Australia news live: Optus fined $800k over phone scam; NSW targets ‘dehumanising’ work systems such as Amazon’s | Australia news
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NSW targets ‘dehumanizing’ work systems like Amazon’s
Anne Davies
The Minns Labor government will today introduce new laws that will impose barriers to the use of digital programs designed to optimize workers’ workload.
Digital work systems, often powered by artificial intelligence, are being used in the retail and logistics industry by companies such as Amazon and Uber to determine staffing and design the most efficient way to pick, pack and deliver items.
But there are growing concerns that such systems could become inhumane, measuring everything from the speed at which employees work to the time they spend going to the toilet.
Bernie SmithThe NSW secretary of the Store Distributive and Allied Employees Association (SDA), a union covering retail and warehousing workers, said these systems were often bought off-the-shelf from the US, where labor standards differed from those in Australia.
These systems eliminate all gaps in a worker’s workday, but often the gaps are what make us human and make our work bearable.
Amazon does this immensely, but many other businesses use them as well. It doesn’t work smarter, it just works harder.
Optus fined over $826,000 for customers who lost $39,000 after fraudsters breached identity checks
josh taylor
Optus has paid a fine of $826,320 after its subsidiary Coles Mobile fell victim to fraudsters who exploited a vulnerability in third-party identity checks used by Optus to bypass required verification and gain control of at least four mobile accounts.
Telcos need to have strong authentication settings to prevent scammers from porting a number to a different telco. Scammers who successfully port numbers can block multi-factor authentication verification for banking if the method the bank uses is SMS. In this case, fraudsters used these mobile services to access the bank accounts of those customers, resulting in reported losses of $39,000.
The Australian Communications and Media Authority (Acma) said Coles Mobile breached anti-fraud rules 44 times between September and October 2024.
pity member Samantha Yorke He said it was a one-off issue that was quickly resolved, but that it was inexcusable for any telco, let alone the second largest telco in Australia, to not have robust customer identity systems.
He said:
Fraudsters are always looking for any weakness in systems and in this case Optus left a vulnerability that exposed people to direct harm. This is the maximum financial penalty Acma can impose in this matter. This reflects the serious nature of the violations.
Welcome
Good morning and welcome to our live news blog. I Martin Farrer with the best of the night’s stories before handing him the news baton Nick Visser.
Optus was fined $826,320 after a subsidiary, Coles Mobile, was targeted by fraudsters who exploited a weakness in third-party identity checks and took control of at least four mobile accounts, stealing $39,000 from bank accounts. More details coming soon.
As the NSW government introduces a new bill to restrict protests outside places of worship, the state’s attorney general told parliament last night that the new law clarifies the scope of police powers.
It’s going to be another busy day on Macquarie Street as the government introduces new laws to protect workers from digital working systems that unions say can be dehumanizing, such as checks on toilet breaks and similar controls. More is coming.
