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From 12 March 2013 content is no longer being added to, or amended, on this site, consequently some information may be out of date.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.

How long does my information stay on social networking sites?

The simple answer is ‘a long time’!

Generally, you can deactivate your Facebook or MySpace accounts, but this may not mean that the information just disappears. It can live on in archived or old versions of websites, or in comments you’ve made on other people’s pages.

Think before you upload!

Think carefully about the information you post about yourself. Remember that it might still be floating around for years to come, often long after you have forgotten what you wrote.

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