InfoGovANZ

Information Governance Think Tank

Privacy

OAIC’s updated guidance on vaccination status and protecting privacy

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OAIC has updated its guidance on COVID-19: Vaccinations and privacy rights as an employee and Vaccinations: Understanding your privacy obligations to your staff. Key points include: Vaccination status information can only be collected without consent in circumstances where the collection is required or authorised by law (including a state or territory public health order or direction). Only the minimum amount of personal information reasonably necessary to maintain a safe workplace should be collected, used or disclosed. Vaccination status information should only be used or disclosed on a ‘need-to-know’ basis. You must inform employees about how their vaccination status information will be handled. Ensure you take reasonable steps to keep employee vaccination status and related health information secure.
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New Zealand’s Privacy Commissioner releases a paper on biometric regulation

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New Zealand’s Office of the Privacy Commissioner (OPC) has released a position paper setting out how the Privacy Act regulates biometrics.  The increasing role of biometric technologies in the lives of New Zealanders has led to calls for greater regulation of biometrics. In a statement releasing the paper, the OPC said, ‘[it] believes that the privacy principles and the regulatory tools in the Privacy Act are currently sufficient to regulate the use of biometrics from a privacy perspective.’  The paper is intended to inform decision-making about biometrics by all agencies covered by the Privacy Act, in both the public and private sectors. This position paper will be reviewed six months after publication, in consultation with key stakeholders, to assess its impact and whether any further steps are required. Read the OPC’s summary of key issues or the full position paper.
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Digital Identity Legislation

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The Australian Government has released an exposure draft of the Digital Identity legislation (the Trusted Digital Identity Bill) to support the expansion of the Australian Government Digital Identity System (the System). The proposed legislation aims to enshrine in law, privacy and consumer safeguards in the System as it expands to include more services and sectors. The legislation also establishes permanent governance arrangements to be guided by principles of independence, transparency and accountability. Feedback is being sought on the draft legislation and the accompanying documents to make sure the System meets the expectations of Australians and Australian businesses. Available on the Digital Identity website: Guide to the Digital Identity legislation Trusted Digital Identity Bill 2021 exposure draft Trusted Digital Identity Framework (TDIF) accreditation rules Trusted Digital Identity rules Regulation Impact Statement (RIS)
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OVIC Guidance on Collaboration Tools

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The rise of flexible working arrangements means that collaboration tools, such as videoconferencing and instant messaging tools, as well as cloud-based document creation and sharing services, are increasingly essential to facilitate collaboration. The Office of the Victorian Information Commissioner has provided guidance to assist organisations to consider their privacy obligations when implementing and using collaboration tools, plus information security and record-keeping considerations. Read the Guidance here.
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National COVID-19 Privacy Principles

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The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner and State and Territory privacy commissioners have produced universal privacy principles to support a nationally consistent approach to solutions and initiatives designed to address the ongoing risks related to the COVID-19 pandemic. These high-level principles provide a framework to guide a best practice approach to the handling of personal information during the pandemic by government and business. Read the Principles here.
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Protection of Personal Information in Universities

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The protection of information by universities has come under focus in recent years as a number of Australian universities have been subject to cybersecurity attacks. These attacks highlight the risks of data breaches and the potential impact on students, staff, and research participants. This led to the Office of the Victorian Information Commissioner (OVIC) examining the policies and procedures that Victorian universities have implemented to protect the personal information that they hold from loss and misuse. The Victorian Information Commissioner released its report on  the Examination of Victorian universities’ privacy and security policies report on 29 June 2021 (report).   The findings included that not all universities have clear policies and procedures to guide staff to destroy personal information when it is no longer needed, and some do not have written guidance about sharing personal information with third parties to support staff to consider information security risks. The Victorian Information Commissioner, […]
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Protection of personal data in universities Examination Report

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Victoria’s Information Commissioner recently released a report following an examination of the privacy policies and procedures in eight Victorian universities. The report found that many universities don’t have clear policies to guide staff to destroy personal information when it is no longer needed. While Universities are prioritising ICT and cybersecurity risks, in general, they have less of a focus on managing risks to personal information related to physical and personnel security. The report includes recommendations for universities to strengthen the protection of personal information by developing policies and procedures to identify and document the personal information they hold, where it is held, and for sharing information with third parties and contracted service providers. InfoGovANZ is hosting a session with Sven Bluemmel – Victorian Information Commissioner to highlight the key findings of the report and discuss the recommendations, book your ticket here. Read more about the report here.
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OAIC guidelines on the collection of staff vaccination status

