Privacy Act Principles

Your right to privacy is protected by the Privacy Act 1993 (“The Act”). It sets out the rules that agencies have to follow if they want to collect and keep personal information about you. An agency can be a person, a group of people, a government department or a private organisation like a company or a club. Personal information is any information about you that identifies you, for example, written information, videos, tape recordings, blood samples, DNA or fingerprints. Information that identifies you does not have to be identification by your name. The Act does not cover information about your personal, family or household affairs. So, if you tell your sister a secret and she tells your mother, you cannot complain she has broken the rules under the Privacy Act. You will just have to be more careful about what you tell her in the future!

The Privacy Act 1993

What is the Privacy Act?

The Act covers the way information about individuals is handled. Agencies have to follow the twelve principal rules that are set out in the Privacy Act 1993 if they want to get or keep personal information about you. If, “agencies” such as;

Government departments

Businesses

Schools

Clubs or other organisations;

wish to collect, use, disclose (tell others) information about you (known as “personal information”), they must do so in a way that does not breach the principles in the Privacy Act.

What are the Privacy Act principles?

The Privacy Act principles cover:

Principle 1 Purpose of collection of personal information
Principle 2 Source of personal information
Principle 3 Collection of information from subject
Principle 4 Manner of collection of personal information
Principle 5 Storage and security of personal information
Principle 6 Access to personal information
Principle 7 Correction of personal information
Principle 8 Accuracy, etc, of personal information to be checked before use
Principle 9 Agency not to keep personal information for longer than necessary
Principle 10 Limits on the use of personal information
Principle 11 Limits on the disclosure of personal information
Principle 12 Unique identifiers

Jeanierich	Latest page update: made by Jeanierich , Jul 20 2009, 12:24 AM EDT (about this update About This Update Rename - Jeanierich No content added or deleted. - complete history)
	Keyword tags: privacy act privacy principals More Info: links to this page