Our technology and IP lawyers have prepared the news items below to keep clients up to date with the latest legal and regulatory developments in the areas of technology and intellectual property law.

19 October 2023 - Ticketek Issued $515,040 Infringement Notice for Spam

The Australian Communications and Media Authority issued Ticketek with a $515,040 infringement notice for breaching the Spam Act 2003 (Cth) by sending approximately 41,000 marketing text messages and emails to recipients without their consent and approximately 57,000 text messages and emails to previous subscribers who had unsubscribed from its marketing lists.

11 September 2023 - Substantial Penalties for Unfair Contract Terms

​On 9 November 2023, amendments to the Australian Consumer Law will take effect that impose substantial penalties of up to $50 million for businesses and up to $2.5 million for individuals where they include unfair contract terms in their standard form contracts with consumers and small businesses.

10 August 2023 - IP Australia Releases Trade Mark Guidance on Virtual Goods, Metaverse, NFTs and Blockchain

To clarify its practice relating to the classification of emerging technologies in trade mark applications IP Australia has released guidance on the correct classification of virtual goods and services involving the metaverse and other virtual environments, goods and services relating to non-fungible tokens (NFTs), and goods and services involving blockchain technology.

6 July 2023 - DTA and DISR Release Interim Guidance on Generative AI

The Digital Transformation Agency and the Department of Industry, Science and Resources have released interim guidance for Commonwealth government agencies on the responsible, safe and ethical use of ChatGPT and other publicly available generative AI platforms in accordance with principles relating to responsible AI deployment, transparency and explainability, privacy protection and security, and accountability and human centred decision making.

1 June 2023 - DISR Issues Safe and Responsible AI in Australia Discussion Paper

The Department of Industry, Science and Resources issued a Discussion Paper seeking feedback to identify potential gaps in the existing governance landscape that applies to AI and possible additional governance mechanisms to support the development and adoption of AI to ensure that it is used in a safe and responsible manner.

12 May 2023 - ACMA Issues Directions and Warning for Scam Code Breaches

The Australian Communications and Media Authority issued formal warnings and a direction to Sinch Australia Pty Ltd, Infobip Information Technology Pty Ltd and Phone Card Selector Pty Ltd respectively after finding that in breach of the Reducing Scam Calls and Scam SMS Code they allowed the sending of SMS text messages using text-based sender IDs without having undertaken sufficient checks to ensure that the senders were not impersonating other organisations including Medicare and Australia Post.

26 April 2023 - Australian IP Report 2023 Released

IP Australia released its Australian Intellectual Property Report 2023 with key findings that link ownership of IP rights to greater business productivity, higher business revenue, higher staff pay and longer staff retention including findings that businesses which register IP rights are more productive than other businesses and businesses which file trade marks have on average an 8% increase in revenue per employee for each additional trade mark filed.

1 March 2023 - Information Commissioner Releases Notifiable Data Breaches Report: July to December 2022

The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner released its report under the Notifiable Data Breaches scheme for the period from 1 July to 31 December 2022 with key findings that 497 data breaches were notified, data breaches from malicious or criminal attacks increased by 41%, data breaches from human error decreased by 5%, most breaches were reported by the health sector, contact information is most commonly involved in breaches, most breaches affected 5000 or fewer individuals and 71% of entities notified a data breach within 30 days of becoming aware of the breach.

16 February 2023 - Attorney-General's
Department Releases Privacy Act Review Report

The Attorney General's Department released for public comment its Privacy Act Review Report which contains proposed reforms to strengthen the protection of personal information and the control that individuals have over their personal information under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) on the basis that stronger privacy protections will support digital innovation and enhance Australia's reputation as a trusted trading partner.

24 January 2023 - Radio Station 2You Provides Undertakings for Broadcasting and Radiocommunications Rule Breaches

Radio Station 2YOU has provided undertakings to the Australian Communications and Media Authority in respect of breaches of broadcasting and radiocommunications rules under the Broadcasting Services Act 1992 (Cth) involving failing to provide adequate community programming or allow adequate community consultation, exceeding sponsorship advertising time limits and exceeding the maximum allowed broadcasting transmitter power.

13 December 2022 - New Privacy Penalties up to $50 Million

The Privacy Legislation and Amendment (Enforcement and Other Measures) Act 2022 (Cth) commenced which amends the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) to impose increased penalties of up to $50 million on companies for serious or repeated interferences with privacy and to provide the Australian Information Commissioner with greater enforcement and information sharing powers.

