Personal privacy warning
The community has been warned to be aware of revealing too much personal information online, as part of Privacy Awareness Week.
Australian Privacy Commissioner Timothy Pilgrim said there are many reasons the LGBTI community should be aware of privacy concerns.
“There are issues [the LGBTI community] face in everyday life where we may like to keep our sexuality or lifestyle private and personal and we should always have the right to be able to do that and make the decision for ourselves when we allow other people to know,” Pilgrim told the Star Observer.
Earlier this year, news broke that private photos and personal information of thousands of Grindr users may have been compromised after a Sydney-based hacker was found to have used vulnerabilities in the social networking app to impersonate other users.
The app has about 100,000 users in Australia and the incident alarmed the gay community.
Pilgrim said there are steps individuals can take to protect themselves.
“We need to be conscious about what information we’re releasing about ourselves because once the information is out in the online environment, it is often very difficult to get it back,” he said.
“We as individuals need to read [privacy] policies and we need to be comfortable that we are giving that information.
“When you look at Grindr, for example, you can use a tag rather than using your own name. I think people should take that opportunity to be as anonymous as possible or use a pseudonym if they are going on sites like that.”
The issue of privacy has had particular relevance for the LGBTI community over the years with the landmark Toonen v Australia case in the early ’90s which led to the repeal of sodomy laws in Tasmania.
The complaint, brought before the United Nations Human Rights Committee by Tasmanian Nicholas Toonen, centred around the claim Tasmania’s laws (at the time) breached Toonen’s right to privacy under international law.
Pilgrim said those who use social media sites should always read the host’s privacy policy to know exactly what the company or organisation is going to do with people’s personal information.
“I understand many [privacy policies] are complex and many people skim over them, but they are important because it will give you an idea about what is going to happen to your information and how broadly it will be shared.”
Privacy Awareness Week runs until May 5.
