Many organisations are building very large collections of information about their consumers — shopping habits, locations, web browsing history, telephone and energy usage, traffic, weather, stock market information, and so on. "Big data" refers to these large collections of data.

Most Australian consumers must currently pay a monthly fee of $2.93 or more for a “Silent Line” to make sure that their phone number will not be published in the White Pages. The fee effectively charges people for their privacy and is a particular problem for low-income consumers and victims of crime, harassment or violence. While Telstra has recently proposed an exemption to the Silent Line for customers facing security threats, ACCAN's position remains that the fee should be removed for all consumers.

Many apps improve our life – we can get directions in a strange city, play Scrabble with friends on another continent or access app-exclusive content for our favourite magazine. Still, consumers need better information about how apps use personal information or structure in-app purchases. 

ACCAN has made a submission to the Australian Law Reform Commission arguing that copyright law needs to be made fairer and easier for consumers to understand.

In this submission by the Australian Communications Consumer Action Network to the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security, ACCAN comments on two specific issues that may have a direct impact on affordable and accessible telecommunications services.