[LINK] google misdeeds and Australia's Privacy Commissioner

[ARTHUR,Evan (Dr)]

With immense apprehension, I will try to answer one of Craig's questions, namely:

>so if i walk into your office (or just walk past your office door or
> window) and yell out my name, address, phone number, bank account
> details, tax file number and so on you are guilty of storing PII

So if, every time someone happens to state their name, address, phone number, etc in my hearing I adopt the practice of doing some mnemonic exercises to record it in my brain, then transfer that information into a durable aggregated record ie I build a collection of names, addresses etc, then my activity would likely fall under the purview of privacy legislation and my actions would need to be consistent with the requirements of that legislation.

Note:  I am making no comment whatsoever on the alleged actions of Google.



Evan Arthur
Group Manager
Digital Education and Youth Transitions Group
Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations
*: GPO Box 9880 Canberra ACT 2601
' 02 6240 5187 ': 0412 329 169
* evan.arthur at deewr.gov.au 


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