Hello, privacy pros.
Happy Privacy Awareness Week 2021 from Australia! We have had such an active, engaging and informative week to celebrate PAW 2021. Below are some of the highlights for me and links to view the replays if you missed the events.
PAW 2021 kicked off with a discussion between Angelene Falk, Australian information commissioner and privacy commissioner, and Elizabeth Denham, U.K. information commissioner. Their discussion explored questions related to the role of privacy regulation, the extent to which the privacy impacts of COVID-19 response measures will persist beyond the pandemic, how data protection authorities and governments collaborate and work to enable global privacy interoperability, and the alignment (or misalignment) between community expectations and how new technologies use personal information.
State privacy and information regulators from across Australia were also active in the week's events. The IAPP brought together a panel of seven regulators from state and federal levels across the region with representation from Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and the Philippines to discuss their respective regulatory priorities and initiatives. This panel discussion was coordinated and moderated by IAPP Brisbane/Gold Coast KnowledgeNet Chair Nicole Stephensen. You can watch a replay of this event on the IAPP website.
Anna Johnston and Andrea Calleia of Salinger Privacy put on the Masterclass in data, privacy and ethics, with guest speaker Andre Castaldi from the OAIC. The tools and methodologies presented for assessing and triaging privacy risk were practical and detailed. I recommend any privacy professionals who did not have a chance to join in-person watch the free replay of the event. It was a great demonstration of privacy mastery that will benefit newcomers and experienced practitioners alike.
Finally, two recent articles take a look at Australia’s current Privacy Act review. The first, “A pub test for privacy,” looks beyond consent to see how we can make privacy choices easier. It discusses the outright prohibition of certain practices and a bit of a product safety approach to regulation. The second, “Towards a unified privacy regime,” gets into some of the sticky details of the small business exemption, which excludes approximately 95% of all Australian businesses from the Privacy Act, and the employee records and political exemptions. They also tackle the possibility of a controversial direct right of action for privacy harms. The entire series is a great resource for anyone looking to understand some of the key issues that will be addressed throughout the legislative review.
With Australia's Privacy Awareness Week nearly behind us, I look forward to next week when I'll be taking advantage of the trans-Tasman travel bubble to join my New Zealand privacy colleagues in celebrating Privacy Week in New Zealand. The IAPP will be conducting a live and online KnowledgeNet in Wellington 13 May with New Zealand Privacy Commissioner John Edwards. The NZ Office of the Privacy Commissioner is also hosting a half-day Privacy Forum event in Wellington 14 May. I hope to see you there.
Thank you to all the privacy pros who helped make this an excellent Privacy Awareness Week!