Australian companies are falling behind their international competitors when it comes to protecting the online privacy of their customers and users, a study has found.research, conducted by the Australian cybersecurity consultancy CyberCX, analysed the online privacy practices of hundreds of popular domestic and international businesses operating in Australia on an industry-by-industry basis.
Dark patterns are techniques designed to trick users into accepting terms and conditions, often without the user even noticing.The research found that the telecommunications and technology sector, on the other hand, had the best approach to online privacy, probably because companies in that sector had been online the longest and had already grappled with many of the privacy issues now facing other sectors, Mr Batch said.
One thing the study revealed was that companies operating overseas, particularly those operating in Europe and the USA, tended to have much better privacy practices than companies which only operate in Australia. “I don’t think the level of privacy regulation and privacy protections have increased proportionally to the level of privacy risk that we now face.