Notes from the iappANZ, March 25, 2016

This week’s editorial comes from New Zealand. 

New Zealand has always prided itself as being socially progressive, and in matters such as women’s suffrage and gay marriage the country has been at the forefront of embracing and leading social change. In this week’s editorial I would like to pay tribute to New Zealand Privacy Commissioner John Edwards who has, like his predecessors, gained a reputation for decisiveness, fairness and pragmatism. This week he has added courage to that list.

Edwards has stood up to government, saying that, under current New Zealand law, no one is keeping track of personal data collection by the government and the rules should be tightened. He has noted that New Zealand’s intelligence agencies are free to access individuals' personal information without a warrant, and without having to report it — thanks to a specific exemption for the Government Computer Security Bureau and the Security Intelligence Service under the Privacy Act. "At the moment if the Security Intelligence Service asked for banking records the bank would be able to give those over," Edwards said. "The SIS would not have to report to anyone that they had done that, the bank would not be in breach of the Privacy Act for having done that, and nobody would know."

While New Zealand is in many ways an idyllic country to work in and largely free of corruption and similar problems, it is not immune from the dark forces that can take hold under lax legislative environments.

In the words of Edmund Burke: “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” Well said, John Edwards.