Privacy reforms lag skills of malicious cyber actors: Privacy Commissioner
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More news: Privacy Commissioner Carly Kind has welcomed the first tranche of privacy reforms, calling them important initiatives, but said further reforms were still urgently needed.
What they said: “We are eagerly awaiting the second tranche of privacy reforms, dealing with much needed reforms including a new positive obligation that personal information handling is fair and reasonable,” Kind said.
“The coverage of Australia’s privacy legislation lags behind the advancing skills of malicious cyber actors.
"Further reform of the Privacy Act is urgent, to ensure all Australian organisations build the highest levels of security into their operations and the community’s personal information is protected to the maximum extent possible”, she said.
Labor unveils its privacy and doxxing plans
The news: Labor will on Thursday introduce its long-awaited privacy reforms which includes a new criminal offence for doxxing.
The context: Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus earlier this year promised to bring forward the laws after activists published the names and details of almost 600 Jewish writers, artists and academics.
Under the government’s plan, there will be a new criminal penalty for doxxing, or the “malicious release of personal data online”.
The bill will impose a maximum penalty of six years’ imprisonment for the malicious use of personal data, and a more serious penalty of seven years’ imprisonment, where a person or group is targeted because of their race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, intersex status, disability, nationality or national or ethnic origin.
There will also be a new statutory tort to address serious invasions of privacy, the development of a Children’s Online Privacy Code to better protect children from a range of online harms and stronger enforcement powers for the Australian Information Commissioner.
While the reforms to the Privacy Act have been largely welcomed by legal and privacy experts, the anti-doxxing laws have been controversial.
The proposal put forward earlier this year was criticised by a number of legal experts, with the Law Council of Australia warning doxxing would need to be more narrowly defined to prevent a range of innocent interactions from being captured.
The term “doxxing” was not mentioned in last year’s review of the Privacy Act, which sparked the proposed new laws.
What they said: “The Government is committed to ensuring the Privacy Act works for all Australians and is fit for purpose in the digital age,” Dreyfus said.
“This legislation is just the first stage of the Government’s commitment to provide individuals with greater control over their personal information.
“We will continue targeted consultations with industry, small business, the media, consumer groups and other key stakeholders on draft provisions to ensure we strike the right balance between protecting people’s personal information, and allowing it to be used and shared in ways that benefit individuals, society and the economy.
“The Australian people expect greater protections, transparency and control over their personal information and this legislation begins the process of delivering on those expectations.”
The sources: Attorney-General's office, Privacy Commissioner