1 November 2022 - New Penalties Under Expanded Unfair Contract Terms Regime

New penalties of up to $50 million, three times the value of the benefit obtained or 30 per cent of their adjusted turnover will come into effect for businesses that include unfair contract terms in their standard form contracts with consumers and small businesses unless they review and update their contracts within 12 months to remove any such unfair contract terms.

21 October 2022 - Medibank and AHM Data Breach Fact Sheet

The Department of Home Affairs has issued a fact sheet that provides advice on what you should do if you have been affected by the data breach relating to Medibank and AHM customers which involves a criminal claiming to have stolen the personal information of customers including names and addresses, dates of birth, Medicare card numbers, policy numbers, phone numbers and claims data. 

6 September 2022 - ACMA Issues $213,120 Infringement Notice to Aussie Broadband for 30,000 IPND Breaches

The Australian Communications and Media Authority issued a $213,120 infringement notice to Aussie Broadband Limited for failing on more than 30,000 separate occasions to provide the required customer information to the Integrated Public Number Database which is used to locate people in an emergency, warn of emergencies and assist law enforcement activities.

12 August 2022 - Federal Court Declares Fuji Small Business Contract Terms Unfair

The Federal Court declared many standard form contract terms used in printer contracts by Fuji Business Innovation Australia and Fuji Film Leasing Australia to be unfair contract terms that are void and unenforceable including automatic renewal terms, disproportionate termination terms, liability limitation terms, termination payment terms, unfair payment terms and unilateral variation terms.

12 July 2022 - ACMA Registers Reducing Scam Calls and Scam SMs Industry Code

The Australian Communications and Media Authority registered the Reducing Scam Calls and Scam SMs Industry Code to better protect consumers against scams by requiring telecommunications service providers to publish and exchange information about scam calls and SMS, and comply with rules requiring identifying, monitoring, tracing and blocking of scam calls and SMS.

2 June 2022 - ASIC Releases Updated ePayments Code

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission released an updated ePayments Code that has been extended to provide important consumer protections for payments made using the New Payments Platform which enables instant payments to be made to PayIDs such mobile phone numbers and email addresses.

5 May 2022 - Australian Financial Services Licensee Cybersecurity Risk Management Failure

​​The Federal Court found that Australian Financial Services licensee RI Advice breached its obligations under the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) by failing to have in place adequate documentation and controls to manage risk in respect of cybersecurity and cyber resilience across its authorised representative network which stored confidential and sensitive personal information and documents in relation to retail clients.

22 April 2022 - Trivago ordered to pay $44.7 million penalty for making misleading representations

The Federal Court ordered Trivago to pay a penalty of $44.7 million for making misleading representations about hotel room rates which misled consumers into believing that they could use its website to quickly and easily identify the cheapest rates available for a hotel room when Trivago used an algorithm to display hotel room rate rankings that placed significant weight on which online hotel booking sites were willing to pay Trivago the most.

25 March 2022 - Peters Ice Cream ordered to pay $12 million penalty for engaging in anti-competitive exclusive dealing

The Federal Court ordered Peters Ice Cream to pay a penalty of $12 million for engaging in anti-competitive exclusive dealing involving acquiring distribution services from PFD Food Services on the condition that they would not sell or distribute competitor's single serve ice cream products in specified geographic areas without the prior written consent of Peters Ice Creams.

28 February 2022 - ACCC Releases Digital Platform Services Inquiry Discussion Paper

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission released a Discussion Paper that seeks views on whether a new regulatory framework is required to complement the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth) and Australian Consumer Law to address competition and consumer issues that arise in relation to large digital platforms such as Apple, Meta (formerly known as Facebook Inc.), Google, Microsoft, and Amazon.

23 January 2022 - New Online Safety Act 2021

The new Online Safety Act 2021 (Cth) commenced providing the eSafety Commissioner with functions to improve and promote online safety for Australians including responsibility for administering a complaints system for cyber-bullying material targeted at an Australian child or adult, a complaints and objection system for non-consensual sharing of intimate images online and an online content scheme for dealing with material that depicts abhorrent violent conduct.

