More than 20 advocates and researchers are calling on the government to urgently implement major reforms to the Privacy Act.
The signatories, which include leading experts on privacy and assistance services, want urgent reforms to Australia’s privacy legislation to protect people from data breaches and misuse.
CHOICE campaigns and policy adviser Rafi Alam says: “Gambling companies hound at-risk people with targeted advertising, data brokers sell our information without consent, and automated systems discriminate against marginalised people.
“We’ve also seen millions of consumers harmed by data breaches when businesses store too much personal information.”
A joint open letter to the federal government calls for urgent action on these recommendations:
• modernising the definition of ‘personal information’ so more of our data is protected
• ensuring businesses only collect and keep the data we want to share by establishing a fair and reasonable use test
• giving regulators the resources and power they need to enforce the law
• applying the Privacy Act to all businesses, regardless of size
• introducing clear rules and guardrails for high-risk technologies that significantly impact human rights, such as facial recognition technology.
Mr Alam says you can add your support to the campaign to ensure the Privacy Act is fit for purpose in a rapidly changing digital environment by signing the petition for privacy reform here.
Are you concerned by what the Privacy Act does not do with regard to your personal data?
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