The APF has continued to attract high quality privacy advocates to the Board, with the appointment of Peter Clarke, a member of the Victorian Bar, practising in the areas of privacy, equity and defamation law. Peter writes on privacy law and policy on his website.
Since the last newsletter, the Board of the Australian Privacy Foundation (APF) has been active in making submissions and releasing new policy statements.
During this period, the APF has made the following Submissions:
- to Senators on Privacy Amendment Bill (27 November 2012)
- to Commonwealth Attorney-General’s Department on proposals for mandatory Data Breach Notification (2 December 2012)
- to the Independent Reviewer for the Review of Freedom of Information (FOI) Laws (20 December 2012)
- to OAIC regarding the OAIC Guide to Information Security (7 January 2013)
- to OAIC regarding Draft eHealth Fact Sheets (12 February 2013), followed by a supplementary note
- to Department of Heath (Cth) Review of the Heathcare Identifiers Act and Health Identifier Service
- to Australian Customs and Border Protection Authority regarding proposed new policy for substance abuse testing of staff (18 February 2013)
In addition, the APF released a new Policy Statement on Information Security on 23 December 2012.
A particular focus of Board members during this time has been the Commonwealth’s proposal to extend the Document Verification System (DVS) – which enables government agencies to check personal data against other agencies’ databases – to large private sector entities. The APF has been concerned with inadequacies in the development of the (DVS) Extension Project, including a failure to consult with organisations representing the public interest. The Board has identified its concerns in letters to the Attorney-General’s Department, and has prepared a submission (15 February 2013).
The Board is currently organising the annual Big Brother awards for 2013-14.
As usual, supporters are encouraged to participate:
- Through membership, Life Membership and/or donations
- By promoting membership to your friends
- Through participation in one of the APF Committees