1 December 2021 - ​Social Media (Anti-Trolling) Bill 2021 Released

The Federal Attorney-General's Department released an exposure draft of the Social Media (Anti-Trolling) Bill 2021 which will allow Australians to respond to defamatory third-party content posted on social media platforms by deeming the social media provider to be the publisher of the third-party content for the purposes of defamation law and empowering courts to issue orders which require social media providers to give an applicant the third-party's contact details and country location data.

9 November 2021 - Amendments to Telecommunications Low-Impact Facilities Legislation

​The ​Telecommunications Code of Practice 2021 and Telecommunications (Low-Impact Facilities) Determination 2018 have been amended to include requirements relating to the provision of engineering certificates for facilities, issuing of withdrawal notices for cancelled activities, referral of objections and other matters to the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman, deployment of larger antennae and dishes, installation of successive tower extensions and co-location of facilities in commercial areas.

25 October 2021 - Enhancing Online Privacy Exposure Draft Bill Released

The Federal Attorney-General's Department released an exposure draft of the Privacy Legislation Amendment (Enhancing Online Privacy and Other Measures) Bill 2021 which will allow the making of mandatory Online Privacy Codes that apply strict new privacy requirements to social media services, data brokers and large online platforms including stronger protections for children who use social media and a requirement to obtain parental consent for users under 16 years of age.

10 September 2021 - Proposed ACCC Authorisation of Collective Bargaining by Commercial Radio Australia with Google and Facebook

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has issued a draft determination proposing to authorise Commercial Radio Australia to collectively negotiate with Google and Facebook on behalf of the majority of its members to seek payment for the use of their news content by the social media platforms.

13 August 2021 - Full Federal Court Finds Employsure Google Ads Misleading

In an appeal by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission the Full Federal Court found that Employsure Pty Ltd breached the Australian Consumer Law in making misleading representations that it was, or was affiliated with, a government agency by publishing Google Ads with headlines which included "Fair Work Ombudsman Help - Free 24/7 Employer Advice" and "Fair Work Commission Advice - Free Employer Advice" that appeared when a user entered search terms into Google such as "fair work ombudsman"​.

22 July 2021 - ACCC Releases Online Retail Marketplaces Issues Paper

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has released an Issues Paper seeking views on the potential competition and consumer issues arising from the provision of online retail marketplaces which facilitate the supply of goods between sellers and consumers including views on the nature of the terms and conditions of online retail marketplaces and their impact on third party sellers and consumers.

2 July 2021 - Nine Entertainment Incurs Penalties of $159,840 for Excessive Credit Card Payment Surcharges

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission issued Nine Entertainment Co (Nine) with infringement notices containing penalties totalling $159,840 for charging excessive credit card payment surcharges of between 0.9% and 1.55% to subscribers and advertisers for digital and home delivery subscription services and radio, publishing, TV and digital advertising respectively when the actual cost to Nine was between 0.09% and 0.84%.

10 June 2021 - Digital Transformation Agency Releases Digital Identity Position Paper

​The Digital Transformation Agency released a Digital Identity Position Paper seeking feedback on the development of legislation to establish a whole-of-economy Digital Identity system for use by federal, state, territory and local governments as well as the private sector, and which will enable Australians to prove who they are online, support Australians transacting end-to-end digitally and allow innovative digital sectors to flourish.

28 May 2021 - Official Trade Marks Journal Replaced

IP Australia has decided to cease the daily publication of the Australian Official Journal of Trade Marks in which the Registrar currently advertises the outcomes, actions and status of trade mark applications under the Trade Marks Act 1995 (Cth) on the basis that all such information is published and searchable using the Australian Trade Mark Search database which will now function as the Official Journal.

16 April 2021 - Federal Court Finds Google Misled Consumers About Location Data Collection

​The Federal Court found that Google LLC and Google Australia Pty Ltd misled Android mobile device users by misrepresenting that the "Location History" setting was the only Google Account setting that affected Google's collection and use of their location data when another setting "Web & App Activity" that was turned on by default also affected Google's collection and use of their location data.

1 March 2021 - Improving the Carriers' Telecommunications Powers and Immunities Framework Consultation Outcomes Paper

The Commonwealth Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communications released a consultation outcomes paper containing proposals to improve the carrier powers and immunities framework which involve amendments to the Telecommunications Code of Practice 2018 and Telecommunications (Low-impact Facilities) Determination 2018 relating to safety conditions, engineering certificates, cancelled activities, Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman referral, antennae length, radiocommunications dish diameter, tower extension and facility co-location volume respectively.

