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Speaker 1: Yesterday the Digital Platform Services Inquiry Report was published and

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Speaker 1: it highlights that consumers well we just don't know how

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Speaker 1: much of our data is collected, used and shared with

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Speaker 1: data firms and other businesses. When you QR code, for instance,

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Speaker 1: to book into a restaurant or use a QR code

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Speaker 1: in some other way, how much of you is downloaded

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Speaker 1: in that and they get your details and then what

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Speaker 1: do they do with it? Not like the old days

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Speaker 1: where you could ring up as mister Jones, book a

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Speaker 1: table for two or four or whatever and rock up

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Speaker 1: and pay in cash. Job done, no one knew who

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Speaker 1: you were, mister Jones. But these days a little bit

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Speaker 1: different and that has the A Triple C concerned that

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Speaker 1: to consumers lack visibility in choice over data collection practices.

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Speaker 1: Deputy Chair Katrina Lowe is on the line.

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Speaker 2: Katrina, good morning, Good morning Matthew.

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Speaker 1: What do we do about this?

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Speaker 2: Well, we have written our eight Digital Platform Inquiry Report

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Speaker 2: to begin by shining a light on industry practices which

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Speaker 2: haven't been well studied, frankly in Australia. And it's important

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Speaker 2: given both the significant role that these data firms play

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Speaker 2: in the economy and as you say, the limited consumer

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Speaker 2: awareness regarding data collection practices. So consumers typically lack visibility, awareness,

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Speaker 2: and control over how their data is collected and used,

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Speaker 2: and we certainly want to firstly raise awareness of this fact.

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Speaker 2: But we also think that this report really underlines the

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Speaker 2: importance of a couple of reforms that are already under discussion,

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Speaker 2: namely reforms to our privacy law, but also the introduction

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Speaker 2: of what's called an unfair trade practices prohibition.

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Speaker 1: Okay, I suppose as you go through your day you're

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Speaker 1: being identified through the use of the phone in a multiple,

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Speaker 1: probably hundreds of different times a day.

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Speaker 2: That's right. In essence, data can be collected in a

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Speaker 2: whole range of ways, as you say, perhaps in activities

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Speaker 2: that we're used to being able to conduct anonymously. So

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Speaker 2: whether that's conducting a search online, whether it's ordering something

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Speaker 2: in a restaurant via a QR code, there are a

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Speaker 2: whole range of ways in which our data can be collected,

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Speaker 2: and data firms often will also be then aggregating that

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Speaker 2: data and providing services to businesses whereby they can enrich

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Speaker 2: the data that they already hold about it. And we

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Speaker 2: do see data firms are offering often marketing the vast

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Speaker 2: number of data points that they have to businesses as

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Speaker 2: a selling point.

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Speaker 1: When you use a QR code, what are you actually

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Speaker 1: allowing the phone to do? Does it impart your personal

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Speaker 1: your name, your address, your phone number? Does it give

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Speaker 1: all that through the q archive Look?

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Speaker 2: It does vary, but certainly it can provide that sort

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Speaker 2: of information. It can also provide information about the orders

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Speaker 2: that are made, and often firms will also derive profiling

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Speaker 2: information based on the choices that we make, so building

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Speaker 2: up the profile against about us. And part of the

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Speaker 2: challenge is that even if we do go to read

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Speaker 2: the privacy policy, often it will use broad and general language,

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Speaker 2: which might make it difficult for us to understand what

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Speaker 2: actually is being done with our data. One of the

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Speaker 2: data points in our report is that if consumers really

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Speaker 2: did sit down and read all of the privacy policies

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Speaker 2: that they might encounter across their range of activities in

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Speaker 2: a day, it would take an average reader for six

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Speaker 2: hours per month. You no, no, I am not regrettably

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Speaker 2: so it's forty six hours per month for an average reader.

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Speaker 2: So that gives some sense of the size of the

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Speaker 2: task were people to actually sit down and do this,

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Speaker 2: and even if we did, we often have a take

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Speaker 2: it or leave it choice, that is, either give the

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Speaker 2: data that's right, or don't access.

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Speaker 1: The service, so neat yes, so okay. Is legislation the

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Speaker 1: best way to control this, to tip the balance back

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Speaker 1: in the consumer's favor.

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Speaker 2: So, as I say, one of the reforms that we

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Speaker 2: think is very important in this context are the privacy

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Speaker 2: law reform. So one of the reforms that's under discussion

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Speaker 2: is a requirement that the collection, use, and disclosure of

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Speaker 2: personal information needs to be fair and reasonable in all

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Speaker 2: of the circumstances. So that's really saying that there shouldn't

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Speaker 2: be more data collected about us than is necessary, and

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Speaker 2: what's necessary should be decided with reference to what a

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Speaker 2: reasonable person should expect. There's quite a bit of research

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Speaker 2: that's been done around consumer attitudes to data collection, and

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Speaker 2: it's fair to say that the evidence suggests that people

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Speaker 2: are uncomfortable about the amount of their personal information that's

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Speaker 2: been collected. So, for example, a body called the Consumer

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Speaker 2: Policy Research Center found in a survey that seventy four

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Speaker 2: percent of people's surveyed were uncomfortable with the idea of

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Speaker 2: their personal information being sheed or sold.

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Speaker 1: I'm sure that's absolutely right. It's you know, you just

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Speaker 1: wake up in the morning and there's three messages from

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Speaker 1: allegedly a toll road, you know, maybe Telstra and some

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Speaker 1: other organization wanting you to click on a link, and

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Speaker 1: you think, how did they get my number? And perhaps

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Speaker 1: this is part of the answer, but anyway, it's something

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Speaker 1: that needs looking at, no doubt about it. Katrina, thank

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Speaker 1: you for your time.

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Speaker 2: You're very welcome.

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Speaker 1: Indeed, Matty Katrina low There, Deputy chair a Triple C