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With the COVID-19 vaccine national rollout underway, the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner has released a new COVID-19 Vaccinations privacy guidance for employers to understand their obligations when collecting, using, storing and disclosing employee health information related to the vaccine. It complements the COVID-19 Guidance for employers which provides more general information about the privacy obligations of Australian Government agencies and organisations covered by the Privacy Act 1988.
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OPC’s new interactive online tools

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The Office of the Privacy Commissioner has created two new interactive online tools to help organisations and businesses understand what they need to do if they are sending New Zealanders’ personal information overseas to comply with the new principle 12. The Principle 12 Decision Tree – is designed to help organisations, especially SMEs, easily work out if principle 12 applies to information they are disclosing overseas and whether they have to comply with it. You can try the Principle 12 Decision Tree here. If principle 12 does apply to the disclosure of information, the best and most practical way to comply with it might be to have an agreement with your foreign person or entity that provides for comparable safeguards to New Zealand’s Privacy Act.  Businesses and organisations now use the Model Contract Clause Builder to generate an agreement.  You can try the Model Contract Clauses Agreement Builder here.
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APAC Privacy Law Update: Cross Border Transfers

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With a range of new regulations, tools and projects underway, Information Governance ANZ were pleased to host a virtual forum with updates on the latest data privacy developments across the Asia Pacific region. This interactive session was facilitated by Susan Bennett, Founder of InfoGovANZ and our special guests included: NZ Privacy Commissioner – John Edwards Senior Research Fellow, Asian Business Law Institute – Dr Clarisse Girot Director, Simply Privacy – Daimhin Warner Commissioner John Edwards on the new NZ Privacy Act New Zealand’s Privacy Act 2020 comes into force on 1 December 2020 and introduces new limitations on cross-border transfers. Commissioner Edwards spoke about the new legislation and provided a brief history of the Act since 1993. It applies across the economy (both public and private sector organisations), is based on the 1980 OECD data protection principles and is technology-neutral. He noted the Act has remained largely unamended during the […]
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OAIC Data Breach report: January – June 2020

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The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) has released its Notifiable Data Breaches (NDB) Report for January to June 2020. Malicious or criminal attacks remain the leading cause of data breaches involving personal information in Australia.    Commissioner Angelene Falk said,  'this trend has significant implications for how organisations respond to suspected data breaches — particularly when systems may be inaccessible due to these attacks. It highlights the need for organisations to have a clear understanding of how and where personal information is stored on their network, and to consider additional measures such as network segmentation, robust access controls and encryption.' In other findings: Health service providers continued to be the top reporting sector (115 notifications), followed by the finance and education sectors, and the insurance industry making the top 5 sectors for the first time. The number of notifications resulting from social engineering or impersonation has increased by 47%. Actions taken by […]
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Protecting Privacy by Minimizing Data

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Posted with permission from Active Navigation, originally published on June 1. Ten years ago, there was no such thing as too much data. Notions about data being the “new oil” prompted organizations to horde every byte they could, hoping that they might be able to harness it down the road. Combined with the notion that “storage is cheap,” this belief has led many companies to exponentially increased their risk rather than their opportunity. New data privacy regulations in Europe and the United States impose a significant burden of care on organizations regarding their data collection processes. In fact, data minimization is a fundamental principle within the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Whether governed by the GDPR or state privacy regulations like the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), businesses must now limit the personal data they collect and dispose of it once it is no longer needed for a […]
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P3 Project Privacy Podcast from Active Navigation

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Looking for a new podcast about data privacy?  Active Navigation has exactly what you need – the P3: Project Privacy Podcast aims to help you understand the evolving data privacy landscape. Episodes include:  The ROI of Proper Data Management; Records Management in Highly Regulated Industries; High Stakes Records Management; The NIST Privacy Framework; Open Data During Times of Crisis.  You can listen to the podcast anytime on the Active Navigation website.
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Information Security Risk Management Practitioner Guide – OVIC