23 February 2021 - Information Commissioner Publishes Coronavirus (COVID-19) Vaccination Privacy Guidance

The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner published coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccination guidance for organisations covered by the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) advising that employers will only be able to collect employees' vaccination status information in very limited circumstances where the employee consents and the collection is reasonably necessary unless an exception applies, only the minimum information necessary to maintain a safe workplace should be collected, employees must be advised how their information will be handled, the information should only be used and disclosed on a "need-to-know" basis, and reasonable steps should be taken to keep the information secure.

20 January 2021 - ACMA Finds Kogan Breaches Spam Act

The Australian Communications and Media Authority issued Kogan Australia Pty Ltd with an infringement notice for $310,800 and accepted a three year court-enforceable undertaking from it for breaches of the Spam Act 2003 (Cth) involving sending 42 million marketing emails to consumers without a functional unsubscribe facility which required that they take additional steps of setting a password and logging into a Kogan account to unsubscribe.

2 December 2020 - ACMA Registers Reducing Scam Calls Code

​The Australian Communications and Media Authority has registered the Reducing Scam Calls Code which requires telecommunications carriers and carriage service providers to monitor their networks to identify scam calls, share information with other carriers and providers about scam calls, trace the origin of scam calls, combat number spoofing and block numbers being used for scam calls.

4 November 2020 - Full Federal Court Dismisses Trivago's Appeal Against Breach of Australian Consumer Law

The Full Federal Court dismissed an appeal by Trivago against an earlier decision by the Federal Court that it had breached the Australian Consumer Law by making misleading representations that its website could quickly and easily identify the cheapest rates available for a given hotel without sufficiently disclosing to users that it used an algorithm which gave prominence to accommodation providers paying Trivago a higher cost per click fee so that the most prominent offers were not necessarily the cheapest.

1 October 2020 - Intermediaries to Collect Data Under Amended Consumer Data Right Rules

​The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission amended the Consumer Data Right Rules to authorise accredited intermediaries to collect consumer data on behalf of accredited businesses and allow more fintech firms to participate in the Consumer Data Right scheme by engaging outsourced IT infrastructure and software providers to connect to data holders' APIs instead of needing to separately develop their own APIs.

16 September 2020 - Improving the Carriers' Telecommunications Powers and Immunities Framework Consultation Paper

The Commonwealth Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communications released a consultation paper seeking comments on proposals to improve the carrier powers and immunities framework under the Telecommunications Act 1997 (Cth) which provides carriers with powers to deploy low-impact telecommunications facilities on private property without the consent of the landowner or occupier where the carrier has issued them with a valid land access notice in respect of the telecommunications facilities.

13 August 2020 - Proposed Copyright Access Reforms

The Government is proposing reforms to simplify and update Australia's copyright laws which include creating a limited liability scheme for the use of orphan works, creating a new fair dealing exception for non-commercial quotation, amending the archives and libraries exceptions to be technologically neutral, removing limitations and uncertainties around the use of copyright material in onsite and offsite classroom teaching and streamlining the government statutory licensing scheme.

13 July 2020 - ACCC Reauthorises APRA Musical Works Licensing Arrangements

​​The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has reauthorised the musical works licensing arrangements of the Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA) for a further four years on several conditions including that APRA publishes its methodologies for calculating the rates for each category of licence offered and more detailed information about the distribution of royalties to its members.

26 June 2020 - ACMA Releases Digital Platforms Misinformation and News Quality Position Paper

​The Australian Communications and Media Authority released a Position Paper which sets out its expectations for the development of a voluntary code of practice on misinformation and news quality that will likely apply to a wide range of digital platforms including Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Google Search and Google News, Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, Apple News and Snapchat.

8 May 2020 - ACCC and Information Commissioner Release Consumer Data Right Compliance and Enforcement Policy

​The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) and the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) jointly released the Compliance and Enforcement Policy for the Consumer Data Right (CDR) which is intended to assist consumers and CDR participants to understand the approach of the ACCC and OAIC to encouraging compliance with, and preventing breaches of, the CDR regulatory framework which has been developed to give consumers greater access to and control over their financial and other data.

2 April 2020 - ACCC Issues Small Business Coronavirus (COVID-19) Australian Consumer Law Guidance

​The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission issued coronavirus (COVID-19) guidance to small business for the purpose of them complying with their obligations under the Australian Consumer Law when dealing with issues arising from cancelled events and functions, pricing of goods and services and charging subscription and membership fees when their business is not operating.

