Happy Valentine's Day to the privacy community this week.

In an unusual turn of events, the Privacy Act reform agenda was pulled onto the front pages in Australia again this week, but for a very different kind of data breach scenario. Rather than a hack, doxxing took center stage. This is the practice of intentionally or maliciously publishing and distributing personal information of individuals online without their consent. The government has moved quickly to address doxxing activity after it was made aware of an attack by pro-Palestinian activists, releasing the personal information of members of the Australian Jewish community.

Australia Attorney-General General Mark Dreyfus said the government is preparing legislation to outlaw doxxing, order social media companies and other outlets to remove such activity, and impose fines. 

"The Albanese Government is committed to protecting the safety of Australians, and stronger privacy protections for individuals are essential," Dreyfus said during a media briefing. "The Albanese Government committed last year to stronger protections for Australians through reforms to the Privacy Act. We've had a long running review to the Privacy Act and late last year I announced the Government's response to that review of the Privacy Act. The Prime Minister has asked me to bring forward, as part of that set of reforms to the Privacy Act, some new provisions to deal with this practice of doxxing, with the malicious use of people's personal information without their consent ...  The work will complement work that is already underway right across government, as we seek to strengthen online safety for all Australians."

This supposed acceleration of the agenda toward Privacy Act reform may lead to the first of agreed changes to the act much sooner than initially anticipated. It may also give the government the mandate and momentum to address the bulk of the proposed changes to the act that were agreed in principle. These still need to go through a process of impact analysis and consultation to assess the likely impacts, cost and benefits of implementation. The privacy community and the broader business community will watch and wait with anticipation.