As if any of this is about protecting children. At best that will be a side effect of the ban. It’s mainly about linking an ID to as much online activity as possible.

Discussions with the office of my representative showed that they are treating all the issues that will arise from this as secondary. When I asked if tax payer money would be used to redress the absolutely inevitable data breaches when they happen I was told the eSafety Commissioner has the power to bring legal action against companies that don’t implement best practise with regards to data security.

I asked where best practise was codified in legal terms and was then told that the government has published guidelines that state data gathered should be limited in scope and secured in a safe manner. In other words we are putting the horse so far in front of the cart it’s as though the horse is still in the stable.

When I asked about penalties I was told that companies could be fined up to 850k per offense. However when I asked what was to stop a company that had just accidentally leaked say a million drivers licenses from simply closing shop and abandoning Australia to deal with the fallout rather than accept an multi trillion dollar fine I just got some limp hand-wavey statements about how companies would be compelled by the rules and regulations.