G’Day! This is the first time I’ve written this introduction as a member of the iappANZ Board. There are a huge number of things happening in the Asia Pacific region in the area of privacy.

It is exciting to see that Asia Pacific governments are looking to modernise their privacy legislation to reflect the changing information security landscape and their citizen’s needs:

  • South Korea — amending their privacy law;
  • Singapore — new cybersecurity bill planned for 2017; and
  • even Australia — the notification of serious data breaches bill is before Parliament, but the banks have issues. ...

Of course politics will interfere and so we must be realistic and accept that it is unlikely that all these initiatives will be enacted quickly. However, it is I think a sign that the Asia Pacific region as a whole ‘gets’ the importance of privacy and cybersecurity to the safe and secure operation of a modern economy.

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Moreover, huge personal information data losses such as those in the Philippines and financial theft losses such as from the Bangladesh central bank will surely push those countries to renew efforts on cybersecurity and privacy protection.

Because information including private information, leaks so easily through information and communications technology systems, we can only be certain that our data is secure if the ICT systems and laws of those we do business with are also up to scratch. Consequentially it is very much in our interest to work hard to help developing countries to improve their data security and privacy frameworks.

There is also a healthy debate happening in some government circles with the realisation that asking citizens about privacy is not a reliable indicator of how they act.  Furthermore, governments need to observe how citizens use digital services. A more pragmatic approach to privacy which allows people to choose what they wish to do online, in an informed manner, can only be positive.

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