20/10/1999

It is clear from recent articles and editorials that the Australian media are uncomfortable with the Federal Government's proposal to extend privacy legislation to the private sector and that they see it as a potential blocker to free speech and freedom of the media.

It is important that we all have a measure of control over our personal information. This is especially so as we experience the dramatic growth in technologies that provide greater opportunities for our personal information to be collected, stored, and used--often without us knowing it. The proposed legislation is intended to help each of us maintain that control.

Contrary to recent media reports, privacy is not about protecting wrong doing or encouraging secrecy. Nor is it about masking the operations of corrupt organisations. It is about protecting the privacy of individuals.

While I appreciate the media's concerns and agree that they are important, we need to remember that, for over 10 years, Australia has had a federal Privacy Act, which applies to federal government agencies and to the credit sector. I am not aware of any occasion, during those 10 years, where a journalist has complained to my Office that the Privacy Act has stopped them accessing government information.

When considering the proposed legislation, it is important to bear in mind its the actual scope of the issue. The new scheme will only cover personal information held by an organisation. Therefore if a journalist is seeking records which contain no personal information then the Privacy Act will not be an issue.

The National Principles for the Fair Handling of Personal Information (National Principles ), on which the proposed legislation will be based, carefully balance a number of public interests. For example, they recognise the public interest in government, business and law enforcement agencies being able to go about their daily activities without unnecessary intervention. The National Principles are sound and are based on internationally recognised principles that have evolved over the last 20 years.

If the private sector becomes covered by the Act, I see my role as upholding the rights and responsibilities of individuals and organisations. My current statutory responsibilities state that I shall have due regard for interests that compete with privacy. In line with this, it is my aim to help the media, individuals and organisations find privacy solutions to issues of concern.

The Government has indicated that the media will be exempt from the proposed legislation and that they will not be restricted in their efforts to investigate issues in the public interest. I firmly believe that the extension of the Privacy Act will not interfere with the actions of responsible journalists.

Background paper to media release: Privacy and the media (20/10/1999)

Numerous surveys show that there is a growing unease in Australia and internationally about the impact of new technologies on an individual's privacy.

• A Roy Morgan survey, published in August '99, found that "The majority of Australians (56 percent) are worried about invasion of privacy issues created by new information technologies …"
• A recent survey of 5,000 Internet users, by the GVU Center, College of Computing Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta found that 77.5 percent of users valued privacy over convenience when buying on-line.

Consumers are concerned about their privacy on-line

Harris survey 1998 found that:

• Consumers are increasingly concerned about personal privacy. Computer and net users registered the most intense concern.
• 86% of Net users that buy products and services are concerned about privacy

AT&T Labs - Research Technical Report TR 99.43 found that:

• "Overall, our respondents registered a high level of concern about privacy in general and on the Internet. Only 13% of respondents reported they were 'not very' or 'not at all' concerned. Nonetheless, while the vast majority of our respondents were concerned about privacy, their reactions to scenarios involving online data collection were extremely varied …"
• "Some reported that they would rarely be willing to provide personal data online, others showed some willingness to provide data depending on the situation, and others were quite willing to provide data -- regardless of whether or not they reported a high level of concern about privacy."

E-commerce and e-trust

According to Dr Ann Cavoukian, Information and Privacy Commissioner, Ontario, Canada

• Ultimately, the future of e-commerce will be based on trust and consumer confidence. When your competitor is only a "mouse-click away", trust will be a strong competitive advantage
• "Whoever builds the most trust, wins. In an online world, this translates into which companies can protect their customers' privacy the best, win."