18 March 2020 - Information Commissioner Publishes Coronavirus (COVID-19) Privacy Guidance

The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner published coronavirus (COVID-19) privacy guidance for organisations covered by the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) advising that personal information should only be used or disclosed on a "need-to-know" basis to prevent or manage COVID-19, only the minimum personal information necessary to prevent or manage COVID-19 should be collected or used or disclosed, staff should be notified how their personal information will be handled in dealing with any case of COVID-19 in their workplace and reasonable steps should be taken to keep personal information secure including where staff are working remotely.

11 February 2020 - Information Commissioner Releases Health Service Providers' Data Breach Action Plan

The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner released a Data Breach Action Plan for health service providers which contains a four step process for managing a data breach involving steps for containing the breach, assessing risks associated with the breach, contacting relevant parties and minimising the likelihood and effects of future data breaches.

21 January 2020 - Federal Court Finds Trivago Breached Australian Consumer Law

The Federal Court found that Trivago breached the Australian Consumer Law by making misleading representations about hotel room rates which misled consumers into believing that its website would help users to quickly and easily identify the cheapest rates available for a given hotel when in fact Trivago used an algorithm to display hotel room rate rankings which placed significant weight on which online hotel booking sites were willing to pay Trivago the most.

17 December 2019 - ACMA Issues $12,600 Infringement Notice to Exetel

Internet service provider Exetel has paid $12,600 in respect of an infringement notice issued by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) for failing to lodge complaint reports by the due date in accordance with the Telecommunications (Consumer Complaints) Record-Keeping Rules 2018 which require specified telecommunications service providers to report complaint information quarterly to ACMA.

13 November 2019 - ASIC Releases Whistleblower Policies Regulatory Guide

​The Australian Securities and Investments Commission released a Whistleblower Policies Regulatory Guide to assist public companies, large proprietary companies and proprietary companies that are trustees of registrable superannuation entities to meet the legal requirement that they make available to their officers and employees by no later than 1 January 2020 a whistleblower policy which deals with specified matters.

17 October 2019 - Information Commissioner Releases Draft Consumer Data Right Privacy Safeguard Guidelines

​The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner released for public comment draft Consumer Data Right (CDR) Privacy Safeguard Guidelines which are intended to assist organisations to understand their obligations under the new CDR framework and outline how the Information Commissioner will interpret and apply the privacy safeguards contained in Part IVD of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth).

5 September 2019 - ACCC Releases Draft Customer Loyalty Schemes Report

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) released for public comment a draft report on Customer Loyalty Schemes which is intended to put loyalty scheme operators on notice in respect of future enforcement action by the ACCC that they must ensure that they comply with the Australian Consumer Law including by avoiding statements that are incorrect or likely to create a false impression and avoiding unfair contract terms.

30 August 2019 - ACCC Issues Intellectual Property Guidelines

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission issued guidelines on its approach to the enforcement of intellectual property rights where specified types of intellectual property related conduct will no longer be exempt from prohibitions on cartel conduct, anti-competitive agreements and exclusive dealing as a result of the repeal of the intellectual property exemption contained in the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth).

26 July 2019 - ACCC Releases Digital Platforms Inquiry Final Report

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission released the final report for its Digital Platforms Inquiry which contains a number of recommendations covering competition law, consumer protection, media regulation and privacy for the purpose of addressing the dominance of Google, Facebook and other digital platforms and their impact on Australia's economy, media and society.

26 June 2019 - Sumo Power Pays $46,200 Telemarketing Infringement Notice

Sumo Power, an electricity, gas and internet provider, has ​paid a $46,200 infringement notice issued by the Australian Communications and Media Authority for failing to produce evidence that it had obtained consent to make telemarketing calls to telephone numbers registered on the Do Not Call Register.

27 May 2019 - ACMA Issues Telstra Formal Warning for Mobile Phone Base Station Deployment

The Australian Communications and Media Authority issued a formal warning to Telstra for failing to comply with the Mobile Phone Base Station Deployment Industry Code by not complying with its consultation plan, not sending a letter containing specified information to all interested and affected parties and not acknowledging a complaint within the required timeframe.

