Canva, BlueKee and Digital.NSW among winners in CyberCX and Tech Council’s Privacy by Design Awards
Melbourne, 3 May 2024
CyberCX and the Tech Council of Australia (TCA) have recognised organisations including Canva, Google, Digital.NSW and NSW Health as leading the market in Privacy by Design at the annual Privacy by Design Awards, held in Sydney last night.
Privacy continues to be top-of-mind for industry, government, policymakers, and the public, particularly with privacy law reforms looming on the horizon.
CyberCX CEO John Paitaridis said “While it’s important to recognise and celebrate the efforts of organisations who are demonstrating excellence in data management, the proposed changes to Australian privacy laws will require all organisations to do better and prioritise the privacy of their users.”
At the ceremony attendees heard about the proposed changes first-hand from the Honourable Mark Dreyfus KC, MP, Attorney General of Australia and Privacy Commissioner, Carly Kind.
Organisations from all sectors were asked to showcase how they demonstrate one or more of the seven Privacy by Design Principles in managing personal information in their organisation.
Leaders from across the tech and policy industry were among the judging panel, responsible for awarding this year’s recipients, including:
- Winner – Large Enterprise: Canva
- Highly Commended – Large Enterprise: Google
- Winner – Small to Medium Enterprise: BlueKee
- Highly Commended – Small to Medium Enterprise: pixevety
- Winner – Government: Digital.NSW
- Highly Commended – Government: NSW Health, System Information and Analysis Branch
TCA’s Acting CEO Ryan Black said “Australia has an opportunity to be a leader in the responsible and trusted development of technology. The companies involved in this year’s awards have demonstrated how good tech design and innovation can enhance privacy for Australians.”
For the first time, a Privacy by Design Champion was also elected by the judging panel. The title, awarded to former Australian Human Rights Commissioner, Ed Santow, acknowledges Ed’s critical role in the privacy landscape.
“Ed has been instrumental in highlighting the crucial connection between human rights, including the fundamental human right to privacy, and the ever-evolving landscape of emerging technologies,” said CyberCX’s Privacy Lead, David Batch.
Winner – Large Enterprise: Canva
Canva demonstrated excellence in privacy with Canva Shield – a collection of robust trust, safety and privacy tools which include content moderation processes and AI privacy settings that place their users in control of their data.
“Canva is an exceptional example of putting privacy at the forefront for its users, developing a set of tools that give users full control of their content and respond to community concerns around data privacy and AI,” said Batch.
Winner – Small to Medium Enterprise: BlueKee
BlueKee’s digital, self-sovereign identity solution – a digital version of 100 points of ID – represents best-practice privacy when it comes to fast and secure transactions between people, businesses and government.
By creating a 31-digit hexadecimal during the enrolment process, BlueKee are able to discard user’s personal data, keeping that transaction strictly between the consenting user and the verifying organisation.
“BlueKee are upholding the highest privacy standards by storing no data on their users at all, which is quite an incredible feat for a company dedicated to helping organisations identify and verify its customers,” said Batch.
Winner – Government: Digital.NSW
Digital.NSW have developed a Privacy App to facilitate end-to-end privacy management among its Government Technology Platforms (GTP). These platforms operate and hold the customer data of many critical NSW government digital platforms people access on a daily basis, from checking fuel prices, to paying school fees, parking or calling Service NSW.
The App provides real-time dashboards, providing senior leaders with critical insights, facilitates informed decision-making and visibility of assessment completion rates, privacy incidents and risk trends.
“The creation of the Privacy App by Digital.NSW quite literally bakes in Privacy by Design into the digital solution lifecycle for the whole-of-government products it develops,” said Batch.
ENDS
Media Contact
Dominique Manolios
0401 976 766
