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Why prices are so high – 8 ways retail pricing algorithms gouge consumers

<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/david-tuffley-13731">David Tuffley</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/griffith-university-828">Griffith University</a> The just-released report of the inquiry into <a href="https://pricegouginginquiry.actu.org.au/">price gouging and unfair pricing</a> conducted by Allan Fels for the Australian Council of Trades Unions does more than identify the likely offenders. It finds the biggest are supermarkets, banks, airlines and electricity companies. It’s not enough to know their tricks. Fels wants to give the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission more power to investigate and more power to prohibit mergers. But it helps to know how they try to trick us, and how technology has enabled them to get better at it. After reading the report, I’ve identified eight key maneuvers. <h2>1. Asymmetric price movements</h2> Otherwise known as <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/25593733">Rocket and Feather</a>, this is where businesses push up prices quickly when costs rise, but cut them slowly or late after costs fall. It seems to happen for <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0140988323002074">petrol</a> and <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S105905601730240X">mortgage rates</a>, and the Fels inquiry was presented with evidence suggesting it happens in supermarkets. Brendan O’Keeffe from NSW Farmers told the inquiry wholesale lamb prices had been falling for six months before six Woolworths announced a cut in the prices of lamb it was selling as a “<a href="https://pricegouginginquiry.actu.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/InquiryIntoPriceGouging_Report_web.pdf">Christmas gift</a>”. <h2>2. Punishment for loyal customers</h2> A <a href="https://theconversation.com/simple-fixes-could-help-save-australian-consumers-from-up-to-3-6-billion-in-loyalty-taxes-119978">loyalty tax</a> is what happens when a business imposes higher charges on customers who have been with it for a long time, on the assumption that they won’t move. The Australian Securities and Investments Commission has alleged a big <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-qantas-might-have-done-all-australians-a-favour-by-making-refunds-so-hard-to-get-213346">insurer</a> does it, setting premiums not only on the basis of risk, but also on the basis of what a computer model tells them about the likelihood of each customer tolerating a price hike. The insurer disputes the claim. It’s often done by offering discounts or new products to new customers and leaving existing customers on old or discontinued products. It happens a lot in the <a href="https://www.finder.com.au/utilities-loyalty-costing-australians-billions-2024">electricity industry</a>. The plans look good at first, and then less good as providers bank on customers not making the effort to shop around. Loyalty taxes appear to be less common among mobile phone providers. Australian laws make it easy to switch <a href="https://www.reviews.org/au/mobile/how-to-switch-mobile-carriers-and-keep-your-number/">and keep your number</a>. <h2>3. Loyalty schemes that provide little value</h2> Fels says loyalty schemes can be a “low-cost means of retaining and exploiting consumers by providing them with low-value rewards of dubious benefit”. Their purpose is to lock in (or at least bias) customers to choices already made. Examples include airline frequent flyer points, cafe cards that give you your tenth coffee free, and supermarket points programs. The purpose is to lock in (or at least bias) consumers to products already chosen. The <a href="https://www.accc.gov.au/consumers/advertising-and-promotions/customer-loyalty-schemes">Australian Competition and Consumer Commission</a> has found many require users to spend a lot of money or time to earn enough points for a reward. Others allow points to expire or rules to change without notice or offer rewards that are not worth the effort to redeem. They also enable businesses to collect data on spending habits, preferences, locations, and personal information that can be used to construct customer profiles that allow them to target advertising and offers and high prices to some customers and not others. <h2>4. Drip pricing that hides true costs</h2> The Competition and Consumer Commission describes <a href="https://pricegouginginquiry.actu.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/InquiryIntoPriceGouging_Report_web.pdf">drip pricing</a> as “when a price is advertised at the beginning of an online purchase, but then extra fees and charges (such as booking and service fees) are gradually added during the purchase process”. The extras can add up quickly and make final bills much higher than expected. Airlines are among the best-known users of the strategy. They often offer initially attractive base fares, but then add charges for baggage, seat selection, in-flight meals and other extras. <h2>5. Confusion pricing</h2> Related to drip pricing is <a href="https://www.x-mol.net/paper/article/1402386414932836352">confusion pricing</a> where a provider offers a range of plans, discounts and fees so complex they are overwhelming. Financial products like insurance have convoluted fee structures, as do electricity providers. Supermarkets do it by bombarding shoppers with “specials” and “sales”. When prices change frequently and without notice, it adds to the confusion. <h2>6. Algorithmic pricing</h2> <a href="https://pricegouginginquiry.actu.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/InquiryIntoPriceGouging_Report_web.pdf">Algorithmic pricing</a> is the practice of using algorithms to set prices automatically taking into account competitor responses, which is something akin to computers talking to each other. When computers get together in this way they can <a href="https://www.x-mol.net/paper/article/1402386414932836352">act as it they are colluding</a> even if the humans involved in running the businesses never talk to each other. It can act even more this way when multiple competitors use the same third-party pricing algorithm, effectively allowing a single company to influence prices. <h2>7. Price discrimination</h2> Price discrimination involves charging different customers different prices for the same product, setting each price in accordance with how much each customer is prepared to pay. Banks do it when they offer better rates to customers likely to leave them, electricity companies do it when they offer better prices for business customers than households, and medical specialists do it when they offer vastly different prices for the same service to consumers with different incomes. It is made easier by digital technology and data collection. While it can make prices lower for some customers, it can make prices much more expensive to customers in a hurry or in urgent need of something. <h2>8. Excuse-flation</h2> <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-03-09/how-excuseflation-is-keeping-prices-and-corporate-profits-high">Excuse-flation</a> is where general inflation provides “cover” for businesses to raise prices without justification, blaming nothing other than general inflation. It means that in times of general high inflation businesses can increase their prices even if their costs haven’t increased by as much. On Thursday Reserve Bank Governor <a href="https://www.afr.com/policy/economy/inflation-is-cover-for-pricing-gouging-rba-boss-says-20240215-p5f58d">Michele Bullock</a> seemed to confirm that she though some firms were doing this saying that when inflation had been brought back to the Bank’s target, it would be "much more difficult, I think, for firms to use high inflation as cover for this sort of putting up their prices." <h2>A political solution is needed</h2> Ultimately, our own vigilance won’t be enough. We will need political help. The government’s recently announced <a href="https://treasury.gov.au/review/competition-review-2023">competition review</a> might be a step in this direction. The legislative changes should police business practices and prioritise fairness. Only then can we create a marketplace where ethics and competition align, ensuring both business prosperity and consumer wellbeing. This isn’t just about economics, it’s about building a fairer, more sustainable Australia.<img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/223310/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /> <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/david-tuffley-13731">David Tuffley</a>, Senior Lecturer in Applied Ethics & CyberSecurity, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/griffith-university-828">Griffith University</a> Image credits: Getty Images This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-prices-are-so-high-8-ways-retail-pricing-algorithms-gouge-consumers-223310">original article</a>.

Money & Banking

The 4 biggest gift-giving mistakes, according to a consumer psychologist

<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/julian-givi-1395671">Julian Givi</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/west-virginia-university-1375">West Virginia University</a> A good gift can elicit a surge of happiness and gratitude in the recipient. It also feels great to give, <a href="https://theconversation.com/whats-the-point-of-holiday-gifts-173306">with psychologists finding</a> that the joy of giving a gift is more pronounced than the pleasure of receiving one. Unfortunately, there are times when you receive a gift and you have to force a smile and fake your gratitude. I’m a consumer psychologist <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=wjAq_TcAAAAJ&hl=en">who specializes in gift-giving research</a> – in particular, gift-giving mistakes. Here are four of the most common ones. <h2>1. Prioritizing the big reveal</h2> One way givers can err is by focusing too much on <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0963721416656937">the moment the recipient will open the gift</a>. Givers want their gift to be <a href="https://doi.org/10.1086/675737">desirable</a>. They hope <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2011.03.015">to surprise</a> the recipient and <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2733341">put a smile</a> on their face. A chocolate fondue fountain might meet these criteria – it’s quirky and sure to elicit curiosity and smiles from onlookers. However, when people receive a gift, they care less about the moment the bow comes off, and instead think about the weeks and months ahead. People want gifts that are <a href="https://www.acrwebsite.org/volumes/1023703/volumes/v45/NA-45">useful</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1086/675737">reliable</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2011.03.015">meet their needs</a>. How often would a chocolate fondue fountain realistically be used? Compare that to a new coffee maker, which could see action every day. Sure, it isn’t a novelty – and probably won’t elicit “oohs” and “ahhs” on Christmas Day – but the recipient will be quite happy to have it on hand when their alarm rings each morning. <h2>2. Unique and new are overrated</h2> Another factor that can lead givers to go wrong involves unwritten rules for what constitutes good gift-giving practices. Givers often focus on these rules more than they should. For example, they may <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2020.05.023">avoid giving the same gift</a> to someone in back-to-back years because this goes against the norm of giving a unique gift each year. Givers also often <a href="https://doi.org/10.1348/014466604x23428">refrain from giving used products</a> as gifts because this violates the unspoken rule that a gift should be brand new. In contrast, recipients are quite open to gifts that violate these norms. If someone loves a certain type of wine, they’re <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2020.05.023">more than happy to receive it</a> in subsequent years. And if one digital camera is lightly used but possesses several innovative features, while another is new but has fewer features, people <a href="https://doi.org/10.1348/014466604x23428">are happy to receive the used one</a>. <h2>3. Being risk-averse</h2> Givers can make missteps when they avoid gifts that they see as too risky. Consider sentimental gifts, like a scrapbook or a nostalgic memento. Studies have shown that recipients <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcps.2017.06.002">love these gifts</a>; they <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/pspa0000036">elicit happiness for extended periods of time</a>. Givers, however, tend to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcps.2017.06.002">shy away from sentimental gifts</a> because they see them risky – sure, they could be a home run, but they could also whiff. Doubts can creep into shoppers’ heads as they consider sentimental gifts: What if it comes across as sappy? What if the recipient thinks I’m being cheap? And so people tend to opt for <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S105774081730044X">safer, superficial gifts</a> that they assume will be at least somewhat well-liked. Or, to continue with the baseball analogy, givers are happy to take the sure single. As another example, consider material goods versus experiences. When giving gifts, people often opt for <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/jcr/ucy010">tangible objects over experiences</a> because material goods are on the safer side – almost everyone could use a new appliance or a new shirt. Experiences are trickier; they require a bit more of an understanding of who the recipient truly is – not everyone loves going to see the symphony. Yet recipients tend to be <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/jcpy.1281">more open to experiences than givers anticipate</a> – and these gifts <a href="https://www.acrwebsite.org/volumes/1017575/volumes/v42/NA-42">are actually more likely to make people happier</a> than material goods. <h2>4. Does the thought really count?</h2> Givers can also err by wanting their gift to appear especially thoughtful. Of course, recipients appreciate thoughtfulness – but not when it comes at the expense of receiving something that’s actually useful. This plays out when givers are shopping for multiple people. They’ll often <a href="https://doi.org/10.1086/674199">choose unique gifts for each recipient</a>, rather than give the same gift to everyone, because a distinct gift for each person will make them feel as though they put more time and effort into gift selection. People do this even if they realize that some recipients will be receiving less desirable gifts. You’ll also see this happen with <a href="https://www.acrwebsite.org/volumes/1020146/volumes/v43/NA-43">gift cards</a>. Givers often choose specific gift cards – to a particular clothing store or restaurant, for example – that reflect the interests or tastes of the recipient. But recipients are more open to gift cards that give them more flexibility and freedom – think an Amazon or Visa gift card. That way, they can decide whether to splurge on a new sweater, dine out at their favorite restaurant – or do both.<img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/195169/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /> <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/julian-givi-1395671">Julian Givi</a>, Assistant Professor of Marketing, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/west-virginia-university-1375">West Virginia University</a> Image credits: Getty Images This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-4-biggest-gift-giving-mistakes-according-to-a-consumer-psychologist-195169">original article</a>.

