Human Rights and Technology Discussion Paper

This Human Rights and Technology Discussion Paper submission is made jointly by the Australian Privacy Foundation, the Queensland Council for Civil Liberties, Liberty Victoria, Electronic Frontiers Australia and the New South Wales Council for Civil Liberties.

With the context of the Previous Submissions and at the outset, we consider that the following recommendations were not addressed in the Discussion Paper and remain relevant to the project:

1. Acknowledgement that the development, creation and disposal of technology has international environmental and social consequences;

2. Issues of Indigenous Data Sovereignty and colonial history of Australia that continues to play out in various ways including with respect to technology - for example Suspect Targeted Management Plan (STMP) program, the Basics or Indue cashless debit card, and a global surveillance architecture conducted from traditional lands (i.e. Pine Gap); and

3. Arrangements for additional protections when new technology is targeted against vulnerable groups and for criminal justice purposes. This approach for greater regulation for “high risk” AI applications would be more aligned with EU proposals. 

In the interest of completeness, we make this submission in addition to the Joint Submission on the Human Rights and Technology Issues Paper dated 2 October 2018 and the AI White Paper dated 8 March 2019