Australian companies don’t value keeping our data safe because they have little to lose. Our laws need to change that

‘Businesses make money and are more profitable when they take and use your personal data. Some make money by selling your details to others.’ Photograph: Richard Milnes/REX/Shutterstock

Few would disagree with the view that the world has changed more in the last 20 years than it did in the 2,000 years before that.

In today’s connected world, breaking news is streamed live into the palm of our hands in seconds. The dark side to that connectivity is that the minute details of our personal lives are increasingly collected and stored by governments and corporations.