Money & Banking

2023 Drone Photo Awards fly high as winners are revealed

The winners of the 2023 Drone Photo Awards have been announced, with photographers all around the world recognised for their commitment to aerial photography in the fierce international competition. Thousands of submissions were received for the annual contest across nine different categories: photo of the year, urban, wildlife, sport, people, nature, abstract, wedding, series, and video. The Drone Photo Awards are open to both aerial photography and video, with platforms including “fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, unmanned aerial vehicles, balloons, blimps and dirigibles, rockets, kites, and parachutes.” The competition’s top award, Photo of the Year, went to a shot by Israeli photographer Or Adar. His submission, ‘Must resist’, presents the image of “protesters holding banners during a demonstration again Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s judicial overhaul plans” from an aerial perspective, capturing the moment in Tel Aviv when “tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets of Israeli cities for the ninth straight week, on Saturday March 4th, to fight a government plan to overhaul the country's court system.” <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> 🏆“𝐃𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐏𝐡𝐨𝐭𝐨 𝐀𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐬 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟑” 𝐏𝐡𝐨𝐭𝐨 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐘𝐞𝐚𝐫 🏆 Congrats to Or Adar for his stunning image “Must resist”. 👏👏👏<a href="https://t.co/leaZw2sazu">https://t.co/leaZw2sazu</a><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/sienawards?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#sienawards</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/dronephotoawards?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#dronephotoawards</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/photocontest?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#photocontest</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/dronephotography?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#dronephotography</a> <a href="https://t.co/pyReGOTMC9">pic.twitter.com/pyReGOTMC9</a> — Siena Awards (@SIPAContest) <a href="https://twitter.com/SIPAContest/status/1671458317472866313?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 21, 2023</a></blockquote> Polish photographer Sebastian Piórek took home the win in the Urban category for his shot of Chorzów in southern Poland, which was described by The Siena Awards as a photo that “beautifully juxtaposes the colourful ambiance and harmony of the playground against the backdrop of the city.” Indian photographer Danu Paran won the Wildlife category with his shot of a napping elephant, where “the elephant’s grey and wrinkled skin perfectly merges with the natural landscape, creating a harmonious composition that showcases the beauty of wildlife.” French photographer David Machet won for Sport with his photo of tightrope walker Nathan Paulin in the French Alps, as Paulin traversed a ‘highline’ almost 2.5 km in the air. The People category went to British photographer Simon Heather’s picture of people in Portugal enjoying a sunny day by the sea, while the Series award went to American photographer George Steinmetz for his photo series of farmland. Indian photographer Thomas Vijayan took home the Nature award for his photo of Svalbard, with Vijayan sharing that “it was surprisingly sad to see that the ice had already melted in June, and we were able to reach the ice cap with our ship.” The Abstract winner was Spanish photographer Ignacio Medem for a shot demonstrating how drought and poor water resource management has impacted a river in the American West. Polish photographer Krzysztof Krawczyk found success in the Wedding category, with his snap of newlyweds on a boat in the middle of a lake, while “they are enveloped by voluminous clouds and surrounded by thousands of dry leaves, resembling stars and creating gentle waves.” And last but not least, Bashir Abu won the Video category with “Why I Travel the World Alone”. <iframe title="YouTube video player" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Z6t4y3A28uA" width="560" height="315" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe> And for anyone hoping to check the winners out for themselves, Adar’s image - as well as the top photographs from the other winning categories - will be available for viewing in the Above Us Only Sky exhibition set to take place for the first time at Italy’s San Galgano Abbey from July 8 to November 19. Images: Drone Photo Awards

Art

How satellites, radar and drones are tracking meteorites and aiding Earth’s asteroid defence

On July 31 2013 a <a href="https://cneos.jpl.nasa.gov/fireballs/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">constellation of US defence satellites</a> saw a streak of light over South Australia as a rock from outer space burned through Earth’s atmosphere on its way to crash into the ground below. The impact created an explosion equivalent to about 220 tonnes of TNT. More than 1,500km away, in Tasmania, the bang was heard by detectors normally used to listen for <a href="https://www.dfat.gov.au/international-relations/security/asno/Pages/australian-ims-stations" target="_blank" rel="noopener">extremely low-frequency sounds</a> from illegal tests of nuclear weapons. These were two excellent indications that there should be a patch of ground covered in meteorites somewhere north of Port Augusta. But how could we track them down? My colleagues and I who work on the <a href="https://dfn.gfo.rocks/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Desert Fireball Network (DFN)</a>, which tracks incoming asteroids and <a href="https://dfn.gfo.rocks/meteorites.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the resulting meteorites</a>, had a couple of ideas: weather radar and drones. Eyes in space Finding meteorites is not an easy task. There is a network of high-quality ground-based sensors called the <a href="https://gfo.rocks/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Global Fireball Observatory</a>, but it only covers about 1% of the planet. The <a href="https://cneos.jpl.nasa.gov/fireballs/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">US satellite data</a> published by NASA covers a much larger area than ground-based detectors, but it only picks up the biggest fireballs. What’s more, they <a href="https://academic.oup.com/mnras/article/483/4/5166/5256650" target="_blank" rel="noopener">don’t always give an accurate idea of the meteor’s trajectory</a>. So, to have any chance to find a meteorite from these data, you need a little outside help. Weather radars In 2019, Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology started making its weather radar data <a href="https://www.openradar.io/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">openly available</a> to researchers and the public. I saw this as an opportunity to complete the puzzle. I combed through the record of events from the Desert Fireball Network and NASA, and cross-matched them with nearby weather radars. Then I looked for unusual radar signatures that could indicate the presence of falling meteorites. <figure class="align-center zoomable"><a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/496384/original/file-20221121-22-iwtkve.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/496384/original/file-20221121-22-iwtkve.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/496384/original/file-20221121-22-iwtkve.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=334&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/496384/original/file-20221121-22-iwtkve.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=334&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/496384/original/file-20221121-22-iwtkve.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=334&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/496384/original/file-20221121-22-iwtkve.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/496384/original/file-20221121-22-iwtkve.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/496384/original/file-20221121-22-iwtkve.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" alt="An annoyed aerial photo showing the locations of the Woomera radar station and the falling meteorites." /></a><figcaption>The Woomera weather radar station captured reflections from the falling meteorites. Curtin University, Author provided</figcaption></figure> And bingo, the 2013 event was not too far from the Woomera radar station. The weather was clear, and the radar record showed some small reflections at about the right place and time. Next, I had to use the weather data to figure out how the wind would have pushed the meteorites around on their way down to Earth. If I got the calculations right, I would have a treasure map showing the location of a rich haul of meteorites. If I got them wrong, I would end up sending my team to wander around in the desert for two weeks for nothing. The search I gave what I hoped was an accurate treasure map to my colleague Andy Tomkins from Monash University. In September this year, he happened to be driving past the site on his way back from an expedition in the Nullarbor. Thankfully, Andy found the first meteorite within 10 minutes of looking. In the following two hours, his team found nine more. <figure class="align-center "><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/496385/original/file-20221121-16-he3p7h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/496385/original/file-20221121-16-he3p7h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/496385/original/file-20221121-16-he3p7h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/496385/original/file-20221121-16-he3p7h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/496385/original/file-20221121-16-he3p7h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/496385/original/file-20221121-16-he3p7h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/496385/original/file-20221121-16-he3p7h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" alt="Photo of several people walking through a desert field looking at the ground." /><figcaption>A field team from Monash University searched for meteorites in the strewn field. Monash University, Author provided</figcaption></figure> The technique of finding meteorites with weather radars <a href="https://ares.jsc.nasa.gov/meteorite-falls/how-to-find-meteorites/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">was pioneered</a> by my colleague Marc Fries in the US. However, this is the first time it has been done outside the US NEXRAD radar network. (When it comes to monitoring airspace, the US has more powerful and more densely packed tech than anyone else.) This first search confirmed there were lots of meteorites on the ground. But how were we going to find them all? That’s where the drones come in. We used a method developed by my colleague Seamus Anderson to <a href="https://gfo.rocks/blog/2022/03/14/First_Meteorite_Found_with_Drone.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">automatically detect meteorites from drone images</a>. In the end we collected 44 meteorites, weighing a bit over 4kg in total. Together they form what we call a “strewn field”. <figure class="align-center zoomable"><a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/496386/original/file-20221121-13-qssltc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/496386/original/file-20221121-13-qssltc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/496386/original/file-20221121-13-qssltc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/496386/original/file-20221121-13-qssltc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/496386/original/file-20221121-13-qssltc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/496386/original/file-20221121-13-qssltc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/496386/original/file-20221121-13-qssltc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/496386/original/file-20221121-13-qssltc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" alt="An aerial view of a desert field with a black dot (a meteorite) highlighted by a yellow square." /></a><figcaption>A machine-learning algorithm identified meteorites from drone photos. Curtin Uni, Author provided</figcaption></figure> Strewn fields <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/maps.13892" target="_blank" rel="noopener">tell us a lot</a> about how an asteroid fragments in our atmosphere. That’s quite important to know, because the energy of these things is comparable to that of nuclear weapons. For example, the 17-metre asteroid that exploded over Chelyabinsk in Russia in 2013 produced an explosion 30 times the size of the bomb dropped on Hiroshima in 1945. So when the next big one is about to hit, it may be useful to predict how it will deposit its energy in our atmosphere. With new telescopes and better technology, we are starting to see some asteroids <a href="https://skymapper.anu.edu.au/news/great-balls-fire/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">before they hit Earth</a>. We will see even more when projects such as the <a href="https://www.lsst.org" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Vera Rubin Observatory</a> and the <a href="https://atlas.fallingstar.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS)</a> are up and running. These systems might give us as much as a few days’ notice that an asteroid is heading for Earth. This would be too late to make any effort to deflect it – but plenty of time for preparation and damage control on the ground. The value of open data This find was only made possible by the free availability of crucial data – and the people who made it available. The US satellites that detected the fireball are presumably there to detect missile and rocket launches. However, somebody (I don’t know who) must have figured out how to publish some of the satellite data without giving away too much about their capabilities, and then lobbied hard to get the data released. Likewise, the find would not have happened without the work of Joshua Soderholm at Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology, who worked to make low-level weather radar data openly accessible for other uses. Soderholm went to the trouble to make the radar data <a href="https://www.go-fair.org/fair-principles/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">readily available and easy to use</a>, which goes well beyond the vague formulations you can read at the bottom of scientific papers like “data available upon reasonable request”. There is no shortage of fireballs to track down. Right now, we’re on the hunt for a meteorite that was spotted in space last weekend before <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/19/science/fireball-asteroid-toronto-new-york.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">blazing through the sky over Ontario, Canada</a>.<img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/194997/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /> Writen by Hadrien Devillepoix. Republished with permission from <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-satellites-radar-and-drones-are-tracking-meteorites-and-aiding-earths-asteroid-defence-194997" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Conversation</a>. Image: NASA

