Office of the Privacy Commissioner | OPC announces 2019 recipients of the Privacy Good Research Fund
Four independent research projects will receive grants from second round of the Privacy Good Research Fund, run by the Office of the Privacy Commissioner.
The fund was first launched in June 2015 to generate new knowledge in the areas of privacy and data protection and to encourage research projects that raise public privacy awareness.
The 2019 round was made possible thanks to a grant from the Legacy Fund of the formerly incorporated International Association of Privacy Professionals Australia/New Zealand Chapter (iappANZ), and support from the Social Investment Agency (SIA).
This year we had $75,000 available, with up to $25,000 available for any single project. Twenty-one applications were received from New Zealand and abroad.
“I was delighted by the quality and range of research applications we received, and there were a number of projects that we would have liked to have supported,” Privacy Commissioner John Edwards said.
“I’m looking forward to seeing what each project team will deliver with help from the Fund.”
The four successful applications include:
- An exploration of the way tech design influences user’s privacy choices
- An investigation into how the Dunedin Study participants feel about their information being shared
- An examination of New Zealanders’ attitudes to having smart speakers at home
- A look into whether New Zealand should adopt a US law requiring information held in the cloud about individuals to be handed over for criminal investigations.
Each of the four research teams will complete their projects in mid-2020. The research findings will be made publicly available online and through other channels, such as a public event.
The 2019 recipients are as follows:
|
Researcher |
Project title |
Description |
Funding (GST exclusive) |
|
University of Otago (Dept of Psychology) |
Understanding the privacy concerns of participants in longitudinal studies.
|
This project investigates attitudes to data sharing by interviewing participants from the world-famous longitudinal project, the Dunedin Study. |
$24,924 |
|
Victoria University of Wellington (Dr Cherie Lacey) |
Deceived by Design: The Influence of Dark Patterns on Privacy in New Zealand. |
Dark patterns in digital technology aim to manipulate users into taking actions they wouldn’t otherwise take. This project aims to understand dark patterns and generate insights into their use to support future regulatory frameworks. |
$21,687 |
|
Massey University (Erica Pearson) |
New Zealand Privacy Concerns Around Domestic Internet of Things (IOT). |
This research project aims to assess both the privacy concerns and the privacy behaviours of NZ users of smart speakers. |
$23, 838 |
|
Tim Cochrane |
Extra-territorial Production Orders: Should New Zealand Adopt the US CLOUD Act? |
Production orders require disclosure of information to government agencies for use in criminal investigations. They are often served on tech companies as they hold significant personal data. This research will assess how NZ should regulate extraterritorial production orders, given NZ law. |
$6850 |
|
|
|
|
Total $77, 299 |
You can read more about the PGRF here.
For further information, contact Feilidh Dwyer 021 959 050