2 May 2012: Australia’s privacy laws will be reformed to help protect people’s personal information, simplify credit reporting arrangements and give new enforcement powers to the Privacy Commissioner. Federal Attorney General Nicola Roxon explained that key changes for consumers are:
- clearer and tighter regulation of the use of personal information for direct marketing
- extending privacy protections to unsolicited information
- making it easier for consumers to access and correct information held about them
- tightening the rules on sending personal information outside Australia
- enhancing the powers of the Privacy Commissioner to improve the Commissioner’s ability to resolve complaints, conduct investigations and promote privacy compliance
The Government will also modernise credit reporting arrangements by:
- making a clear obligation on organisations to substantiate, or show their evidence to justify, disputed credit listings
- making it easier for individuals to access and correct their credit reporting information
- prohibiting the collection of credit reporting information about children
- simplifying the complaints process by removing requirement to complain to the organisation first, complaints can be made directly to the Privacy Commissioner, and by introducing alternative dispute resolution to more efficiently deal with complaints.
Full story here and here.