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From 12 March 2013 content is no longer being added to, or amended, on this site, consequently some information may be out of date.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

Types

Topic(s): Compliance

Privacy Commissioner publishes case notes 1 - 8 for 2010

The Australian Privacy Commissioner, Karen Curtis, has published eight new case notes:

Own Motion Investigation v Insurance Company [2010] PrivCmrA 1: Disclosure of personal information for a purpose other than the primary purpose of collection.
A v Private Health Service Provider [2010] PrivCmrA 2: Spent conviction information improperly taken into account.
B v Charity Organisation [2010] PrivCmrA 3: Collecting and using personal information for direct marketing.
C v Telecommunications Company [2010] PrivCmrA 4: Listing of incorrect information about a payment default on an individual's consumer credit information file.
D v Commonwealth Agency [2010] PrivCmrA 5: Disclosure of personal information and failure to take reasonable steps to protect personal information.
E v Private School [2010] PrivCmrA 6: Disclosure of personal information for a directly related secondary purpose.
F v Health Service Provider [2010] PrivCmrA 7: Disclosure of personal information that was required or authorised under law.
G v Finance Company [2010] PrivCmrA 8: Denial of access to personal information.

The case notes are part of a suite of products and guidance material being released to celebrate Privacy Awareness Week 2010.

The complete case notes are available here.

Background: The Australian Privacy Commissioner publishes case notes of finalised complaints that are considered to be of interest to the general public. Cases chosen involve interpretation of the Privacy Act or associated legislation in new circumstances, illustrate systemic issues or illustrate the application of the law to a particular industry or subject area. The case notes are intended to offer a synopsis only and not to be a comprehensive account.

It is a function of the Commissioner to endeavour to resolve complaints by conciliation where appropriate. As a result, the outcome in any particular case will be affected by a number of factors, including the applicable law, the facts of the matter and the approach to the conciliation process taken by both the complainant and respondent.