Privacy by design: A call to action

Griffin Legal endorses the ‘privacy by design’ approach, whereby agencies proactively embed good privacy practices into the design of new technology, practices and infrastructure. It remains important that evolving and adapting agencies keep privacy at the forefront of their minds. A privacy impact assessment (PIA) is a good way to build up privacy. What is …
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Privacy in the digital age: Tips for protecting your personal information

Whether it’s the mobile glued to our pockets or the smart lighting installed in our homes, our digital landscape has the potential to erode our personal privacy and security. Here are five basic steps you can take to protect your personal information online: 1. Enable MFA Multi-factor authentication (MFA) is a security measure that adds …
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Do you know your data breach responsibilities under the Privacy Act? Notifications are down by 16%!

The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) regularly publishes reports on data breaches that have been reported to the commission under the Notifiable Data Breaches scheme. This scheme was established in 2018 to improve protection of identifiable consumer information and improve the security standards for protecting personal information.  Under the scheme, any organisation covered …
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Privacy Act under highly anticipated review

The Federal Government last year released the terms of reference for a proposed review of the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (the Act). The Australian Information Commissioner and Privacy Commissioner, Angelene Faulk, has praised the proposed review as a “landmark opportunity” to update Australia’s privacy landscape and ensure it is equipped to respond to the “new …
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Notifiable Data Breaches – 6 months of lessons from the OAIC

Notifiable Data Breaches Report (July-December 2020) The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) has released its twice-yearly report on notifiable data breaches reported in the second half of 2020 539 data breaches were notified to the OAIC under the Notifiable Data Breach Scheme (NDB Scheme) in the second half of last year, with 38% …
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The Privacy Act and its functions in Workplace Investigations

How does the Privacy Act apply to a workplace investigation? Workplace investigations are typically used to investigate matters such as misconduct, bullying accusations or breaches of an organisation’s Policies or Code of Conduct. Any workplace investigation involves balancing the sensitive nature of the allegations, and work health and safety obligations. However, it is also important …
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Check In CBR – but don’t check out of your privacy obligations

Everyone across Canberra has seen the Check In CBR posters at venues they have visited. Whether you’re sceptical about the process or happy to Check In, a lot of questions are raised about how the information collected through Check In CBR is used and stored. What are the contact tracing obligations for non-essential businesses in …
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OAIC Privacy Survey Reveals Insights from COVID-19 Australia

The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) has recently published the 2020 Australian Community Attitudes to Privacy Survey (ACAPS). The ACAPS provides insights to Australians’ views and understanding of privacy and privacy-related issues. Interestingly, the ACAPS also includes a snapshot of those views during the COVID-19 outbreak. COVID-19 Interestingly, the survey was carried out …
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