The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner website has been upgraded.  It is far more user friendly.

The announcement is Read the rest of this entry »

Yesterday the Government introduced and read for a first and second time the Health Legislation Amendment (eHealth) Bill 2015.

The Bill is a 126 page behemoth which will warrant close scrutiny.  Briefly it is worth noting some notable features of the Bill:

• Part 3 provides for the collection, use and disclosure of the healthcare identifiers, identifying information and other information. The simplified outline describes the process as:

Read the rest of this entry »

On Friday the Privacy Commissioner published its Guide to mandatory data breach notification in the PCEHR system.

It provides:

1. Introduction

The PCEHR system and breach notification

The Personally Controlled Electronic Health Record (PCEHR) system, established by the Personally Controlled Electronic Health Records Act 2012 (PCEHR Act), is designed to facilitate access, by the consumer and treating healthcare providers, to a summary of health information about an individual. The information is drawn from a number of different sources with individuals controlling what information is included on their record and who may access it. Read the rest of this entry »

Timothy Pilgrim in a speech Office of the Australian Information Commissioner — Update delivered on 1 September 2015 to the New South Wales Government Solicitors conference in Sydney gave some insight into the role  and future of the Office of the Information Commissioner.  It is a subject of some debate and Read the rest of this entry »

The Attorney General, George Brandis, today announced the reappointment of Timothy Pilgrim as Australian Privacy Commissioner.  The appointment is for 12 months from 19 October 2015.  The timing is Read the rest of this entry »

The Privacy Commissioner has announced an investigation into the widely reported likely breach of iiNet.  Notably the breach occurred during the period in which the Privacy Commissioner has enhanced powers, that is after 12 March 2014. The sanctions can be significant, including Read the rest of this entry »

When Adobe suffered a data breach on 3 October 2013, or at least announced knowledge of a data breach, it was regarded as a totemic event.  Since then there have been breaches which have pushed the Adobe breach into the more mundane category. It affected the accounts of hundreds of thousands of Australians.  The data breach and notification by Adobe occurred Read the rest of this entry »

The Privacy Commissioner has released the last tranche of draft guides:

• Chapter 2 – Privacy Complaint handling process,
• Chapter 5 – Determinations,
• Chapter 6 – Injunctions.

The draft chapters are open for consultation until Read the rest of this entry »

 The Privacy Commissioner has found that Telstra Corporation Ltd (“Telstra”) has breached National Privacy Principle 6.1 in failing to provide to the applicant, Ben Grubb (“Grubb”) access to his personal information in Ben Grubb v Telstra Corporation Limited [2015] AICmr 35.

FACTS

On 15 June 2013 Grubb sought access Read the rest of this entry »

The Privacy Commissioner has released 3 international money determinations Read the rest of this entry »