Site Changes

On 1 November 2010 the Office of the Privacy Commissioner was integrated into the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner and a new website established at www.oaic.gov.au.

Note 1: Major changes to the Privacy Act 1988 will come into effect in March 2014. Agencies, businesses and not for profits need to start preparing for these changes. For more information go to our privacy law reform page at www.oaic.gov.au
Note 2: From 12 March 2013 content is no longer being added to, or amended, on this site, consequently some information may be out of date. For new privacy content visit the www.oaic.gov.au website.

Are organisations allowed to use the personal information I post on social networking sites?

If the information on your MySpace or Facebook page is publicly available, then anyone can look at it, including people in organisations.

This means potential employers could look at your MySpace or Facebook page and perhaps base their decisions on what they see there.

But, if an organisation collects and stores information from your page to use for something, and that organisation is covered by the Privacy Act, then it must comply with the National Privacy Principles.

The National Privacy Principles are a set of rules in the Privacy Act that set out how an organisation must handle your personal information and what it is allowed to use it for.

Example: An Australian department store collects your personal details from your Facebook page so that they can send you information about their latest sale. If the store is covered by the Privacy Act, they will usually need to tell you who they are, how to contact them and only use your information for what they say they will.

To find out more about your privacy rights and the National Privacy Principles, go to www.privacy.gov.au/materials/types/brochures/view/6811.

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