Major retailers have been found to be using facial recognition technology in their stores, though most customers are unaware of the practice, raising Privacy concerns. Read more at https://www.choice.com.au.

Crown Resorts has received a record fine for a scheme that allowed Crown Casino high rollers to illegally bypass China's currency controls and Australia's anti-money laundering laws. Read more at https://www.smh.com.au.

Peters Ice Cream has been ordered to pay a $12 million penalty for anti-competitive trade practices (exclusive dealing) for restricting a supplier from dealing with its competitors. Read more at https://www.accc.gov.au.

An investigation led by the Human Rights Law Centre has found most Australian companies with known supply-chain links to forced labour are not meeting the basic reporting obligations under the Modern Slavery Act. Read more at https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-02-07/human-rights-groups-demand-more-action-on-modern-slavery/100809012.

The ACCC has launched National Scam Awareness week for 2021, running from November 8-12, under the theme let's talk scams. Scams cost Australian individuals and businesses hundreds of millions of dollars each year. Read more at https://www.accc.gov.au.

Australian 7-Eleven stores took photos of some customers' faces and used facial recognition technology on these images without the individuals' consent, the Privacy Commissioner has ruled. Read more at https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/oct/14/7-eleven-took-photos-of-some-australian-customers-faces-without-consent-privacy-commissioner-rules.

The state of Victoria has named Todd Fernando as its Commissioner for LGBTIQ+ Communities, becoming the state's first openly gay Indigenous Commissioner. https://www.sbs.com.au/news/victoria-names-its-first-lgbtiq-commissioner/f3195ec8-dbb1-42a5-9c87-b5de2a987a58.

Treasury has released a draft bill proposing a number of significant changes to laws that will expand the scope and penalties that apply for entities that rely upon unfair contract terms. Read more at https://www.holdingredlich.com/time-to-revisit-your-contracts-significant-expansion-of-unfair-contract-term-laws-announced.

Australian phone users have been hit by a wave of scam phone calls and text messages related to the 'Flubot' scam, which targets users with an often misspelt SMS message about a missed call. Read more at https://www.smh.com.au/business/consumer-affairs/been-bombarded-by-spam-texts-and-ghost-phone-calls-you-re-not-alone-20210820-p58kgn.html.

Activision Blizzard, one of the world's largest video game entertainment companies, is being sued by the state of California over a culture of sex discrimination and 'constant sexual harassment.' Read about the landmark case at https://www.theverge.com/2021/7/22/22588215/activision-blizzard-lawsuit-sexual-harassment-discrimination-pay.

In the 2021 Federal Budget, cybersecurity spending is set to receive a $1.35 billion boost in wake of increasing online attacks against Australia. Read more at https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-06-29/cyber-security-investment-link-attacks-scott-morrison/12404468.

Sporting goods retailer FE Sports has been ordered by ASIC to pay a $350,000 penalty for engaging in resale price maintenance when it provided agreements to dealers that prohibited them from advertising or promoting products for less than the recommended retail price. Read more at https://www.accc.gov.au/media-release/fe-sports-to-pay-350000-penalty-for-resale-price-maintenance.

One of Australia's largest insurance companies has been charged with seven criminal offences for allegedly making misleading claims about their travel insurance product coverage in online advertisements. Read more at https://www.smh.com.au/business/consumer-affairs/insurance-giant-allianz-charged-over-misleading-advertising-20210224-p575a2.html.

Human errors and actions dominate the causes of data breaches in latest statistics released in the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner's (OAIC) latest Notifiable Data Breaches Report. Read more at https://www.oaic.gov.au/updates/news-and-media/human-factor-dominates-latest-data-breach-statistics/.