risks without limiting their digital participation and their capacity to derive the full benefits of connectivity. If Australians are to benefit as either consumers or providers of online services and products in the e-commerce environment, consumer safety and trust need to be improved. Cyber safety needs to be considered against a transforming backdrop of technology trends, products and practices. While the rise of social media has tended to dominate recent debate and developments in cyber safety, particularly in relation to young people, a range of other trends is also shaping how users engage online, the risks they potentially face in the new media landscape, and the strategies used to address them. These trends include the rise of user generated content and content sharing platforms; the uptake of mobile technologies and, in particular, the adoption of smartphones; cloud computing; platform integration and single sign-on mechanisms; and the rise of GPS and location based services

Constructing elastic distinguishability metrics for location privacy

With the increasing popularity of hand-held devices, location-based applications and services have access to accurate and real-time location information, raising serious privacy concerns for their users. The recently introduced notion of geo-indistinguishability tries to address this problem by adapting the well-known concept of differential privacy to the area of location-based systems. Although geo-indistinguishability presents various appealing aspects, it has the problem of treating space in a uniform way, imposing the addition of the same amount of noise everywhere on the map. In this paper we propose a novel elastic distinguishability metric that warps the geometrical distance, capturing the different degrees of density of each area. As a consequence, the obtained mechanism adapts the level of noise while achieving the same degree of privacy everywhere. We also show how such an elastic metric can easily incorporate the concept of a "geographic fence" that is commonly employed to protect the highly recurrent locations of a user, such as his home or work. We perform an extensive evaluation of our technique by building an elastic metric for Paris' wide metropolitan area, using semantic information from the OpenStreetMap database. We compare the resulting mechanism against the Planar Laplace mechanism satisfying standard geo-indistinguishability, using two real-world datasets from the Gowalla and Brightkite location-based social networks. The results show that the elastic mechanism adapts well to the semantics of each area, adjusting the noise as we move outside the city center, hence offering better overall privacy

Evidence-informed regulatory practice: an adaptive response, 2005‑15

Overview: In this occasional paper, the ACMA reflects on its regulatory practice over the past 10 years; specifically, the role of research in evidence-informed decision-making and regulation. It looks at how the ACMA has used research in an environment of ongoing change to document and build evidence, inform public debate about regulation, and build capability among our stakeholders to make communications and media work in Australia’s national interest

Using technology in service delivery to families, children and young people

This paper provides an overview of how the innovative use of technology can add value to service delivery in organisations working with families, children and young people.Key messages:Most Australians have access to the Internet and use mobile devices to connect from anywhere, at any time. Research suggests that even isolated and marginalised groups are using technology in their everyday lives.For some groups (e.g., young people), technology may be their preferred method of communication.There appears to be a difference between how people are using the Internet (regularly, from anywhere, connecting with social networks, investigating services) and how some organisations are engaging with it (infrequently, in one direction).Technology works best when used to augment or improve existing services for clients, or to offer innovative approaches to existing services.Technology can be used in diverse ways for organisational improvement (e.g., remote access, staff training, professional development) or client services (e.g., online counselling, SMS appointment reminders, access to resources).Using technology does not necessarily involve large monetary investments or reinventing the wheel in terms of policy and procedures. Often it is a matter of adapting and refining existing services and policies to better suit the online world.Incorporating technology into services takes time, and will need continued assessment and refinement to be successful