A former Barclays bank employee was fined after being prosecuted under the Data Protection Act for illegally accessing details of a customer’s account. The fine of £3,360 is quite small given the nature of the intrusion, accessing the accounts on 22 occasions, and quite an eggregious breach of trust.  The ICO is seeking greater penalties for such breaches.

The ICO media release of 25 September 2013, Barclays Bank employee prosecuted for illegally accessing customer’s account, provides:

A former Barclays Bank employee has been fined £3,360 after illegally accessing the details of a customer’s account. In one case the employee, Jennifer Addo, found out the number of children the customer had and passed the details to the customer’s then partner, who was a friend of Ms Addo.

Appearing at Read the rest of this entry »

In Exclusive: Blue-chip hacking scandal – at last, the investigations into those on Soca list begin the Independent reports on an investigation by the UK Information Commissioner’s Office into law firms, financial organisations and insurance organisations who unlawfully obtained personal information through the use of private investigators.

It provides:

Nineteen blue-chip clients of corrupt private investigators Read the rest of this entry »

The Royal Veterinary College has entered into an undertaking under the Data Protection Act 1998 as a result of a member of its staff losing data, passport images of six job applicants, stored on his/her personal camera in December 2012.  At the time the College had no policy about how personal information stored for work should be looked after on personal devices.

The ICO’s media release (found here) relevantly provides:

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is warning organisations that they must make sure that their data protection policies reflect how the modern workforce are using personal devices for work.

With a YouGov survey earlier this year showing that 47% of all UK employees now use their smartphone, tablet PC or other portable device for work purposes there is a concern Read the rest of this entry »

The Privacy Commissioner has issued a media release announcing a privacy breach by AAPT.  The breaches involved failing to adequately protect data from unauthorised access, a hacking attack.  As it transpires AAPT failed to destroy or de identify old data it held.

The media release (found here) provides:

In July 2012, AAPT customer data held on servers hosted by IT contractor Melbourne IT, was hacked and published online.

‘While I Read the rest of this entry »

In Doctor calls for secret filming ban after ACA sting the Age reports on a complaint by a Queensland doctor to a story run by A Current Affair regarding certificates issued on, supposedly, weak grounds.  The nub of the complaint is Read the rest of this entry »

In Fisher v Houston [2013] FCA 1026 Tracey J made orders regarding the award of costs associated with an application for preliminary discovery.  The context of the preliminary discovery application relating to a potential claim under the Privacy Act 1988. I was junior counsel for the Applicant in this proceeding.

FACTS

The prospective applicant (“Fisher”) has a mobile telephone but only provided the number to a limited group of persons. In March 2012 he received a call on his mobile telephone from a journalist, the prospective respondent (“Houston”).  Houston asked Fisher for a comment about a legal proceeding in which a business associate of Fisher’s was involved [1] Fisher never Read the rest of this entry »

The Supreme Court considered an urgent application for an interlucotury injunction in a privacy related matter in Candy v Bauer Media Limited [2013] NSWSC 979. The urgent application was made on 20 July 2013 with the decision made and reasons published that same day.

FACTS

The plaintif, Holly Rachel Candy, is better known in Australia by her Maiden Name, Holly Valance.  Sometime Soapie star who later developed a musical, and occasional movie, career.  Now a celebrity in the UK married to a wealthy businessman.  For those consumers of gossip magazines and celebrity websites this is almost trite.  Nevertheless it is not knowledge that would be regarded as notorious and it does not seem to have made its way into the affidavit material with his Honour stating:

1. The plaintiff is an actress. She is an Australian Read the rest of this entry »

There are a few things predictable in the world; death, taxes and Read the rest of this entry »

Today the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner released the report on a survey conducted on the community attitudes to Privacy.  The survey itself can be found here.  The  pdf version of the report can be found here.

The Section 4, containing the detailed findings, provides:

4.0 Detailed findings

This study of community attitudes to privacy covered a number of key areas, namely:

• awareness of Federal privacy laws
• general attitudes towards privacy and personal information
• privacy problems Read the rest of this entry »

The ALRC released its issues paper Serious Invasions of Privacy in the Digital Era today.The closing date for submissions is 11 November 2013.  I am sure there is no symbolism in it being Armistice Day or, as known in France, the Day of Dupes (or the anniversary of Ned Kelly’s execution).  It is found here.

The media release (found here) provides:

The Australian Law Reform Commission (ALRC) today released the Issues Paper, Serious Invasions of Privacy in the Digital Era(ALRC Issues Paper 43, 2013), to begin the consultation process for Read the rest of this entry »