Privacy and identity document verification

The Federal Government has embarked on the first phase of an online document verification service which will allow government agencies to send document details in real time to the agency that initially issued the document in order to check its authenticity.

The Australian Financial Review on 13 February reported that a trial commenced last week between the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and Department of Immigration. The ACT, NSW and Victorian registries of births deaths and marriages and the Australian and New Zealand road transport and traffic authorities are also involved.

The NSW Privacy Commissioner on 12 December issued a Direction under the Privacy and Personal Information Protection Act (PPIPA) to permit the NSW RTA to collect personal information from the two Federal departments in the trial and to use and disclose certain information to those departments.

The Financial Review reports that the Australian Privacy Foundation and the Australian Council for Civil Liberties are critical of the Government’s failure to undertake an independent privacy assessment. Both organisations say that the Federal Privacy Commissioner should assess the trial and associated privacy issues.

Terry O’Gorman of the Council for Civil Liberties said that a greater concern was that the system would be extended beyond government to the private sector, “where there is greater potential for misuse of information” and the possibility that agencies would eventually do more than just check the veracity of a document, such as exchanging more personal information.