Eddie Dragan’s Post

The Attorney General today introduced amendments to the Privacy Act to Parliament which will affect all businesses that handle customers' personal information. These reforms implement 23 of the 89 recommendations for legislative change put forward by the February 2023 Privacy Act Review report. A further two have been agreed by the Government but not implemented and another 56 agreed in principle so stay tuned for what happens to those. Most importantly the Bill proposes to create a new cause of action allowing individuals who suffer a serious breach of privacy to take the organisation responsible to court, and creates new criminal offences to fight 'doxxing'. The powers of the Privacy Commissioner are also significantly strengthened. Its also time to review your privacy policy. Information about automated decisions made using personal information that significantly affects the rights or interests of an individual needs to be disclosed. And that's not all. We will have more to say on these significant changes to the privacy landscape. Get in touch if you would like to know more. https://lnkd.in/gtBS7_wS

This morning the first tranche of the long awaited privacy reforms were tabled! I'm sure there will be lots of insights shared over the coming weeks, but here are some of the key changes included in the bill: - Greater transparency for individuals by requiring disclosure of automated decision making and requiring organisations to have clear policies and procedures for retaining and destroying personal information - Easier international data transfers through whitelisting of countries with equivalent privacy protections - Greater clarity on the factors that make an interference with privacy 'serious' - Emergency declarations under the Act - Increased financial costs for non-compliance through the creation of a statutory tort for invasions of privacy and new civil penalty provisions for non-serious interferences - Criminal offences for doxxing and harassment - Better protections for children

Finally, a more substantive update on the promised Privacy Act reform 📚🔎 The Attorney-General has this morning introduced a bill to Parliament to amend the Australian Privacy Act (see a link to the full text of the bill below for those interested in some more light reading). As a quick snap-shot, the Bill includes amendments re: - Development of a children’s online privacy code to apply to social media and other internet services likely to be accessed by children (with the AG flagging that the OAIC will be provided with extra funding over a three year period to develop this). - Mechanisms to facilitate cross-border data transfers. - Clarification of technical and organisational measures required to keep personal information secure. - Emergency declarations under the Privacy Act. - Strengthening of the Information Commissioner’s investigative and enforcement powers. - Introduction of a statutory privacy tort for serious invasions of privacy. - Transparency requirements for the use of automated decision making. The proposed changes cover a handful of the agreed and agreed-in-principle proposals that the Government’s Response to the Privacy Act Review Report detailed and was not the complete overhaul of the Privacy Act that some were expecting. More extensive and comprehensive reform of the Privacy Act will continue to unfold post the next Federal election. We’ll provide some more detailed insights on the amendments over the next few weeks. Nicholas Boyle Alexandra Moore #privacymatters #internationaldataprivacy #privacylawreform #australianprivacy #dataprotection

Australian Privacy Law Amendments - still some work to do? Now released, a link below to the full text of the Privacy and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2024, that is aimed at 23 of the 89 recommendations in the Privacy Act Review Report. There are a number of very significant reforms: ➡ Statutory Tort for Serious Invasions of Privacy: Introducing a new cause of action for individuals to seek remedies for serious invasions of privacy ➡ Criminal Offences for Doxxing: Establishing targeted criminal offences to combat the malicious release of personal data online ➡ Broader Enforcement Powers for OAIC ➡ Development of a specific Children's Online Privacy Code ➡ Transparency in Automated Decision-Making ➡ Emergency Data Handling Provisions ➡ Other enhanced privacy protections - including clarification of reasonable security as requiring both organisational and technical measures There's certainly a lot in here to digest, even if it's only a partial response. 💡 One aspect I'm hopeful will be targeted next is how the Archives Act retention obligations should apply in the context of 21st century privacy protections. Obligations to retain Commonwealth Records can be very extensive and one aspect not addressed in these changes is what would be an appropriate balance between record keeping and privacy? ⏭ More to come including briefings from myself and colleagues. Please reach out if you're interested in knowing more. https://lnkd.in/gT89-ZpA Andrew Hilton; Geoff McGrath Leon Franklin #Governance #DigitalLaw #PrivacyLaw #DataPrivacy #Accountability #TechInnovation #PrivacyReforms #doxxing #digital #privacy

