Privacy commissioner is Luddite, says activist after Do No Evil app shutdown
Corporate crusader says the Do No Evil app was only providing what is already public and 'Luddite' commissioner should be replaced
A prominent corporate governance activist has lashed out at the privacy watchdog for failing to acknowledge the need for easier access to information.
"Frankly, I think Mr Chiang is a technophobic Luddite and needs to be replaced by someone who won't keep attacking services that provide public access to data that is already public," said Webb.
He was responding to a move by the privacy watchdog to bar a company from supplying data on individuals - gleaned from publicly available litigation and bankruptcy records - via a smartphone application.
The Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data yesterday said it had ordered the operator of mobile app Do No Evil to cease supplying "sensitive" data after it was found to have invaded personal data privacy by allowing users to search for individuals by name.
Webb said the watchdog's report contained several inconsistencies. "[Chiang's] position is inconsistent. He says it is OK for corporate services to do it for other corporations, but it is not OK for a business to provide this service to a consumer … tenants and landlords may want to look up whether either have been sued in the past and small businesses may want to conduct due diligence," Webb said.
"But any information that has gone through the courts is in the public domain so I don't see why they're forcing people to go down the corporate route."