Aussie for privacy
March 17, 2008 at 11:08 pm 2 comments
New York governor Eliot Spitzer might have saved himself a whole lot of trouble if he was instead an Australian ministerial staffer.
The Australian Government has ordered over 315 staff to fill out a 25-page form and undergo an in-depth interview about their personal finances, drug habits and sexual history to get security clearance. The reason? To protect them from blackmail.
In what is perhaps the understatement of the year, Cabinet Secretary John Faulkner said that “Some staff find it intrusive.”
Gaining security clearance includes requiring staff to list their history of sexual partners, reveal extra-marital affairs and detail homosexual experiences.
Privacy advocates like Roger Clarke point out that “It’s a given that sensitive data, stored in large databases will inevitably leak.”
With apologies to Foster’s (see this iconic commercial if you’re not familiar about this reference), is this Australian for privacy?
Entry filed under: Aus, government, personal_info, privacy, video.
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Identity and Privacy Blog 
1. » Aussie for privacy | March 17, 2008 at 11:25 pm
[…] One a mitchell the kicker call on a. wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerpt New York governor Eliot Spitzer might have saved himself a whole lot of trouble if he was instead an Australian ministerial staffer. The Australian Government has ordered over 315 staff to fill out a 25-page form and undergo an in-depth interview about their personal finances, drug habits and sexual history to get security clearance. The reason? To protect them from blackmail. In what is perhaps the understatement of the year, Cabinet Secretary John Faulkner said that “Some staff find it int […]
2.
kowhai | March 18, 2008 at 9:02 am
This really blows my mind! I would have thought people would have the gumption to refuse to answer those kind of questions.