The Privacy Awareness Week addresses by the AG and PC'er earlier this week could have misled people into thinking that the recent changes to the Privacy Act are privacy-positive.
As an antidote to such suggestions, the following extracts from Waters & Greenleaf (2013) show how the amendments to the Privacy Act that come into force in March 2014 are seriously privacy-*hostile*. 1. Commissioner's Powers The most positive aspect of the Amendment Act is the additional enforcement powers given to the Privacy Commissioner. [However], these improvements to enforcement powers do not deal directly with the key problem of the existing Privacy Act. [Hence] the new right of appeal may turn out to be of little use. 2. Australian Privacy Principles (APPs) None of the thirteen APPs is an overall improvement on the previous principles and 8 of the 13 APPs are worse for privacy protection. 3. Data Export 'Restrictions' An Australian company or agency will be able to send personal information anywhere in the world (subject to APP 6 concerning use and disclosure). It may be completely exempt from any liability (under nine separate exceptions) for what then happens to the information. The purported 'accountability' may turn out to be fictional. 4. Direct Marketing A new Principle (APP7) defines a set of conditions under which personal information can be used for direct marketing. It is in effect authorisation for what would otherwise be privacy breaches, with some boundaries set at the outer limits of those authorised breaches, which might be seen as a very limited form of privacy protection. 5. Credit Marketing There are some minor enhancements to the credit reporting provisions from a consumer perspective but overall the new regime is a major loss of financial privacy. 6. Even More Exemptions None of the exemptions from the Act have been removed as the ALRC recommended, while others have been added. Source: Waters, Nigel and Greenleaf, Graham , Australia's 2012 Privacy Act Revisions: Weaker Principles, More Powers (April 15, 2013). Privacy Laws & Business International Report Issue 121, February 2013, 12-13; UNSW Law Research Paper No. 2013-27. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2252569 Greenleaf, G and Waters, N 'Australia's Privacy Bill 2012: Weaker principles, stronger enforcement' Privacy Laws & Business International Report, Issue 118: 16-18, July 2012, at http://ssrn.com/abstract=2129626 Waters, N and Greenleaf, G 'A critique of Australia's proposed Privacy Amendment (Enhancing Privacy Protection) Bill 2012', Australian Privacy Foundation, 2012, at http://ssrn.com/abstract=2134838 and http://www.privacy.org.au/Papers/PAmmtBill-SPLA-120803.pdf -- Roger Clarke http://www.rogerclarke.com/ Xamax Consultancy Pty Ltd 78 Sidaway St, Chapman ACT 2611 AUSTRALIA Tel: +61 2 6288 1472, and 6288 6916 mailto:[email protected] http://www.xamax.com.au/ Visiting Professor in the Faculty of Law University of NSW Visiting Professor in Computer Science Australian National University _______________________________________________ Link mailing list [email protected] http://mailman.anu.edu.au/mailman/listinfo/link