𝗟𝗼𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝘄𝗮𝗶𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗔𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗹𝗶𝗮𝗻 𝗣𝗿𝗶𝘃𝗮𝗰𝘆 𝗟𝗮𝘄 𝗥𝗲𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺 𝗨𝗻𝘃𝗲𝗶𝗹𝗲𝗱... 𝘄𝗲𝗹𝗹 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝟭𝘀𝘁 𝗧𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗵𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝘆𝘄𝗮𝘆 It has been almost a year since the Australian Government published its Response to the Privacy Act Review foreshadowing some extensive privacy reforms. Unfortunately, this first tranche only touches on a limited number of the proposals. Highlights of the Privacy and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2024 include: 🔉 a new statutory tort for serious invasions of privacy (allowing individuals to take court action) 🔉 new criminal offences for "doxxing" 🔉 enhancing the enforcement and investigative powers and functions of the regulators and the Court 🔉 new civil penalties for different interferences of privacy 🔉 Commissioner powers to issue infringement notices for breaches of some of the APPs and non-compliant eligible data breach statements 🔉 requiring privacy policy updates to increase transparency on automated decisions making 🔉 a Children's Online Privacy Code to be developed within 2 years of commencement 🔉 clarifying the reasonable steps expected in APP 11 (security) to include technical and organisational measures 🔉 introducing a mechanism to prescribe countries/binding schemes that provide similar protections to the APPs (facilitating overseas disclosures of personal information) 🔉 new provisions to facilitate information sharing during eligible data breaches in order to prevent/reduce the risk of harm. If passed, this tranche of reforms will kick off some of reforms anticipated from the long awaited Privacy Act review. Further consultation is expected on other the reforms but this is now not expected until after the 2025 Federal election. What further privacy reforms will take shape and when, will depend on the election results. #privacy #dataprotection #privacylaw #reform #privacyact #Australia

[Australia] The much awaited amendments to the Privacy Act has been tabled to the House of Representatives yesterday. Some of the substantial changes proposed are: 1. Strengthening the powers of the OAIC 2. Introducing a children's privacy code into one of the AU privacy principles, 3. Transparency requirements on automated-decision making 4. Statutory tort action for serious invasions of privacy The amendments introduced was a bit lackluster compared to what was 'agreed in principle' a few months ago such as amending definition of PI, concepts of controller/processor, removal of the exemption for small businesses.

The Attorney-General, the Hon Mark Dreyfus, has just tabled a Bill to amend Australia's Privacy Act. This is a first step in strengthening Australia's privacy protections. But it's only that: one small step forward. Much more reform is needed to make Australia’s privacy protections adequate for the 21st century. We're pleased that the Albanese Government is introducing a statutory tort for serious invasions of privacy. This means that, for some of the worst privacy breaches, people will be able to seek justice in a court of law. The Bill also recognises that children can be particularly vulnerable to having their privacy violated online. We support the Australian Privacy Commissioner developing a new Children’s Online Privacy Code to protect kids from a range of harms that kids experience simply by sharing their personal information online. As the Attorney-General has recognised, this can only be a first step - and the Government needs to set out its timeline for introducing the remaining privacy law reforms. This is crucial, because this Bill does not address some of the most urgent and serious problems with our Privacy Act. For example, the Bill doesn’t address the problem of ‘sham consent’ – where an individual’s privacy rights are waived simply because they had to click ‘I consent’ to access an important service online. Nor does it deal with some of the most pressing issues raised by the rise of artificial intelligence - like harmful uses of facial recognition. Not only are there ways for the law to address these problems - the Government already committed to a number of specific reforms more than 18 months ago. The Government must honour its commitments. The Attorney-General committed to implementing over 100 reforms to the Privacy Act - this Bill includes just 20 percent of the Government’s committed reforms. We need to see a clear timeline for those remaining reforms. You can now view the Bill. We anticipate people will have a chance to give their views on the Bill through a parliamentary review process. https://lnkd.in/ggUHgdCF

Australia Privacy Act changes - A great overview from #jamescole, noting important proposed amendments including: stronger enforcement powers for data breaches, data breach declarations, and the right to bring litigation for invasions to privacy. An important reminder to review and implement robust privacy frameworks in your organisations across both sides of the Tasman.

The new privacy bill is finally here! Summary from our privacy and cyber guru James Cole below.

Parliament has passed legislation to strengthen privacy protections for all Australians. The Privacy and Other Legislation Amendment Act 2024 introduces measures agreed in the Government response to the Privacy Act Review, including a framework for a Children’s Online Privacy Code and a new statutory tort for serious invasions of privacy. The legislation also outlaws doxxing. Read the media release on our website: https://lnkd.in/gC3bwm2i