[LINK] A question of privacy

[Roger Clarke]

At 9:52 +1100 6/12/13, David Boxall wrote:
>Has privacy legislation been violated ... ?

Such questions should be directed to the Office of the Australian 
Information Commissioner (OAIC).  That's part of what he and his 50 
staff (including a titular Privacy Commissioner) are paid to do:
http://www.privacy.org.au/Resources/POA.html#Aust
http://www.oaic.gov.au/

They presumably have a bunch of public information brochures.  Maybe 
one of those addresses the situation?


As a quick brain-dump:
(1)  some of the private sector is subject to some regulation, which
      has always been very weak, full of holes, and toothless, and gets
      a lot weaker and a lot fuller of holes from March 2014
(2)  such law as we have generally doesn't apply to individuals
(3)  a company might be precluded from 'collecting' personal data
      such as this unless it has relevance - but then it could probably
      come up with an explanation if it had to
(4)  the company maybe didn't 'collect' it for the purposes of the
      Privacy Act, because it was probably gifted to it by someone

(5)  a person who was an employee of a Council, and maybe even an
      elected member of Council, could, maybe, be subject to the
      NSW PPIPA.  For details see these resources:
      http://www.privacy.org.au/Resources/PLawsST.html#NSW
(6)  so you could also try the NSW Information and Privacy Commission:
      http://www.privacy.org.au/Resources/POA.html#NSW
      http://www.ipc.nsw.gov.au/privacy/ipc_index.html


Good luck, and keep us posted (:-)}

___________________________________

At 9:52 +1100 6/12/13, David Boxall wrote:
>I hope Link might be able to help me here; my head is spinning.
>
>I'm involved with a group that's objecting to a development proposal.
>Along the way, someone has leaked to the developer, details of email
>correspondence between members. Among the details leaked are the
>identities and email addresses of members (possibly more, but that's
>what's certain).
>
>The developer says that the leaked information came to them via a gmail
>address, evidently created for the purpose. The most likely suspect is
>an elected member of Council.
>
>Has privacy legislation been violated (the location is in NSW, if that
>matters)?
>
>If so, is the developer bound by that legislation?
>
>What, if anything, can (and/or should) be done?
>
>--
>David Boxall                    |  All that is required
>                                 |  for evil to prevail is
>http://david.boxall.id.au       |  for good men to do nothing.
>                                 |     -- Edmund Burke (1729-1797)
>_______________________________________________
>Link mailing list
>Link at mailman.anu.edu.au
>http://mailman.anu.edu.au/mailman/listinfo/link

-- 
Roger Clarke                                 http://www.rogerclarke.com/

Xamax Consultancy Pty Ltd      78 Sidaway St, Chapman ACT 2611 AUSTRALIA
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Visiting Professor in the Faculty of Law            University of N.S.W.
Visiting Professor in Computer Science    Australian National University