OzHub, the Macquarie Telecom-led cloud computing alliance, has come down firmly on the side of Optus over the copyright controversy surrounding Optus TV Now, warning that any moves to change the law "risk branding Australia a global luddite state."
The battle lines are being drawn for the biggest privacy fight since Joe Hockey’s 2005 smartcard proposal, this time focused on Rudd Government plans for a unique citizen identifier number in the health sector.
There is nothing like a unique identifier number to
heat the blood of privacy advocates everywhere: Bob Hawke found out
with his Australia Card proposal; Joe Hockey got a taste through the
ultimately doomed ‘Not Australia Card’ smartcard; and Federal Health
Minister Nicola Roxon may be about to learn just how loud the privacy
lobby can get.
Roxon and her State counterparts announced plans for national
consultations on the legislative framework for the “national healthcare
indentifier numbers” that will underpin Australia’s eHealth system.
Health is widely acknowledged as the biggest ICT hairball in Government
– at any level. The potential savings that could be delivered through
an electronic health system encompassing governments, healthcare
providers, patients and healthcare centres are enormous.
In opening the consultation, Nicola Roxon preferred to focus on the
potential of the Individual Healthcare Identifier’s (IHI) potential for
saving lives as her opening salvo.
Mismatching of patients with their records and medical results is a
documented problem for the health system. There is a clear link between
avoidable patient deaths and poor medical records management.
The IHI initiative goes further than Joe Hockey’s plan, which would
have seen a Not Australia Card issued to every Medicare card holder –
and there are surprisingly large numbers of people who do not have a
Medicare card.
Under the Roxon system, every Australian resident will be issued with
an IHI, with the system managed initially by Medicare and containing
only information that clearly identifies the person. Today’s
announcement did not broach to controversial issue of biometric
identifiers.
Ms Roxon said the drafting of legislation build on the recommendations
in the Australian Law Reform Commission’s report on its review of
Australian privacy laws, including health privacy protections.
The Australian Privacy Foundation is sceptical, and launched its
campaign against any suggestion of a unique identifier number last
week, before the IHI plan was formally announced.
APF Health sub-committee chair Juanita Fernando said in a letter to the
Minister last week that the indentifier is viewed with alarm. She said
the Australian Government’s record of transparency in eHealth
governance and decision-making had been poor for many years.
Ms Fernando said until an accepted eHealth records privacy and personal
health information security framework had been established in which
patient control was the central principle, any discussion about medical
records was premature.
David Frost
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