9 April 2019 - ACMA Institutes Legal Proceedings Against Solar Telemarketer

The Australian Media and Communications Authority instituted legal proceedings against Balaska Pty Ltd being a solar business and V Marketing Pty Ltd being a call centre alleging that V Marketing Pty Ltd made telemarketing calls to numbers on the Do Not Call Register at the request of Balaska Pty Ltd in breach of the Do Not Call Register Act 2006 (Cth).

29 March 2019 - ACCC Releases Draft Consumer Data Right Rules

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission released for public comment draft rules for the Consumer Data Right which will initially allow individuals to obtain access to their banking data and have it transferred to other service providers in the banking sector, for example, providers of comparison services or financial advice.

13 February 2019 - Consumer Data Right Bill 2019

​The Treasury Laws Amendment (Consumer Data Right) Bill 2019 was introduced into the House of Representatives to provide individuals and businesses with the right to access information about the consumer transactions which they enter into with businesses to make more informed decisions about the products and services which they purchase in industry sectors including the banking, energy and telecommunications sectors.

15 January 2019 - ACMA Issues Infringement Notices of $8,400 for Telemarketing

The Australian Communications and Media Authority issued infringement notices of $8,400 to Primus Telecommunications Pty Ltd and iSelect LImited and a formal warning to Dodo Services Pty Ltd for making telemarketing calls to consumers after they had withdrawn their consent where their telephone numbers were listed on the Do Not Call Register.

10 December 2018 - ACCC Releases Digital Platforms Inquiry Preliminary Report

​The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) released the preliminary report of its inquiry into the impact of Google, Facebook and other online search engines, social media and digital aggregators on competition which contains the ACCC's preliminary recommendations to address its concerns regarding the substantial market power held by Google and Facebook and the extent to which consumers' data is collected and used to enable targeted advertising.

7 November 2018 - APRA Releases Cyber Attacks Information Security Standard

​The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) released an information security standard which aims to ensure that APRA-regulated entities take measures to make them resilient to cyber attacks by requiring them to clearly define information-security related roles and responsibilities, maintain an information security capability commensurate with the size and extent of threats to their information assets, implement controls to protect their information assets commensurate with the criticality and sensitivity of those assets and notify APRA of material information security incidents.

2 October 2018 - Federal Court Imposes Penalties of $3.5 Million on Equifax

The Federal Court has ordered Equifax (formerly VEDA) to pay penalties of $3.5 million for engaging in misleading and deceptive conduct and unconscionable conduct as a result of its representatives making false and misleading representations to consumers in phone calls by telling them that its paid credit reports were more comprehensive than the free reports which Equifax was required to provide to consumers under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) when the reports actually contained the same information.

26 September 2018 - Fitness First Penalised for Excessive Payment Surcharge

Fitness First Australia Pty Ltd was required to pay a penalty of $12,600 for imposing a fifty cent flat fee surcharge of about 1.09% for the processing of a $46 fortnightly membership payment using MasterCard debit payment after the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission issued it with an infringement notice for breach of the excessive payment surcharge provisions contained in the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth) as its actual costs of processing the MasterCard debit payment were only 0.81%.

16 August 2018 - Enhancing Online Safety (Non-consensual Sharing of Intimate Images) Bill 2018

The Enhancing Online Safety (Non-consensual Sharing of Intimate Images) Bill 2018 (Cth) passed the House of Representatives making a person who posts online an intimate image of another person without consent, or who refuses to remove such an intimate image in accordance with a removal notice, liable to a civil penalty and a person who uses a telecommunications service to transmit such an intimate image liable to a criminal penalty.

31 July 2018 - Information Commissioner Releases Second Notifiable Data Breaches Quarterly Report

The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner released its second quarterly report under the Notifiable Data Breaches scheme advising that 242 data breach notifications had been reported in the period from 1 April to 30 June and that the main causes of these data breaches were malicious or criminal attacks (142 notifications mostly involving compromised credentials) and human error (88 notifications mostly involving sending emails containing personal information to the wrong recipient).

15 June 2018 - $1.95 Million Penalty for Australian Consumer Law Domain Name Breach

Domain Corp Pty Ltd and Domain Name Agency Pty Ltd were ordered to pay $1.95 million in penalties for breaching the Australian Consumer Law by making false and misleading representations and engaging in misleading and deceptive conduct as a result of the companies sending out approximately 300,000 unsolicited notices to organisations which looked like domain name renewal notices but were actually notices for registration of new domain names for which approximately $2.3 million was paid by organisations.