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The Office of the Victorian Information Commissioner (OVIC) issues security guides to support the Victorian Protective Data Security Standards (VPDSS). This document provides organisations with guidance on security risk management fundamentals to enable them to undertake a Security Risk Profile Assessment (SRPA) as required under s89 of the Privacy and Data Protection Act 2014(PDP Act) and is designed to support practitioners and information security leads.
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OAIC Privacy Assessment tool

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OAIC launched a new Privacy Impact Assessment Tool (DOCX), which helps you conduct a PIA, report its findings and respond to recommendations. Accompanying the Guide to undertaking privacy impact assessments, entities are encouraged to take a flexible approach and adapt this tool to suit the size, complexity and risk level of their project.
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Data Privacy in APAC – comparative review on cross-border transfers

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In June, ABLI published an important comparative study on the laws and regulations relating to personal data transfers in Asia. We are heartened to see this comparative study widely disseminated and used in all national and supra-national forums where data transfer issues are discussed. The write-up of that study was supported by a comparative table of the various provisions relating to these transfers in 14 APAC jurisdictions, which we have made freely available for the benefit of all. We are pleased to announce that this table was updated on 20 November to take into account multiple recent developments that took place in the legal systems of several of those jurisdictions, including the release for comments of the draft Personal Data Protection Law of China, the entry into force of the new Privacy Act of New Zealand, the amendments made to the Personal Information Protection Act and the Network Act of […]
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COVID19 – Data and Privacy

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COVID-19 has brought to the forefront the importance of real-time accurate data for scientists to analyze and model and for government leaders to make decisions on. InfoGovANZ has complied a series of COVID-19 curated articles and resources, updated monthly. June 2020 OVIC has released new guidance on how the exemptions in the Freedom of Information Act should be applied.  OVIC has updated the FOI and COVID19 FAQs for agencies – read them here – to include questions about the new COVID-19 regulations including: what to do if your agency is completely shut down; and how to verify an applicant’s identity. Australian Information and Privacy Commissioner (OAIC) has updated it’s FOI FAQ with the latest COVID-19 relevant questions including how to make an FOI complaint during the COVID-19 outbreak. May 2020 Australian and New Zealand Information Access Commissioners join with their international counterparts in their clear call for documentation, preservation and […]
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Australia and New Zealand’s COVID-19 Contact Tracing Apps – Differences in Approach on the Road to Recovery

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While Australia and New Zealand were able to flatten the COVID-19 curve, the approaches of each country have somewhat differed, both in relation to the level of restrictions imposed on citizens, as well as the type of contact tracing technology deployed. Australia and New Zealand stand alongside Germany, South Korea and Singapore as examples of countries that followed the advice of their scientists and moved into lockdown in a timely way to limit the spread of the COVID-19 virus. Australia, similar to other countries, experienced a doubling of COVID-19 positive people every two days as it went into lockdown. The containment of the coronavirus in Australia and New Zealand is a result of a multipronged strategy that includes prompt lockdowns restricting movement and requiring social distancing; quarantining of international travellers for 14 days; and a high rate of testing and contact tracing. The governments of both countries have developed their […]
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COVID19 – Contact Tracing publications

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There have been a variety of perspectives on the COVIDSafe app released on 26 April 2020 and the CovidSafe Act enacted on 14 May 2020. Professor Peter Leonard from UNSW Business School in ‘Novel coronavirus spawns novel law-making in Australia‘, looks at the consultative process that resulted in data governance and data accountability in the CovidSafe Act to ensure that the data collected would be safe from other arms of government for other purposes. Visting Professor Roger Clarke at UNSW Law has looked at early user-experiences of the app and questioned the ability of the app to achieve its aim – read his two articles here and here.  In ‘The COVIDsafe APP: A Case Study in Professional Responsibility‘, Professor Clark sets out the role and onus of IT professionals to be realistic about the app’s limitations. Professor Greenleaf and Dr Kemp from UNSW Law, in ‘Austalia’s COVIDSafe Experiment, Phase III: […]
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COVID19 – NZ COVID Tracer App

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New Zealand’s Ministry of Health launched the NZ COVID Tracer app on 20 May 2020, in a move welcomed in a statement by the NZ Privacy Commissioner.  You can read the privacy impact assessment here. Living in a world with COVID-19 means greater requirements to register your presence wherever you go. But what does that mean for your privacy? NZ Privacy Commissioner John Edwards speaks about good policy when it comes to protecting people’s privacy in any technical solution to contact tracing in this interview.
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