“This reporting would appear to raise quite significant ethical questions, and I would be concerned to think of journalists trawling through illegally-obtained deeply sensitive personal information to identify and generate stories,” he wrote. “The fact that one media source would appear to have done so may prompt others to do so – effectively creating a market for, and monetising, this very personal material,” he wrote. Brett Callow, a threat analyst with cyber-security company Emsisoft said ransomware attackers did attempt to “weaponise” the media, sometimes supplying them with leaked documents that showed victims in a bad light. The criminals aim likely isn’t only to influence the outcome of the current incident, but to influence other incidents too, he said.
+Undoctored
Media release from the Privacy Commissioner Te Mana Mātāpono Matatapu
Thursday 29 July 2021, 01:42 PM
Privacy Commissioner John Edwards is very concerned about RNZ’s reporting of personal information which was taken from documents leaked online following the Waikato DHB cyberattack.
“This reporting would appear to raise quite significant ethical questions, and I would be concerned to think of journalists trawling through illegally obtained deeply sensitive personal information to identify and generate stories. The fact that one media source would appear to have done so may prompt others to do so - effectively creating a market for, and monetising, this very personal material,” says Mr Edwards.
Newshub aired part of Newsroom s documentary on Oranga Tamariki uplifting children from foster homes. (File photo) A person complained about the piece to the Broadcasting Standards Authority (BSA), saying it was a “gross violation” of the children’s privacy. They did not consent to being filmed and were easily identifiable, the complainant said. “This is a breach of children in care’s right to privacy and an exploitation of them.” Broadcaster Discovery NZ, which owns Newshub producer Three, said it did not consider the news item was a privacy breach. The focus was on the political fallout of the uplift, it said.
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