Technology

Drone delivery is a thing now. But how feasible is having it everywhere, and would we even want it?

In recent years, cafes, supermarkets and online shops have started to trial drone delivery in a handful of locations around the world. More than a <a href="https://builtin.com/drones/drone-delivery-companies" target="_blank" rel="noopener">dozen drone delivery companies</a> are now running such trials. Wing (owned by Google’s parent company Alphabet) announced a partnership with Australian supermarket giant Coles to <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-10-26/qld-supermarket-drone-delivery-available-gold-coast-/101573808" target="_blank" rel="noopener">deliver small items via drone to customers close to a Gold Coast supermarket</a>. Wing is already operating in parts of Canberra and Logan, Queensland. Given the technical success of various trials so far, it is worth exploring whether drone delivery might become mainstream and can actually be scaled up geographically. As you would expect, the answer is “it depends”. There are many issues when considering drones around people, such as safety and infrastructure. For example, a recent <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-09-30/food-delivery-drone-lands-on-power-lines-qld-browns-plains/101489670" target="_blank" rel="noopener">crash of a delivery drone on electricity lines</a> in a suburb of Logan left thousands without power. There is also potential <a href="https://theconversation.com/drones-to-deliver-incessant-buzzing-noise-and-packages-116257" target="_blank" rel="noopener">unwanted noise</a> and visual pollution, and a perceived issue around privacy. <h2>Safety first</h2> Adding potentially dozens of small aircraft to the sky above our homes, workplaces and roads each day is a serious business. As you would hope, currently the operation of commercial drones is a highly regulated undertaking in most countries. In Australia, the Civil Aviation Safety Authority <a href="https://www.casa.gov.au/drones/industry-initiatives/drone-delivery-services" target="_blank" rel="noopener">has strict regulations</a> that aim to make the operation of drones as safe as possible. They also prohibit drone use if the craft can’t be used safely in a given situation. In fact, Australia was one of the first countries to have drone regulations. For example, you cannot fly a drone close to an airport, or directly over people. Commercial operators of drones are acutely aware of this and gain a licence to operate – it is not in anyone’s interest to operate unsafely, and it would be bad for business. <h2>A limited geographic market – for now</h2> To satisfy the requirement of operating drones safely, delivery operators focus on flying drones over unpopulated land, generally very low-density areas, and in particular the urban fringe. These are newer suburbs where drone flight paths can be planned to eliminate or minimise safety issues, such as an unexpected crash. It is no coincidence Wing has been running drone delivery trials in low-density areas of Southeast Queensland, and outer <a href="https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/6009932/wings-delivery-drone-service-gets-the-green-light/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Canberra suburbs</a>. These places are ideal for drone delivery and a great place to continue to develop this business, even if the <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-12-11/wing-resumes-drone-deliveries-after-raven-attacks/100689690" target="_blank" rel="noopener">odd bird attack can disrupt things</a>. But drone delivery in dense parts of major cities? This is very unlikely in the medium term, due to extreme difficulty in safely operating drones in dense suburbs. If you live in an apartment building, where would the delivery take place? On the roof? Maybe, if your building was set up for it. This is where scaling up faces the largest difficulties, and the logistics of running potentially hundreds of drones from a distribution centre become truly challenging. However, if there was a high demand for it, and the right investments were made, it is feasible that drone delivery to dense city areas could be achieved. But just because it might be technically possible, doesn’t mean it will happen. The long-term business case would need to make sense, of course. But there is a more critical issue in the near term – the <a href="https://ethics.org.au/ethics-explainer-social-license-to-operate/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">social licence to operate</a>. <h2>A social licence</h2> A social licence is not an official thing, a government body does not issue one. It is more about whether the general public accepts and supports the new thing. At the end of the day, this social acceptance is what often determines the success or failure of widespread uptake of new technology, such as delivery drones. Take nuclear power, for example. Many countries have nuclear power and the public there seem happy with that. Other countries had a social licence for nuclear power and lost it, such as Japan. In Australia we do not have a social licence for nuclear power, but that does not mean we won’t gain it in the future. A social licence is an ever-evolving construct based on the pros and cons of a technology, all of which is influenced by its perceived value. Most people are now seemingly comfortable to be tracked 24 hours a day by their smartphones, as they believe the benefits outweigh the potential negative impacts. It is likely we already have a solid social licence to use drones to <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41591-022-00053-9" target="_blank" rel="noopener">deliver emergency life-saving medicine</a> to people in need. In a potential life-or-death situation like that, it is easy to see that normally the benefits outweigh any risks or inconvenience to others. But delivering a coffee or a tube of toothpaste by drone? I think the social licence for that is up for grabs. At this point in time, it could go either way. This article originally appeared on <a href="https://theconversation.com/drone-delivery-is-a-thing-now-but-how-feasible-is-having-it-everywhere-and-would-we-even-want-it-193301" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Conversation</a>. Image: Shutterstock

Travel Trouble

This law makes it illegal for companies to collect third-party data to profile you but they do anyway

