11.08.2008
Australia must rewrite privacy laws for the Information Age
The Australian Law Reform Commission’s landmark report For Your Information: Australian Privacy Law and Practice (ALRC 108), was launched today in Sydney by the Cabinet Secretary, the Hon Senator John Faulkner, and the Attorney-General, the Hon Robert McClelland MP.The three-volume, 2700 page report is the culmination of a massive research and consultation exercise conducted over …
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Media Briefing – Protecting Health Information in the Digital Age
11 August 2008 Electronic health records In recent years, there have been increasing pressures, particularly from government, to move from paper to electronic health records. The ALRC’s Privacy Inquiry coincided with a number of major initiatives to develop electronic medical records—including the proposed national Shared Electronic Health Records system, in which a summary of personal …
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Media Briefing – New cross-border privacy laws—greater certainty for all Australians
11 August 2008The ALRC’s national consultation exercise clearly indicates that Australians are concerned about their personal information being sent or held overseas without their knowledge and consent. ALRC President, Professor David Weisbrot, said “This unease appears to reflect a general feeling by people that they are losing control over something deeply personal, with little ability …
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Media Briefing – Children, young people and privacy
11 August 2008Do the technologically savvy, confident and optimistic members of Generation Y have radically different attitudes to privacy from their Baby Boomer parents and their grandparents? ALRC President, Professor David Weisbrot, stated that, “During our Inquiry, we used a number of strategies to obtain the views of children and young people—for example, we conducted …
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Media Briefing – Technology-neutral privacy principles should govern rapidly developing ICT
The impact on privacy of rapidly developing information and communications technology is a central consideration for the Australian Law Reform Commission (ALRC) in its report For Your Information: Australian Privacy Law and Practice, released publicly today. The ALRC addresses privacy concerns by recommending the implementation of technology-neutral privacy principles, which should be supported by a …
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Media Briefing – Reform of the credit reporting system
The Privacy Act regulates the system of credit reporting, allowing information about an individual’s credit-worthiness to be collected and disclosed to credit providers, such as banks, finance companies, mortgage companies, and mobile phone service providers. In Australia, this information is collected by a small number of specialist credit reporting companies from credit providers and from …
Read more20.04.2008
Scrutinising Privacy – ALRC Discussion Paper
Justice Berna Collier, Part-time Commissisoner, Australian Law Reform Commission, QLS Government Lawyers Conference, Brisbane, Thursday 17 April 2008. On 30 January 2006 the then federal Attorney-General, Philip Ruddock, referred a review of the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) to the Australian Law Reform Commission for inquiry and report. The task of the ALRC was to consider the extent to …
Read more12.09.2007
Review of Australian Privacy Law (DP 72)
On 12 September 2007 the ALRC released Review of Australian Privacy Law (DP 72), seeking community feedback on 301 proposals for reform of privacy law and related practices. View DP 72 in HTML on the AustLII website.
Read more12.09.2007
ALRC proposes overhaul of ‘complex and costly’ privacy laws
The Australian Law Reform Commission today released a blueprint with 301 proposals for overhauling Australia’s complex and costly privacy laws and practices.Releasing Discussion Paper 72, Review of Australian Privacy Law, ALRC President Prof David Weisbrot said it was the product of the largest public consultation process in ALRC history: “We have received over 300 submissions …
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ALRC proposes a more comprehensive credit reporting regime
The Australian Law Reform Commission has proposed the introduction of a more comprehensive credit reporting regime, in a Discussion Paper released today as part of its major review of Australian privacy law and practice.ALRC President, Professor David Weisbrot, said that the ALRC’s review was the first Australian inquiry to recommend such a change, following extensive …
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