25 May 2018 - EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) commences

The European Union's General Data Protection Regulation commenced which applies to all organisations operating within the EU and organisations in Australia and other countries outside the EU but which offer goods or services to persons in the EU and imposes fines up to the greater of 20 million euros and 4% of an organisation's total worldwide annual turnover for non-compliance with its data protection provisions.

11 April 2018 - Information Commissioner Releases Notifiable Data Breaches Quarterly Report

The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner released its first quarterly report under the Notifiable Data Breaches scheme which stated that 63 data breach notifications had been reported under the scheme and that 51% of these notifications were attributed to human error, 44% of these notifications were attributed to malicious or criminal attack and 3% of these notifications were attributed to system faults.

22 March 2018 - ACMA fines Allied Construction and Roofing Pty Ltd $21,600 for calling numbers on Do Not Call Register

The Australian Communications and Media Authority fined solar power business Allied Construction and Roofing Pty Ltd $21,600 for calling numbers on the Do Not Call Register without consent and accepted a court enforceable undertaking from the company detailing its commitment to comply with the telemarketing rules under the Do Not Call Register Act 2006 (Cth).

22 February 2018 - Notifiable Data Breaches Scheme Commences

Organisations subject to the Australian Privacy Principles contained in the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) must commence notifying affected persons of specified data breaches under the new Notifiable Data Breaches (NDB) scheme where the data breach involves unauthorised accessing or releasing of personal information or the loss of personal information likely to be accessed or released without authorisation in circumstances which are likely to result in a person suffering serious financial harm or harm to the person's mental or physical well-being.

24 January 2018 - ACCC releases Payment Surcharges Guide

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission released a guide to assist businesses to comply with the new ban under the Competition and Consumer Amendment (Payment Surcharges) Act 2016 (Cth) which prohibits the charging of payment surcharges that are more than the actual cost of accepting the payment method which includes typical card payment methods such as Eftpos, MasterCard, Visa and American Express.

15 December 2017 - Information Commssioner releases Notifiable Data Breaches Scheme Resources

The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner released resources to assist organisations subject to the Australian Privacy Principles to comply with their obligations under the Notifiable Data Breaches scheme established by the Privacy Amendment (Notifiable Data Breaches) Act 2017 (Cth) which requires that they notify individuals whose personal information is involved in a data breach that is likely to result in serious harm.

3 November 2017 - ACMA Fines TPG $360,000 for Breaching Spam Act

The Australian Communications and Media Authority fined TPG Internet Pty Limited $360,000 under the Spam Act 2003 (Cth) for not properly processing unsubscribe requests from consumers who had unsubscribed from receiving commercial electronic messages from it but continued receiving such messages.

4 October 2017 - ACMA Issues ValueAd Marketing Formal Warning for Breaching Spam Act

The Australian Communications and Media Authority issued a formal warning to ValueAd Marketing Pty Ltd for breaching the Spam Act 2003 (Cth) by sending almost 25,000 commercial SMS messages to promote product sampling / testing and mystery shopping opportunities where the messages did not include its contact details so that recipients could readily contact it.

15 September 2017 - Telecommunications Sector Security Reforms

The Telecommunications and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2016 ​(Cth) was passed by both Houses of Parliament with the intent of significantly enhancing the security of critical telecommunications infrastructure by requiring telecommunications carriers and carriage service providers to do their best to manage risks to ensure the availability and integrity of their networks and facilities and to protect the confidentiality of information stored on and carried across their networks and facilities.

25 August 2017 - Victorian Government Releases Cyber Security Strategy

The Victorian Government released its Cyber Security Strategy which is intended to ensure secure and resilient government information, services and infrastructure by developing and implementing cyber security capabilities to preserve and improve the protection of sensitive citizen and other data, resilience of government services, systems and infrastructure to cyber threats, protection and security of new digital services for citizens, coordination of its response to infrastructure threats, and security and viability of its core infrastructure.

12 July 2017 - ACMA Fines Upside.Digital $39,600 for Breaching Spam Act

The Australian Communications and Media Authority fined Upside.Digital $39,600 under the Spam Act 2003 (Cth) for sending a significant number of marketing emails on behalf of its clients which did not clearly contain each client's name and contact details and for being unable to demonstrate how it had obtained consent to send emails on behalf of its clients through other third party marketers which sent the emails to their own customer databases.

