We want to hear people’s views and ideas about how the Privacy Act should be changed in response to the topics that we have raised in the issue paper.  We also want to hear about any other Privacy Act issues that people feel strongly about.

In the Issues Paper we have explored a number of options for improving and updating the Privacy Act. We have looked at wording changes to the privacy principles, their definitions and exceptions.  We have examined changes to the powers and functions of the Privacy Commissioner and the operation of the Privacy Commissioner’s complaints process. For example we have raised the option of giving the Privacy Commissioner the power to audit the way agencies handle personal information. 

Another option is to give the Privacy Commissioner the power to issue enforcement notices if the Privacy Commissioner considers that an agency is in breach of the Privacy Act. We have also raised the option of requiring agencies that put personal information at risk to notify the people concerned if their information is compromised.

We have surveyed topics of particular importance such as government information sharing (including law enforcement information sharing), information matching, direct marketing, identity crime and trans-border data flows. We have also surveyed developments in technology such as social networking, search engines and the internet, cloud computing, deep packet inspection, behavioural targeting, location technologies including radio frequency identification, and biometric technologies as well as privacy enhancing technologies.

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