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Australia's Asylum-Seeker Database Leaked

posted by Dopefish on Friday February 21 2014, @08:00PM   Printer-friendly
from the another-nope-from-down-under dept.

RobotMonster writes:

"The Guardian reports that a vast database containing the full names, nationalities, location, arrival date, and boat arrival information for a third of all asylum seekers held in Australia -- almost 10,000 adults and children -- had been inadvertently released by the Department of Immigration and Border Protection in one of the most serious privacy breaches in Australia's history.

The disclosure of the database is a major embarrassment for the federal government, which has adopted a policy of extreme secrecy on asylum-seeker issues. As the department is likely to have breached Australia's privacy laws, it will be interesting to see what the repercussions are for the people who should be held responsible."

 
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  • (Score: 2, Interesting) by sparrowhawk on Saturday February 22 2014, @03:40AM

    by sparrowhawk (503) on Saturday February 22 2014, @03:40AM (#4669)

    Watching ABC TV (our national carrier) in Australia just a few days ago, a prominent Human Rights Lawyer (refugee representative) stated that if the identity of a refugee became known, that in itself would be sufficient to trigger permanent protection, for fear of persecution if that person were returned. The proximity of these very public comments to the time of the breach, will certainly seem suspicious to many.

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  • (Score: 1) by Popeidol on Saturday February 22 2014, @08:12AM

    by Popeidol (35) on Saturday February 22 2014, @08:12AM (#4735) Journal

    That is a very interesting angle. The Australian Government has been getting some attention from the UN over our harsh treatment of refugees, and how they respond to this will probably be closely scrutinized by the international community. If the government's own incompetence has increased the danger these people are in, that puts them in a very difficult position: If they continue as they are now they could face serious consequences, but if they do the humane thing they look weak to many of the hardline supporters they've built up with the current policy.

  • (Score: 1) by qwade on Sunday February 23 2014, @11:21PM

    by qwade (1006) on Sunday February 23 2014, @11:21PM (#5363)

    ...if the identity of a refugee became known, that in itself would be sufficient to trigger permanent protection, for fear of persecution if that person were returned

    ooh - conspiracy theory time - let's say you worked in federal government and were one of the decent sort that sees asylum seekers as actual people instead of the invasive force of freeloaders that the media paints them as and are actually trying to help. So if you "accidentally" let out the information that would identify an asylum seeker, they would be more or less guaranteed to get asylum ...