A little-known provision of the Privacy Act makes it illegal for many companies in Australia to buy or exchange consumers’ personal data for profiling or targeting purposes. It’s almost never enforced. In a published <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4224653" target="_blank" rel="noopener">research paper</a>, I argue that needs to change. “Data enrichment” is the intrusive practice of companies going behind our backs to “fill in the gaps” of the information we provide. When you purchase a product or service from a company, fill out an online form, or sign up for a newsletter, you might provide only the necessary data such as your name, email, delivery address and/or payment information. That company may then turn to other retailers or <a href="https://www.oracle.com/au/cx/advertising/data-enrichment-measurement/#data-enrichment" target="_blank" rel="noopener">data brokers</a> to purchase or exchange extra data about you. This could include your age, family, health, habits and more. This allows them to build a more detailed individual profile on you, which helps them predict your behaviour and more precisely target you with ads. For almost ten years, there has been a law in Australia that makes this kind of data enrichment illegal if a company can “reasonably and practicably” request that information directly from the consumer. And at least <a href="https://consultations.ag.gov.au/rights-and-protections/privacy-act-review-discussion-paper/consultation/view_respondent?_b_index=60&uuId=926016195" target="_blank" rel="noopener">one major data broker</a> has asked the government to “remove” this law. The burning question is: why is there not a single published case of this law being enforced against companies “enriching” customer data for profiling and targeting purposes? <h2>Data collection ‘only from the individual’</h2> The relevant law is Australian Privacy Principle 3.6 and is part of the federal <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2022C00199" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Privacy Act</a>. It applies to most organisations that operate businesses with annual revenues higher than A$3 million, and smaller data businesses. The law says such organisations: <blockquote> must collect personal information about an individual only from the individual […] unless it is unreasonable or impracticable to do so. </blockquote> This “direct collection rule” protects individuals’ privacy by allowing them some control over information collected about them, and avoiding a combination of data sources that could reveal sensitive information about their vulnerabilities. But this rule has received almost no attention. There’s only one published determination of the federal privacy regulator on it, and that was against the <a href="https://www.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdoc/au/cases/cth/AICmr/2020/69.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Australian Defence Force</a> in a different context. According to Australian Privacy Principle 3.6, it’s only legal for an organisation to collect personal information from a third party if it would be “unreasonable or impracticable” to collect that information from the individual alone. This exception was intended to apply to <a href="https://www.oaic.gov.au/privacy/australian-privacy-principles-guidelines/chapter-3-app-3-collection-of-solicited-personal-information#collecting-directly-from-the-individual" target="_blank" rel="noopener">limited situations</a>, such as when: <ul> <li>the individual is being investigated for some wrongdoing</li> <li>the individual’s address needs to be updated for delivery of legal or official documents.</li> </ul> The exception shouldn’t apply simply because a company wants to collect extra information for profiling and targeting, but realises the customer would probably refuse to provide it. <h2>Who’s bypassing customers for third-party data?</h2> Aside from data brokers, companies also exchange information with each other about their respective customers to get extra information on customers’ lives. This is often referred to as “data matching” or “data partnerships”. Companies tend to be very vague about who they share information with, and who they get information from. So we don’t know for certain who’s buying data-enrichment services from data brokers, or “matching” customer data. Major companies such as <a href="https://www.amazon.com.au/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=202075050&ref_=footer_iba" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Amazon Australia</a>, <a href="https://www.ebay.com.au/help/policies/member-behaviour-policies/user-privacy-notice-privacy-policy?id=4260&mkevt=1&mkcid=1&mkrid=705-53470-19255-0&campid=5337590774&customid=&toolid=10001#section4" target="_blank" rel="noopener">eBay Australia</a>, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/privacy/policy/?subpage=1.subpage.4-InformationFromPartnersVendors" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Meta</a> (Facebook), <a href="https://www.viacomcbsprivacy.com/en/policy" target="_blank" rel="noopener">10Play Viacom</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/en/privacy#twitter-privacy-1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Twitter</a> include terms in the fine print of their privacy policies that state they collect personal information from third parties, including demographic details and/or interests. <a href="https://policies.google.com/privacy?hl=en-US#infocollect" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Google</a>, <a href="https://preferences.news.com.au/privacy" target="_blank" rel="noopener">News Corp</a>, <a href="https://www.sevenwestmedia.com.au/privacy-policies/privacy" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Seven</a>, <a href="https://login.nine.com.au/privacy?client_id=smh" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Nine</a> and others also say they collect personal information from third parties, but are more vague about the nature of that information. These privacy policies don’t explain why it would be unreasonable or impracticable to collect that information directly from customers. <h2>Consumer ‘consent’ is not an exception</h2> Some companies may try to justify going behind customers’ backs to collect data because there’s an obscure term in their privacy policy that mentions they collect personal information from third parties. Or because the company disclosing the data has a privacy policy term about sharing data with “trusted data partners”. But even if this amounts to consumer “consent” under the relatively weak standards for consent in our current privacy law, this is not an exception to the direct collection rule. The law allows a “consent” exception for government agencies under a separate part of the direct collection rule, but not for private organisations. <h2>Data enrichment involves personal information</h2> Many companies with third-party data collection terms in their privacy policies acknowledge this is personal information. But some may argue the collected data isn’t “personal information” under the Privacy Act, so the direct collection rule doesn’t apply. Companies often exchange information about an individual without using the individual’s legal name or email. Instead they may use a unique advertising identifier for that individual, or <a href="https://help.abc.net.au/hc/en-us/articles/4402890310671" target="_blank" rel="noopener">“hash” the email address</a> to turn it into a unique string of numbers and letters. They essentially allocate a “code name” to the consumer. So the companies can exchange information that can be linked to the individual, yet say this information wasn’t connected to their actual name or email. However, this information should still be treated as personal information because it can be linked back to the individual when combined with other <a href="https://www.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdoc/au/cases/cth/FCAFC/2017/4.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">information about them</a>. <h2>At least one major data broker is against it</h2> Data broker <a href="https://www.experian.com.au/business/solutions/audience-targeting/digital-solutions-sell-side/digital-audiences-ss" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Experian Australia</a> has asked the government to “remove” Australian Privacy Principle 3.6 “altogether”. In its <a href="https://consultations.ag.gov.au/rights-and-protections/privacy-act-review-discussion-paper/consultation/view_respondent?_b_index=60&uuId=926016195" target="_blank" rel="noopener">submission</a> to the Privacy Act Review in January, Experian argued: <blockquote> It is outdated and does not fit well with modern data uses. </blockquote> Others who profit from data enrichment or data matching would probably agree, but prefer to let sleeping dogs lie. Experian argued the law favours large companies with direct access to lots of customers and opportunities to pool data collected from across their own corporate group. It said companies with access to fewer consumers and less data would be disadvantaged if they can’t purchase data from brokers. But the fact that some digital platforms impose extensive personal data collection on customers supports the case for stronger privacy laws. It doesn’t mean there should be a data free-for-all. <h2>Our privacy regulator should take action</h2> It has been three years since the consumer watchdog recommended <a href="https://www.accc.gov.au/system/files/Digital%20platforms%20inquiry%20-%20final%20report.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">major reforms</a> to our privacy laws to reduce the disadvantages consumers suffer from invasive data practices. These reforms are probably still years away, if they eventuate at all. The direct collection rule is a very rare thing. It is an existing Australian privacy law that favours consumers. The privacy regulator should prioritise the enforcement of this law for the benefit of consumers. This article originally appeared on <a href="https://theconversation.com/this-law-makes-it-illegal-for-companies-to-collect-third-party-data-to-profile-you-but-they-do-anyway-190758" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Conversation</a>. Image: Shutterstock

Legal

Top tips for avoiding scams

Falling victim to a clever scam artist is something we all fear! With these top tips we show you how to avoid getting ripped off. Statistics show that unfortunately older Australians are often the target of scam artists looking to make a quick buck off someone else’s hard-earned cash. They’ve had help. With technology evolving and more people going online to pay bills, communicate with friends and family, and to find love, there have been a number of reported cases of people sending money overseas or elsewhere never to see it again. However, there are ways to outsmart those who would try to trick you out of your retirement savings. What to look out for Financial fraud can come in any form. It can be an email from a stranger asking for a donation to a charitable cause or a phone call promising a once-in-a-lifetime investment opportunity. However, as the saying goes, if it sounds too good to be true, it’s because it probably is. According to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s (ACCC) SCAMwatch site, a one-stop information shop on how to recognise, avoid and report scams, almost everyone will be approached by a scammer at some stage in their life. That’s a scary pronouncement, but one that’s very much evident in the growing number of stories of people who have fallen victim to a scam. While some scams are easy to spot, others appear to be genuine offers or bargains. There’s a number of different types of scams too, from investment and superannuation scams to ones involving your bank or credit card. It can even look as innocent as a supermarket customer satisfaction survey. At the end of last year, the ACCC spread the news of a fake Woolworths’ customer satisfaction survey, which asked shoppers for their bank account details in exchange for a $150 gift voucher. Scammers sent the survey out mostly via social media or email, and asked people to complete all of the questions before saying they could claim their voucher. However, when people did try and claim the voucher, they found it was fake. “Scammers impersonate well-known businesses to get their hands on your personal details,” ACCC deputy chair Delia Rickard said at the time. “Once you have unknowingly sent your details to a scammer, they can steal your money – and possibly even your identity.” Warning signs Scams can target people of all backgrounds, ages and income levels. The reason many people fall victim to a scam is because they look like the real thing. They could look like a legitimate business email or letter, with logos, contact details and genuine information that could be targeting a specific need or desire. It’s not until you dig a little deeper that you find something is not right. Scammers can also manipulate you by “pushing your buttons”, according to the ACCC, to get an automatic response. This is not based on you personally but on how society works as a whole. It’s not until after you have acted in the way they want that you find something is wrong. The best way to spot a scam is to be vigilant and cautious, especially when it comes to giving out personal details over the internet or the phone. Most scams will need you to do something before they can work. It may ask for your bank or credit card details, or for you to send money based on a promise of significant financial reward that turns out to be false. Some scams also rely on you to agree to deals without getting advice first or to buy a product without properly looking into it. Don’t be a victim The first step in protecting yourself against scams and other forms of financial fraud is to be aware that it can happen. Some people hold certain perceptions that make them more susceptible to being scammed, such as the belief that all companies or organisations are legitimate or that all internet sites are legitimate. Both are myths. Consumer protection agencies try to weed out dodgy operators before they have an impact, but sometimes one can slip through the net. Most of these fake sites will be taken down after a few days, but that is still long enough for someone to have bought into a dodgy deal or to have provided their bank details to a scammer. The second step is to be cautious and protective of your personal details. This includes your contact details and bank or credit card details. Always seek independent advice before agreeing to any sort of money commitment and remember there are no get-rich-quick schemes. Check your bank statements regularly and if you see a transaction that you’re not sure about or cannot explain, contact your bank or credit union. Also, keep your bank cards and personal identity number safe and secure. Be cautious and question everything. It’s the best approach to make sure you don’t become a scam victim. Image: Getty Images

Money & Banking

New panel places the voice of aged care consumers at the centre

The voice of aged care consumers and their families is vitally important for the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission to hear and understand. This is the message from Aged Care Quality and Safety Commissioner, Janet Anderson, as the Commission establishes its first ever Consumers and Families Panel. “People receiving aged care, and their experience of that care, are central to the Commission’s purpose - ensuring their wellbeing underpins all of our efforts,” Ms Anderson said. “They must be front and centre of everything aged care providers do, and also in the work of the Commission, placing the needs of those receiving care at the forefront at all times.” To better understand what’s important to people who use aged care services, the Commission is establishing a Consumers and Families Panel made up of people receiving Australian Government funded aged care services, their family members and representatives. The Commission wants the panel to reflect the diversity of people who access aged care across Australia. “It is very important that the panel is as diverse as the people who use Australian Government funded aged care,” Ms Anderson said. “We are inviting anyone living in residential aged care or receiving home care or using Commonwealth- funded aged care services in the community to share their ideas and opinions with us. We’re also interested in hearing from family members and carers of aged care recipients, and people who are considering using aged care services within the next 12 months.” The Consumers and Families Panel will help the Commission, as the national aged care regulator, in its work overseeing the quality of aged care services and resolving complaints about these services. “It will improve the way we regulate aged care services and resolve complaints and help make sure that the information we produce is fit for purpose and easy to understand for everyone,” Ms Anderson said. The Commission will invite panel members to share their ideas and opinions about things such as: <ul> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> issues that are of most concern to people receiving care that the Commission should know about </li> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> how the Commission can reach people better </li> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> how people can be better supported to interact with the Commission </li> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> videos or other resources prepared by the Commission. </li> </ul> Panel members will be able to provide input and engage in different ways, including by email or telephone, or by taking part in online or in-person meetings. The CEO of the Older Persons Advocacy Network (OPAN), Craig Gear OAM, welcomes the Commission’s new Consumers and Families Panel. “Older people must be consulted at every step of the aged care journey to ensure their rights, needs and preferences are being met,” Mr Gear said. “The Consumers and Families Panel will enable older people and their families to better engage with, and inform, the aged care regulator. Their lived experience is critical to ensuring all older people receive the care and services they deserve.” People wishing to be part of the Commission’s Consumers and Families Panel can register their interest via the Commission’s website at: <a href="http://www.agedcarequality.gov.au/consumer-panel" target="_blank" rel="noopener">www.agedcarequality.gov.au/consumer-panel</a> or call the Commission on 1800 951 822. For more information about the Commission and its work, please visit the Commission’s website at: <a href="http://www.agedcarequality.gov.au" target="_blank" rel="noopener">www.agedcarequality.gov.au</a>. Image: Shutterstock