13 June 2017 - ACCC Issues Infringement Notice to Sprint Telco

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission issued an infringement notice to telecommunications service provider Sprint Telco Pty Ltd for making false or misleading representations to a consumer during a telemarketing call in which it alleged that it was acting as Telstra's agent or with Telstra's approval when it transferred the consumer to it from Telstra.

9 May 2017 - IP Australia releases IP Commercialisation Guide

IP Australia released a guide to assist startups and small businesses with their commercialisation steps involving understanding commercialisation, sourcing and protecting your idea, IP background due diligence, commercialisation vehicle options, business structures, funding your idea and finalising your commercialisation plan.

13 April 2017 - Review of Access to Telecommunications Data

The Australian Government has completed a review into whether civil litigants should be granted access to data retained by telecommunications service providers solely for the purpose of the data retention scheme and concluded that there is insufficient evidence to allow civil litigants to access such data although they will still be able to access data that is not retained by providers solely for the purpose of the data retention scheme.

1 March 2017 - Revised Code for Handling Life Threatening and Unwelcome Communications

The revised Handling of Life Threatening and Unwelcome Communications Code developed by Communications Alliance and its members came into effect which establishes standard procedures for the handling by telecommunications industry suppliers of communications in life-threatening situations and unwelcome communications to helplines.

13 February 2017 - Mandatory Data Breach Notification Laws Passed

Mandatory data breach notification laws will soon commence in Australia after the Privacy Amendment (Notifiable Data Breaches) Bill 2016 (Cth) was passed by the Senate which imposes mandatory data breach notification obligations on organisations regulated under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) by requiring them to notify the Privacy Commissioner and affected individuals as soon as practicable after becoming aware of a data breach where there is a likely risk of the affected individuals suffering serious harm.

19 January 2017 - Definition of "Personal Information" Considered by Full Federal Court

In Privacy Commissioner v Telstra Corporation Limited the Full Federal Court held that the words "about an individual" contained in the then definition of "personal information" in the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) require that an individual needs to be the subject of the information or opinion (which can have multiple subject matters) and that in every case it is necessary that an item of information or opinion, individually or in combination with other items, is about an individual in order for the item to fall within the definition of "personal information".

15 December 2016 - ISPs Ordered to Block Access to Pirate Websites

In Roadshow Films Pty Ltd v Telstra Corporation Ltd Justice Nicholas of the Federal Court made orders pursuant to section 115A of the Copyright Act 1968 (Cth) requiring that Telstra, Optus, M2, TPG and several other internet service providers block access to a number of overseas piracy websites that infringe or facilitate copyright infringement including The Pirate Bay, Torrentz, TorrentHound and IsoHunt websites.

12 November 2016 - Unfair Contract Terms in Small Business Contracts

New unfair contract term protections in the Australian Consumer Law were extended to apply to standard form business-to-business contracts for the supply of goods and services where at least one of the parties is a small business which employs less than 20 people and the upfront price payable under the contract is no more than $300,000 (or $1 million if the contract is for more than 12 months).

19 October 2016 - Privacy Amendment (Notifiable Data Breaches) Legislation

The Privacy Amendment (Notifiable Data Breaches) Bill 2016 (Cth) was introduced into the Australian Parliament which imposes mandatory data breach notification obligations on  organisations regulated under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) requiring them to notify affected individuals and the Privacy Commissioner as soon as practicable after becoming aware of a data breach where there is a likely risk of the affected individuals suffering serious harm.

8 September 2016 - European Union Court Finds Hyperlinks Breach Copyright

The highest court in the European Union has held that a person infringes the copyright in a copyright protected work where in the pursuit of financial gain the person posts a hyperlink to the work which is freely (although illegally) available on another website without the consent of the copyright owner unless the person can establish that the person did not know and could not reasonably have known the illegal nature of the publication of the work on the other website.

24 August 2016 - Privacy Commissioner Releases Final Report on Ashley Madison Data Breach

The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner released its final report on the data breach involving the public disclosure of 36 million Ashley Madison user profiles which identifies a number of breaches of the Australian Privacy Principles and sets out legally binding steps which Ashley Madison must take to protect the privacy of users' personal information including enhancing privacy safeguards, amending information retention practices, improving information accuracy and increasing information handling transparency.