Technology-related amendments to the Privacy Act
10.114 This section focuses on the amendments to the Privacy Act that the ALRC recommends to ensure that the Act remains technology aware. In this section, recommended content of the model UPPs and the definitions relevant to technology are discussed. The model UPPs10.115 The model UPPs are intended to regulate personal information throughout the information-handling …
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Read moreShould the Privacy Act be technology neutral?
10.3 The explanatory memorandum to the Privacy Amendment (Private Sector) Bill 2000 noted that the National Privacy Principles (NPPs) were intended to be technology neutral. Technology-neutral privacy principles were intended to ensure that the Privacy Act remained flexible and relevant in the case of technological change.[1] In Chapter 9, the ALRC considers the impact on …
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Read moreSurveillance technologies
9.89 Surveillance involves the monitoring of a person, place or object to obtain certain information or to alter or control the behaviour of the subject of the surveillance.[188] Surveillance can be covert or overt, and can be conducted by a variety of individuals, agencies or organisations for different reasons. For example, surveillance can be conducted …
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Read moreIntroduction
9.1 Developments in technology have always influenced discussions about privacy and the formation of information privacy laws. The first modern academic discussion of privacy in 1890[1] was prompted by concerns about the impact of new technologies on privacy, in particular ‘instantaneous photography’.[2] In 1983, concerns about dangers to privacy, including developments in information technology and …
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Read moreIntroduction
8.1 Paul Roth has noted that:It is normally accepted that in law, deceased persons have no privacy interests. This is presumably on the basis that the raison d’être for privacy protection no longer exists, since dead people can feel no shame or humiliation. The underlying common law principle here is much the same as in …
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Read moreIssues Paper 31
8.23 In Issues Paper 31, Review of Privacy (IP 31), the ALRC asked whether the definition of ‘personal information’ in the Privacy Act should be amended to include the personal information of deceased individuals.[32]Submissions and consultations8.24 There was significant support expressed in submissions and consultations in response to IP 31 for extending at least some …
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Read moreDiscussion Paper proposals
A new part in the Privacy Act8.34 In DP 72, the ALRC expressed the preliminary view that simply amending the definition of ‘personal information’ to include the personal information of deceased individuals would be problematic. In particular, many of the privacy principles could not apply at all, or could apply only in part, to such …
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Read moreExtension of the Privacy Act to groups?
7.8 In light of the above, the ALRC asked in the Issues Paper, Review of Privacy (IP 31), whether the Act should be amended to accommodate a ‘collective’ or ‘group’ right to privacy. The ALRC noted that there is some precedent for explicit privacy protection at common law for Indigenous groups in Australia.[12] Northern Territory …
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Read morePrivacy protocols for Indigenous groups
7.29 A privacy protocol is a document that sets out how to respect the particular privacy rights and needs of a group or groups of people in certain situations. In DP 72, the ALRC proposed that the OPC, in conjunction with Indigenous and other ethnic groups, encourage and assist the creation of publicly available protocols …
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Read moreRecords
6.123 Generally, the privacy principles in the Privacy Act only apply to personal information that is held, or collected for inclusion, in a ‘record’.[140] The IPPs expressly refer to collection of personal information by agencies for inclusion in a ‘record’, storage and security of ‘records’, access to ‘records’ and so on. Section 16B provides that …
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