Retirement Life

ACCC says consumers need more choices about what online marketplaces are doing with their data

Consumers using online retail marketplaces such as eBay and Amazon “have little effective choice in the amount of data they share”, according to the <a href="https://www.accc.gov.au/publications/serial-publications/digital-platform-services-inquiry-2020-2025/digital-platform-services-inquiry-march-2022-interim-report" target="_blank" rel="noopener">latest report</a> of the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC) Digital Platform Services Inquiry. Consumers may benefit from personalisation and recommendations in these marketplaces based on their data, but many are in the dark about how much personal information these companies collect and share for other purposes. <a href="https://www.accc.gov.au/media-release/concerning-issues-for-consumers-and-sellers-on-online-marketplaces" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ACCC chair Gina Cass-Gottlieb</a> said: <blockquote> We believe consumers should be given more information about, and control over, how online marketplaces collect and use their data. </blockquote> The report reiterates the ACCC’s earlier calls for amendments to the Australian Consumer Law to address unfair data terms and practices. It also points out that the government is considering <a href="https://www.ag.gov.au/integrity/consultations/review-privacy-act-1988" target="_blank" rel="noopener">proposals for major changes to privacy law</a>. However, none of these proposals is likely to come into effect in the near future. In the meantime, we should also consider whether practices such as obtaining information about users from third-party data brokers are fully compliant with existing privacy law. Why did the ACCC examine online marketplaces? The ACCC examined competition and consumer issues associated with “general online retail marketplaces” as part of its <a href="https://www.accc.gov.au/focus-areas/inquiries-ongoing/digital-platform-services-inquiry-2020-2025" target="_blank" rel="noopener">five-year Digital Platform Services Inquiry</a>. These marketplaces facilitate transactions between third-party sellers and consumers on a common platform. They do not include retailers that don’t operate marketplaces, such as Kmart, or platforms such as Gumtree that carry classified ads but don’t allow transactions. The ACCC report focuses on the four largest online marketplaces in Australia: Amazon Australia, Catch, eBay Australia and Kogan. In 2020–21, these four carried sales totalling $8.4 billion. <figure class="align-center "><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/460716/original/file-20220502-18-4pvx0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/460716/original/file-20220502-18-4pvx0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460716/original/file-20220502-18-4pvx0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460716/original/file-20220502-18-4pvx0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460716/original/file-20220502-18-4pvx0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460716/original/file-20220502-18-4pvx0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460716/original/file-20220502-18-4pvx0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" alt="" /><figcaption>Online marketplaces such as Amazon, eBay, Catch and Kogan facilitate transactions between third-party buyers and sellers. <a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/new-york-usa-november-1-2018-1219079038" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Shutterstock</a></figcaption></figure> According to the report, eBay has the largest sales of these companies. Amazon Australia is the second-largest and the fastest-growing, with an 87% increase in sales over the past two years. The ACCC examined: <ul> <li>the state of competition in the relevant markets</li> <li>issues facing sellers who depend on selling their products through these marketplaces</li> <li>consumer issues including concerns about personal information collection, use and sharing.</li> </ul> Consumers don’t want their data used for other purposes The ACCC expressed concern that in online marketplaces, “the extent of data collection, use and disclosure … often does not align with consumer preferences”. The Commission pointed to surveys about <a href="https://www.accc.gov.au/system/files/Consumer%20Policy%20Research%20Centre%20%28CPRC%29%20%2818%20August%202021%29.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Australian consumer attitudes to privacy</a> which indicate: <ul> <li>94% did not feel comfortable with how digital platforms including online marketplaces collect their personal information</li> <li>92% agreed that companies should only collect information they need for providing their product or service</li> <li>60% considered it very or somewhat unacceptable for their online behaviour to be monitored for targeted ads and offers.</li> </ul> However, the four online marketplaces analysed: <ul> <li>do not proactively present privacy terms to consumers “throughout the purchasing journey”</li> <li>may allow advertisers or other third parties to place tracking cookies on users’ devices</li> <li>do not clearly identify how consumers can opt out of cookies while still using the marketplace.</li> </ul> Some of the marketplaces also obtain extra data about individuals from third-party data brokers or advertisers. The <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3432769" target="_blank" rel="noopener">harms from increased tracking and profiling</a> of consumers include decreased privacy; manipulation based on detailed profiling of traits and weaknesses; and discrimination or exclusion from opportunities. Limited choices: you can’t just ‘walk out of a store’ Some might argue that consumers must not actually care that much about privacy if they keep using these companies, but the choice is not so simple. The ACCC notes the relevant privacy terms are often spread across multiple web pages and offered on a “take it or leave it” basis. The terms also use “bundled consents”. This means that agreeing to the company using your data to fill your order, for example, may be bundled together with agreeing for the company to use your data for its separate advertising business. Further, as my research has shown, there is <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3905693" target="_blank" rel="noopener">so little competition on privacy</a> between these marketplaces that consumers can’t just find a better offer. The ACCC agrees: <blockquote> While consumers in Australia can choose between a number of online marketplaces, the common approaches and practices of the major online marketplaces to data collection and use mean that consumers have little effective choice in the amount of data they share. </blockquote> Consumers also seem unable to require these companies to delete their data. The situation is quite different from conventional retail interactions where a consumer can select “unsubscribe” or walk out of a store. Does our privacy law currently permit all these practices? The ACCC has reiterated its earlier calls to amend the Australian Consumer Law to prohibit unfair practices and make unfair contract terms illegal. (At present unfair contract terms are just void, or unenforceable.) The report also points out that the government is considering proposals for major changes to privacy law, but <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-new-proposed-privacy-code-promises-tough-rules-and-10-million-penalties-for-tech-giants-170711" target="_blank" rel="noopener">these changes</a> are uncertain and may take more than a year to come into effect. In the meantime, we should look more closely at the practices of these marketplaces under current privacy law. For example, under the <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.au/Series/C2004A03712" target="_blank" rel="noopener">federal Privacy Act</a> the four marketplaces <blockquote> must collect personal information about an individual only from the individual unless … it is unreasonable or impracticable to do so. </blockquote> However, <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3905693" target="_blank" rel="noopener">some online marketplaces</a> say they collect information about individual consumers’ interests and demographics from “<a href="https://www.ebay.com.au/help/policies/member-behaviour-policies/user-privacy-notice-privacy-policy?id=4260&mkevt=1&mkcid=1&mkrid=705-53470-19255-0&campid=5338596835&customid=&toolid=10001#section4" target="_blank" rel="noopener">data providers</a>” and <a href="https://www.amazon.com.au/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=202075050&ref_=footer_iba" target="_blank" rel="noopener">other third parties</a>. We don’t know the full detail of what’s collected, but demographic information might include our age range, income, or family details. How is it “unreasonable or impracticable” to obtain information about our demographics and interests directly from us? Consumers could ask online marketplaces this question, and complain to the <a href="https://www.oaic.gov.au/privacy/privacy-complaints" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Office of the Australian Information Commissioner</a> if there is no reasonable answer.<img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/182134/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /> <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/katharine-kemp-402096" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Katharine Kemp</a>, Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Law & Justice, UNSW, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/unsw-sydney-1414" target="_blank" rel="noopener">UNSW Sydney</a> This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/accc-says-consumers-need-more-choices-about-what-online-marketplaces-are-doing-with-their-data-182134" target="_blank" rel="noopener">original article</a>. Image: Getty Images

Technology

Drones are now delivering groceries in Canberra – how does it work?

