Australian privacy guidelines not enough to prevent data breaches: Law lecturer

To prevent online privacy breaches Australia needs a privacy watchdog rather than merely guidelines, a law lecturer has argued.In an article at TheConversation.edu.au University of Canberra law lecturer, Bruce Arnold, argues the high number of data leaks happening in Australia and overseas shows that the government must step up and move beyond privacy guidelines.
http://www.computerworld.com.au/article/396383/privacy_guidelines_enough_prevent_data_breaches_law_lecturer/For the article, see:Care don’t share: what Medvet breach says about Australian privacy laws by Bruce Arnold
Participation in Australian society involves providing information about yourself to both public and private sector organisations.Such information may be sensitive, which raises important questions:

  • Can you expect those organisations to safeguard your information?
  • What happens if they don’t? Can you take legal action?
  • Will a government watchdog be persuasive or merely whip the offender with a limp lettuce leaf?

Last month’s data breach at Medvet – the South Australian state government enterprise that dominates the workplace drug and alcohol testing industry – suggests your expectations of information privacy are misplaced.Bruce Arnold teaches law at the University of Canberra, is the General Editor of Privacy Law Bulletin (LexisNexis Butterworths) and has written widely on Australian and overseas privacy, confidentiality and data protection regimes. He has no commercial interests that would reasonably construed as a conflict of interest in relation to this article.
http://theconversation.edu.au/care-dont-share-what-medvet-breach-says-about-australian-privacy-laws-2594

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