Bill 2000 is the most significant development in the area of privacy law since the passage of the Privacy Act in 1988, which covers the Commonwealth public sector. Labor did virtually nothing in their last 10 years of Government to protect the privacy of people s information when dealing with private sector organisations. The light touch regime will protect consumers by ensuring that personal information is collected, stored and handled fairly by private sector organisations. Good privacy is good for business. The legislation provides a framework within which organisations that demonstrate they are committed to protecting the privacy of their customers will gain a competitive advantage.
Privacy issues can impact greatly on the bottom line.
Recent reports of privacy concerns adversely affecting share price of some large Internet companies demonstrate this. Light touch does not mean soft touch. It will also allow people to access records about themselves and to correct those records if they are wrong. Organisations that collect personal information will not generally be able to sell or transfer that information to a third party without consent. This means that companies will not be able to sell lists of their customers or subscribers without their consent.