Major Australian supermarket Coles yesterday announced <a href="https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/7641084/supermarket-to-offer-drone-delivery-for-grocery-items-in-canberra/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener" data-type="URL" data-id="https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/7641084/supermarket-to-offer-drone-delivery-for-grocery-items-in-canberra/">the launch of its partnership</a> with drone delivery service <a href="https://wing.com/en_au/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener" data-type="URL" data-id="https://wing.com/en_au/">Wing</a> to bring drone-delivered groceries to customers in Canberra. The battery-powered <a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/technology/robotics/drones-for-good/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener" data-type="URL" data-id="https://cosmosmagazine.com/technology/robotics/drones-for-good/">drones</a> have a one-metre wingspan, weigh about 4.8 kilograms, and are equipped with both fixed wings and hover propellers, allowing them to behave as miniature versions of both aeroplanes and helicopters. They can travel at speeds of more than 110 km/h and carry packages of up to 1.2 kilograms. According to Simon Rossi, General Manager at Wing Australia, the drones typically require less energy to make a delivery than a kettle does to boil. So how does drone delivery work? Products can be ordered using the Wing app. Coles is currently offering delivery of more than 250 of its most popular grocery items, including bread, fresh produce, healthcare items, and toilet paper. When the order is received, the products are packed and loaded onto a drone, which ascends to its flying altitude of about 45 metres above ground and sets off for the delivery location. The drone will follow a route planned by Wing’s unmanned traffic management (UTM) software. “The aircraft automatically monitors its systems to make sure it is safe to fly and will prevent take-off or automatically take contingency actions if a problem is detected,” Rossi explains. “Our trained remote aircraft pilots oversee everything to make sure the system is operating smoothly.” Once arrived, the drone descends to its delivery height of about seven metres above ground and hovers as it lowers the package to the ground on a tether. The package is automatically released, and the drone returns to the delivery facility. Customers can track the progress of their delivery on the Wing app. According to Wing, the company’s fastest delivery time to date is two minutes and 47 seconds from order to delivery. <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"> <div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> <div class="entry-content-asset"> <div class="embed-wrapper"> <div class="inner"><iframe title="Wing's drone delivery service in action in Australia" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/4xrCuPACmq8?feature=oembed" width="500" height="281" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></div> </div> </div> </div> </figure> Is drone delivery catching on? Wing has existing drone delivery partnerships with several businesses in both Canberra and Logan, Queensland. The service also has a presence in the US and Finland. According to Rossi, the company completed more than 100,000 drone deliveries in Australia in 2021, and 30,000 in the first two months of 2022. Early feedback from customers on the partnership with Coles in Canberra has been positive, he says. “Customers are ordering a range of items including pantry staples like bread, eggs, and milk, fresh produce and convenience meals, as well as health care items like over-the-counter cough medicine and bandages.” Are there any risks to drone delivery? Adding large numbers of unmanned flying machines to the air would seem to have the potential to be disruptive. <div class="newsletter-box"> <div id="wpcf7-f6-p183733-o1" class="wpcf7" dir="ltr" lang="en-US" role="form"> <form class="wpcf7-form mailchimp-ext-0.5.56 resetting spai-bg-prepared" action="/technology/robotics/drone-delivery-groceries-canberra/#wpcf7-f6-p183733-o1" method="post" novalidate="novalidate" data-status="resetting"> <input class="wpcf7-form-control wpcf7-text referer-page spai-bg-prepared" name="referer-page" type="hidden" value="https://cosmosmagazine.com/technology/robotics/drone-delivery-groceries-canberra/" data-value="https://cosmosmagazine.com/technology/robotics/drone-delivery-groceries-canberra/" aria-invalid="false" /> </form> </div> </div> “Perhaps Wing’s most interesting feature is its airspace integration and deconfliction,” says Pauline Pounds, an associate professor in information technology and electrical engineering at the University of Queensland. “Balancing the needs of CASA [the Civil Aviation Safety Authority], commercial aviation operators and other drone operators requires some care.” Because they fly in a zone between ‘ground clutter’ and manned aviation traffic, the drones are likely to remain comparatively safe. This also helps explain why flying drones are increasingly integrated into our everyday lives, while driverless cars languish on the sidelines. “It’s far easier to build a robot to fly in clear air where obstacles are rare, rather than on roads where pedestrians and human drivers may behave erratically,” says Pounds. However, the drones’ airspace won’t be completely risk-free. “A collision between a drone and a bird is unlikely to be a pleasant experience for either,” Pounds admits. Is drone delivery the future of grocery shopping? Unfortunately, a drone can’t yet do your entire weekly grocery shop for you, and Rossi emphasises that this isn’t the service’s intention. “Rather, it is to enable customers to quickly order small grocery and convenience items, coffees, and snacks which they may need in a hurry,” he says. But could it be done one day? “Scaling drones to carry heavier payloads is a fundamental challenge: the more the drone carries, the shorter its flight will be,” says Pounds. “Drones are optimised for specific payload-range characteristics. Improving performance requires more energy-dense batteries, more efficient propulsion systems; the same limitations that hold back flying cars. “However, a distributed network of mini-aerodromes allowing packages to make many short hops – like a drone ‘Pony Express’ – could allow these systems to scale without limit, much like mobile phone base station cells.” Coles frames the new partnership with Wing as part of its strategy to become Australia’s most sustainable supermarket, as drone delivery options could reduce the need for cars and trucks. Wing also emphasise their green credentials, describing drone delivery as “one of the fastest, safest and most environmentally friendly modes of delivering goods when compared to a truck or car”. But with the drones only able to carry a kilo or two, would environmentally-conscious supermarkets be better off investing in electric cars and trucks instead? “Flying is innately energy-intensive and will always be more demanding than a comparable electric vehicle rolling the same distance, but drones fly directly point to point and do not require detours or stop at traffic lights,” says Pounds. “However, both drones and wheeled electric vehicles also have differing manufacturing, maintenance and disposal costs; whether autonomous cars or drones turn out to be more energy efficient over their lifetimes has yet to be seen.”  <img id="cosmos-post-tracker" style="opacity: 0; height: 1px!important; width: 1px!important; border: 0!important; position: absolute!important; z-index: -1!important;" src="https://syndication.cosmosmagazine.com/?id=183733&title=Drones+are+now+delivering+groceries+in+Canberra+%E2%80%93+how+does+it+work%3F" width="1" height="1" data-spai-target="src" data-spai-orig="" data-spai-exclude="nocdn" />  <div id="contributors"> <a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/technology/robotics/drone-delivery-groceries-canberra/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">This article</a> was originally published on <a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Cosmos Magazine</a> and was written by <a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/contributor/matilda-handlsey-davis" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Matilda Handsley-Davis</a>. Matilda is a science writer at Cosmos. She holds a Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Science (Honours) from the University of Adelaide. Image: Wing (Facebook) </div>

Technology

Tourist sentenced to eight years in prison over a drone flight

Image: News.com.au A French tourist has been sentenced to more than eight years in a notorious Iranian prison after he was arrested on spying charges, all because of a drone. Benjamin Briere, 36, was arrested in May 2020 after taking pictures in a national park near the Iran-Turkmenistan border with a recreational drone. This week, the French citizen was sentenced to eight years in prison and was handed an additional eight-month sentence for propaganda against Iran’s Islamic system, his Paris-based lawyer Philippe Valent said in a statement. Mr Briere’s family and his lawyer have accused Iran of holding him as a political “hostage”. “This verdict is the result of a purely political process and … devoid of any basis,” Mr Valent said. Calling the trial a “masquerade”, Mr Valent said that Mr Briere “did not have a fair trial in front of impartial judges” and noted he had not been allowed to access the full indictment against him. The French foreign ministry described the verdict as “unacceptable”, saying Mr Briere was a “tourist”. He is one of more than a dozen Western citizens held in Iran and described as hostages by activists who say they are innocent of any crime and detained at the behest of the powerful Revolutionary Guards to extract concessions from the West. Mr Briere is being held in Vakilabad Prison in the eastern city of Mashhad. A prison which has reportedly undertaken hundreds of secret executions within the facility. In September last year, an unidentified political prisoner in the same prison, described life in the facility, saying it is “overcrowded” and “full of bedbugs and lice” with poor hygiene and terrible food. The unnamed prisoner said: “If coronavirus does not kill me, the fights inside the prison will kill me.” The verdict against Mr Briere comes as Iran and world powers seek to reach agreement at talks in Vienna on reviving the 2015 deal over the Iranian nuclear program. Nationals of all three European powers involved in the talks on the Iranian nuclear program – Britain, France and Germany – are among the foreigners being held. “It is not tolerable that Benjamin Briere is being held a hostage to negotiations by a regime which keeps a French citizen arbitrarily detained merely to use him as currency in an exchange,” Mr Valent said. Mr Briere’s sister Blandine told AFP her brother is a “political hostage” subjected to a “parody of justice”. Iran insists all the foreigners held are tried in line with domestic law but has repeatedly expressed readiness to prisoner swaps.

Travel Trouble

How to use drones responsibly in Kakadu

<div class="copy"> Drones have transformed conservation and land management over the past decade, making it easier than ever to collect high-quality data. But like all new technologies, they come with new ethical quandaries – particularly when used on country managed by Indigenous Australians. A group of researchers, Jawoyn Traditional Owners, and Indigenous Rangers, have addressed this with an Indigenous-led project to develop guidelines for responsible drone use in Kakadu National Park. The group first began to develop these guidelines while thinking about ways to monitor the ecology at Kakadu. “While we were there, we were working out ways for how we might monitor indicators of healthy country before and after management actions,” says Dr Jennifer Macdonald, a postdoctoral researcher at Charles Darwin University and the CSIRO, and lead author on a paper describing the protocols <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/23299460.2021.1964321" target="_blank">published</a> in the Journal of Responsible Innovation. “We started talking about using drones to see how country was responding before and after cool early season fire management. And through these conversations, we realised that there was a need to make sure that the drones were used in a way that ensured that Traditional Owners had control over when and where [they] were being used and how they could best benefit local people.” While drones (and other technologies like motion sensors and video cameras) can be a useful supplement to Indigenous land management, they can also be used disrespectfully or irresponsibly. “Traditional Owners were really keen to use drones, they could see some great potential particularly for young people to learn skills,” says Macdonald. “There were young people really excited by the thought of using this technology and were keen to see the kind of data that we could collect. “But they were also concerned about some things. There were some concerns raised about where the drones fly and the fact that they might be able to see some restricted sites, especially gendered sites.” The researchers (who represented CDU, the University of Western Australia and CSIRO), have spent several years working with Traditional Owners to manage research done in Kakadu (forming the Indigenous-led Kakadu Indigenous Research Steering Committee). As part of this, the Jawoyn Traditional Owners spent a two-day workshop with the researchers at Jarrangbarnmi in 2019, where they worked out protocols for drone management. “We had a number of informal workshops that were led by Traditional Owners to make sure that everyone was welcome on country, and then we had a number of conversations where we talked through things like drone regulation, how the technology works, and then a workshop where we developed the protocols together,” says Macdonald. The protocols are described in full in the paper, but fall under three aims: (1) empowering Indigenous governance, (2) developing ethical and trusted research relationships, and (3) enabling ongoing Indigenous-led technological innovation. “Traditional Owners should be on country when drones are being used, and they should determine where they fly and what drones look at,” says Macdonald, in summary. “And young people should be able to use the drones to get benefit out of the use of that technology on their country. And in the future, the data that the drones are collecting needs to be cared for and governed by Traditional Owners.” The researchers believe that the guidelines, while Kakadu-specific, could be used as a framework for developing guidelines in other places. “People could see if the rules that we’ve come up with resonate with how they’re hoping to regulate drones as well,” says Macdonald. The project was funded by the Northern Australia Environmental Resources Hub of the Australian Government’s National Environmental Science Program. Image credits: Getty Images</div> <div id="contributors"> This article was originally published on <a rel="noopener" href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/people/ethics/kakadu-jawoyn-drones-ethics-protocols-technology/" target="_blank">cosmosmagazine.com</a> and was written by Ellen Phiddian. </div>

Technology

New food database to help consumers understand nutrition

A new food data base to help consumers understand the nutritional value of food they eat is currently in the works and will simplify understanding the nutritional value behind foods we love to eat. Do we really know and understand what is healthy and what isn’t when filling up the cart during your weekly shop? Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) has begun developing a database to help consumers understand the nutritional value of the food they consume. FSANZ General Manager of Science and Risk Assessment, Christel Leemhuis, says the new Branded Food Database will work alongside the Health Star Rating system (HSR) and was requested by the department of Health. "It will allow us to track changes in the nutrient profile of foods over time, the database is targeted at providing a reliable source of information for modelling any future HSR changes." Consumers will be able to access the database online by entering a barcode to see the product’s health information. No scanning app will be available as of yet, but FSANZ hoped to add this consumer friendly feature to the database in time. Despite FSANZ's goal to include 85 per cent of food products available in Australia by 2023, it was up to food producers to opt-in, Ms Leemhuis said. "But by providing information to the database manufactures and retailers will contribute to industry transparency," she said. "We will compare that to our existing food composition databases, so that will allow us to identify if there are any products with a nutrient profile that doesn't look quite right [if we suspect a company is supplying inaccurate information]." Recent changes to the HSR system that prioritise sugar content as an assessment criteria have received harsh criticism from those who grow fruit, as juices are now ranked below diet soft drinks in terms of high sugar content. Agriculture Minister David Littleproud had also previously dubbed the labelling process as “madness” due to the emphasis on sugar content. Ms Leemhuis promises the new database will provide a more thorough breakdown of food’s nutrients.

Food & Wine

New food database to help consumers understand nutrition

Image: Shutterstock A new food data base to help consumers understand the nutritional value of food they eat is currently in the works and will simplify understanding the nutritional value behind foods we love to eat. Do we really know and understand what is healthy and what isn’t when filling up the cart during your weekly shop? Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) has begun developing a database to help consumers understand the nutritional value of the food they consume. FSANZ General Manager of Science and Risk Assessment, Christel Leemhuis, says the new Branded Food Database will work alongside the Health Star Rating system (HSR) and was requested by the department of Health. "It will allow us to track changes in the nutrient profile of foods over time, the database is targeted at providing a reliable source of information for modelling any future HSR changes." Consumers will be able to access the database online by entering a barcode to see the product’s health information. No scanning app will be available as of yet, but FSANZ hoped to add this consumer friendly feature to the database in time. Despite FSANZ's goal to include 85 per cent of food products available in Australia by 2023, it was up to food producers to opt-in, Ms Leemhuis said. "But by providing information to the database manufactures and retailers will contribute to industry transparency," she said. "We will compare that to our existing food composition databases, so that will allow us to identify if there are any products with a nutrient profile that doesn't look quite right [if we suspect a company is supplying inaccurate information]." Recent changes to the HSR system that prioritise sugar content as an assessment criteria have received harsh criticism from those who grow fruit, as juices are now ranked below diet soft drinks in terms of high sugar content. Agriculture Minister David Littleproud had also previously dubbed the labelling process as “madness” due to the emphasis on sugar content. Ms Leemhuis promises the new database will provide a more thorough breakdown of food’s nutrients.

Food & Wine

"I couldn't believe it": Drone footage at Loch Ness

Image: Richard Mavor Youtube A British camper claims to have inadvertently captured drone footage of the fabled Loch Ness monster lurking on the water’s edge. As the lore goes, the legendary creature is rumoured to live in Scotland’s Loch Ness – the largest and second deepest body of fresh water in the British Isles. There have been several reported sightings in history dating back as far as AD 565, and sightings as recent as this year. In August, Richard Mavo, 54, had been filming his journey as he paddled through the area as part of the Great Glen Canoe Challenge, raising more than $28,000 for the Alzheimer’s Society. After sharing the lengthy video on his YouTube channel, Richard Outdoors, several eagle-eyed viewers noticed something strange about four minutes in. They say the thin figure, just beneath the water’s surface – with a long neck and a large body – matched the description of Nessie. “The last thing I want to do is make a Nessie claim,” Mavor told The Post. “I’m the most sceptical of people but watching this I think yeah, there’s something a bit strange here.” Mavor said the group had just parked their canoes and he decided to get some drone vision of the beach, oblivious to what may been lurking nearby. “I couldn’t believe it,” he told The Daily Record. “I had to rewind the footage several times and have watched it several times since.” “There was no driftwood or anything like that so who knows. It could be a trick of the light but we can’t be sure.

International Travel

Incredible drone footage captures face off between two apex predators

Drone footage captured by a couple holidaying in Western Australia has left people shocked as a massive crocodile intimidates a bull shark. The footage was captured at a popular swimming and fishing spot called Ivanhoe Crossing, which is near Kununurra. Chelsea Wood and her boyfriend were fishing in knee-deep water before deciding to put the drone up to capture some footage. "Before we knew the bull shark and salty were there, we were hanging out with a family with a couple of young girls," she told 9News. "They were just metres from where we took the footage." <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"><iframe class="embed-responsive-item" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/z-UA44HKxEU"></iframe></div> <div class="post_body_wrapper"> <div class="post_body"> <div class="body_text redactor-styles redactor-in"> The shark seems to be swimming towards the crocodile before quickly changing direction. Chelsea said her partner and the other locals couldn't believe what the drone had captured. "We were pretty shocked and lots of people in Kununurra were shocked as well," she said. "That's where the locals hang out and take a dip in the water and we had been doing the same over the last couple of days." </div> </div> </div>

Travel Trouble

The use of drones: What does the law say?

The rise of the digital age has been marked by an expansion in the types of technologies available to consumers. Perhaps one of the more controversial technologies to hit shelves in recent years is the drone. Consumer drones, also known as ‘unmanned aerial vehicles,’ allow users to photograph, record and transmit information using remotely controlled, airborne craft. They offer many advantages; enabling users to obtain aerial footage without the need for manned aircraft such as helicopters, which can be expensive to operate. They also allow users to take photos and videos in situations which would otherwise be inaccessible, dangerous or illegal to reach. For these reasons, they have become popular with real estate photographers, police, and even the media. However, <a href="https://www.sydneycriminallawyers.com.au/blog/the-impact-of-drones-on-privacy/">the use of drones has raised questions about the extent to which they may impinge on privacy rights</a> – and, perhaps even more importantly, the ways in which they may pose a threat to public safety. Last week a man was fined $850 <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-12-18/drone-fine-man-hit-with-24850-penalty-for-interfering-with/5977594">after he attempted to use his drone to obtain footage of a siege in Melbourne’s western suburbs</a>. Authorities believe he was trying to take pictures of a police operation – but his efforts didn’t go to plan. His drone lost control after it hit a power pole and it was confiscated by police. Aviation authorities say the incident highlights the dangers of using drones in situations involving emergency personnel. There are also concerns about the use of drones near large crowds or gatherings as there is the potential to cause injury to members of the public if used inappropriately. It is believed that the drone’s operator was attempting to capture footage of the race when he lost control. Current Laws Regarding Drone Use So, what does the law say about the use of drones? The use of drones in Australia is regulated by the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA), which has developed specific regulations regulating their operation. There are two different sets of regulations which apply to drones – commercial regulations for those who use their drones for business operations, and civil regulations which apply to hobby users. If you’re wanting to use your drone for business operations, the law requires you to obtain an ‘Operator’s Certificate’ – similar to a driver’s licence, but for drones. You also need to have all commercial flights approved by CASA, which involves lodging paperwork and a flight plan. If these requirements are not complied with, you may have your Operator’s Certificate revoked, be issued with an infringement notice or even face criminal charges. For hobbyists, the rules are slightly more relaxed, however you will be expected to comply with certain requirements in the interests of public safety. Users must ensure that they only fly their drones during the day, at least 30 metres away from other people and below 400 feet in the air. Drones must also not be flown over crowds or large gatherings, or within 5 kilometres of an airport. If you fail to adhere to these regulations, you could cop a fine of up to $8,500. You could also face criminal prosecution if your actions injure another person or their property. A need for better regulation? A spate of safety incidents, coupled with concerns that drone use may impinge upon privacy rights, led the House Standing Committee on Social Policy and Legal Affairs to conduct <a href="http://www.cnet.com/au/news/parliament-committee-warns-about-drone-privacy/">an inquiry in July into the laws governing drone use in Australia.</a> It found that as drones becomes more commonplace, tougher laws are required to deal with privacy and safety concerns, as there are a number of gaps in the current laws. The Committee made six recommendations – including for CASA to include information about Australia’s privacy laws on safety pamphlets distributed to vendors of drones, and for the pamphlets to ‘highlight remotely piloted aircraft users’ responsibility not to monitor, record or disclose individuals’ private activities without their consent.’ The Committee also recommended that the government introduce specific new laws providing protection against ‘privacy-invasive technologies’ such as drones. It is hoped that these laws will be introduced by July 2015, however it is not yet certain what form the new laws will take. Written by Ugur Nedim. Republished with permission of <a href="https://www.sydneycriminallawyers.com.au/blog/the-use-of-drones-what-does-the-law-say/">Sydney Criminal Lawyers. </a>

Travel Tips

Aussies latest target in horrific new scam

Aussies are the latest targets in a worldwide scam that is circulating on Facebook, as the scam lures in victims with the promise of very cheap smartphones. This scam is unlike normal Facebook scams, as online hackers have gone to great lengths to make it look like legitimate news articles are endorsing the very cheap smartphones. Other publications that have been caught up in the scam include The Guardian, BBC, Stuff NZ, Yahoo News! And news.com.au. The scam has also been operating worldwide in other countries, such as the United States, New Zealand, Singapore, Norway, Sweden and France. Swinburne University social media major director Dr Belinda Barnet said to <a href="https://www.news.com.au/technology/online/sick-fraudsters-target-aussies-in-facebook-fake-news-scam/news-story/67f877e521f9a9357752f84b57f7f2be">news.com.au</a> that the attention to detail from the scammers is “particularly disturbing”. The fake news articles offer Samsung Galaxy S10 smartphones for $1 to $3, pretending that the very cheap deal is a part of a “marketing strategy” to inflate its popularity over Apple. “Samsung can regain AU users by giving away extremely low-priced phones to people and converting them to repeat Samsung customers who will spread the word to their friends,” the fraudulent article said. Readers are then encouraged to click a link to “claim their offer”, which leads to a copied Samsung website that extracts names, addresses, phone numbers, email addresses and their credit card details to pay for the $3 phone. Victims instead report being charged $99 by an unknown company and receiving no phone in return. “These scams are proliferating more and more and Facebook is not doing enough to counter it,” Dr Barnet. “It’s obviously concerning that an actual masthead is being used. “If we regulate and make social media companies responsible for the pieces they promote — even if we didn’t regulate organic posts but just the things that make Facebook money — that would solve a lot of problems.” Samsung says that they are aware of this scam and have urged customers to "be vigilant". "Samsung is aware of this hoax offer for the Samsung Galaxy S10. We can confirm this is not an official Samsung promotion and we caution customers to be vigilant when considering third-party offers for Samsung products," the company said in a statement. "If customers would like to verify an offer or promotion regarding a Samsung product, they can contact <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://nam05.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.samsung.com%2Fau%2Finfo%2Fcontactus%2F&data=02%7C01%7CLilia.Villela%40edelman.com%7C767941065b764e9f425408d798c2b460%7Cb824bfb3918e43c2bb1cdcc1ba40a82b%7C0%7C0%7C637145834344082553&sdata=2hK1PnWszlQFALLz1aD95j54NK03Ad0VXHWsoTll0uQ%3D&reserved=0" target="_blank" data-auth="NotApplicable">Samsung</a> for further information." Facebook said that the social network uses automated and human moderators to identify scams but is unable to “catch every ad” that promotes a hoax. “We do not want ads that include widely debunked misinformation or make misleading and unsubstantiated claims on our platform,” he said. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s Digital Platform Inquiry found that scams on digital platforms have grown by 188 per cent over four years. “The ACCC is concerned by the increase in this behaviour and the use of digital platforms to facilitate such conduct,” the report found. “This is damaging for businesses that inadvertently display these advertisements, and for consumers who fall victim to these scams and suffer both financial and non-financial loss.”

Technology

Robots and drones: The new age of toys

I’m a geek. And as a geek, I love my tech toys. But over time I’ve noticed toys are becoming harder to understand. Some modern toys resemble advanced devices. There are flying toys, walking toys, and roving toys. A number of these require “configuring” or “connecting”. The line between toy, gadget and professional device is blurrier than ever, as manufacturers churn out products including <a href="https://www.t3.com/features/best-kids-drones">drones for kids</a> and <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Hidden-Spy-Nanny-Camera-Wi-fi/dp/B07P7BCYZT">plush toys with hidden nanny cams</a>. With such a variety of sophisticated, and sometimes over-engineered products, it’s clear manufacturers have upped their game. But why is this happening? The price of tech Toys these days seem to be designed with two major components in mind. It’s all about the smarts and rapid manufacture. In modern toys, we see a considerable level of programmed intelligence. This can be used to control the toy’s actions, or have it respond to input to provide real time feedback and interaction – making it appear “smarter”. This is all made possible by the falling price of technology. Once upon a time, placing a microcontroller (a single chip microprocessor) inside a toy was simply uneconomical. These days, they’ll <a href="https://au.rs-online.com/web/c/semiconductors/processors-microcontrollers/microcontrollers/">only set you back a few dollars</a> and allow significant computing power. Microcontrollers are often WiFi and Bluetooth enabled, too. This allows “connected” toys to access a wide range of internet services, or be controlled by a smartphone. Another boon for toy manufacturers has been the rise of prototype technologies, including 3D modelling, 3D printing, and low cost CNC (computer numerical control) milling. These technologies allow the advanced modelling of toys, which can help design them to be “tougher”. They also allow manufacturers to move beyond simple (outer) case designs and towards advanced multi-material devices, where the case of the toy forms an active part of the toy’s function. Examples of this include hand grips (found on console controls and toys including Nerf Blasters), advanced surface textures, and internal structures which support shock absorption to protect internal components, such as wheel suspensions in toy cars. Bot helpers and robot dogs Many recent advancements in toys are there to appease our admiration of automatons, or self operating machines. The idea that an inanimate object is transcending its static world, or is “thinking”, is one of the magical elements that prompts us to attach emotions to toys. And manufacturers know this, with some toys designed specifically to drive emotional attachment. My favourite example of this is roaming robots, such as the artificially intelligent <a href="https://www.anki.com/en-us/vector.html">Anki Vector</a>. With sensors and internet connectivity, the Vector drives around and interacts with its environment, as well as you. It’s even <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Vector-Robot-Anki-Hangs-Helps/dp/B07G3ZNK4Y">integrated with Amazon Alexa</a>. Another sophisticated toy is Sony’s Aibo. This robot pet shows how advanced robotics, microelectronics, actuators (which allow movement), sensors, and programming can be used to create a unique toy experience with emotional investment. <a href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/ho-chi-minh-city-vietnam-apr-1095006827" class="source"></a>Screens not included Toy manufacturers are also leveraging the rise of smartphones and portable computing. Quadcopters (or drones) and other similar devices often don’t need to include their own display in the remote control, as video can be beamed to an attached device. Some toys even use smartphones as the only control interface (used to control the toy), usually via an app, saving manufacturers from having to provide what is arguably the most expensive part of the toy. This means a smartphone becomes an inherent requirement, without which the toy can’t be used. It would be incredibly disappointing to buy a cool, new toy - only to realise you don’t own the very expensive device required to use it. My toys aren’t spying on me, surely? While spying may be the last thing you consider when buying a toy, there have been several reports of talking dolls <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/alltechconsidered/2016/12/20/506208146/this-doll-may-be-recording-what-children-say-privacy-groups-charge">recording in-home conversations</a>. There are similar concerns with smart-home assistants such as Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant and Apple’s Siri, which store <a href="https://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2018/may/31/ro-khanna/your-amazon-alexa-spying-you/">your voice recordings in the cloud</a>. These concerns might also be warranted with toys such as the Vector, and Aibo. In fact, anything that has a microphone, camera or wireless connectivity can be considered a privacy concern. Toys of the future We’ve established toys are becoming more sophisticated, but does that mean they’re getting better? <a href="https://www.gartner.com/smarterwithgartner/gartner-top-10-strategic-technology-trends-for-2020/">Various</a> <a href="https://www.accenture.com/us-en/insights/technology/technology-trends-2019">reports</a> indicate in 2020, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning will continue to be pervasive in our lives. This means buying toys could become an even trickier task than it currently is. There are some factors shoppers can consider. On the top of my list of concerns is the type and number of batteries a toy requires, and how to charge them. If a device has <a href="https://theconversation.com/nearly-all-your-devices-run-on-lithium-batteries-heres-a-nobel-prizewinner-on-his-part-in-their-invention-and-their-future-126197">in-built lithium batteries</a>, can they be easily replaced? And if the toy is designed for outdoors, <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-batteries-have-started-catching-fire-so-often-68602">can it cope with the heat?</a> Most lithium-ion batteries degrade quickly in hot environments. And does the device require an additional screen or smartphone? It’s also worth being wary of what personal details are required to sign-up for a service associated with a toy - and if the toy can still function if its manufacturer should cease to exist, or the company should go bust. And, as always, if you’re considering an advanced, “connected” toy, make sure to prioritise your security and privacy.<img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important; text-shadow: none !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/127503/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /> <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/andrew-maxwell-561482">Andrew Maxwell</a>, Senior Lecturer, <a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-southern-queensland-1069">University of Southern Queensland</a> This article is republished from <a href="http://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/robots-ai-and-drones-when-did-toys-turn-into-rocket-science-127503">original article</a>.

Technology

“Shamefully weak”: Product recalls have tripled since 1998

Australia’s product safety law has been slammed as “shamefully weak” and “unacceptable” as new figures revealed recalls have tripled in the past two decades. According to an analysis by consumer advocate group CHOICE, the number of annual product recalls in Australia have risen from under 200 in 1998 to more than 600 in 2018. <img style="width: 500px; height: 281.25px; display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/7833082/recalls2.jpg" alt="" data-udi="umb://media/eec5d6fa65a8411f8094254dbaab6e21" /> One in four Australian households are exposed to potential hazards from the 6.6 million individual products currently under voluntary recall, new data from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) showed. Another <a href="https://www.accc.gov.au/media-release/unsafe-goods-should-be-illegal-to-sell">ACCC figures</a> found that there are 780 deaths and 52,000 injuries per year from consumer products commonly found in Australian homes, ranging from appliances and electronics to baby cots and toys. CHOICE product safety campaigner Amy Pereira called on the federal government to review the “shamefully weak” laws. “Australia has been let down by successive governments over the last two decades who have allowed unsafe products to flood into our homes … that’s millions of unsafe products that should have been stopped before they got to shelves, now in people’s homes,” Pereira said. “Businesses selling products in Australia have no general obligation to make sure the products they sell are safe. “Weak product safety laws harm people … Without stronger product safety laws, these unnecessary deaths and injuries will continue.” In a submission to the Treasury, CHOICE urged the federal government to establish a product safety system that includes clear laws and penalties for breaches. “With product recall rates skyrocketing in recent years, now is the time to reform,” the group said.

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