Federal and Victorian privacy case notes

The Federal Privacy Commissioner has published five new case notes. All involve complaints regarding private sector bodies subject to the National Privacy Principles in the Federal Privacy Act.

Nothing too surprising but the note on J v Utility Company and Industry Group (2006) PRIVCMRA9 illustrates one of the weaknesses in the law: the Commissioner found the disclosure complained of was inconsistent with the law but the complaint file was closed “as the complainant was seeking a remedy that was not within the Commissioner’s powers to pursue”.

End of section I’m afraid.

The Victorian Privacy Commissioner has also published a case note on 28 April concerning disclosure of information to a person about the outcome of a complaint. The Commissioner concluded that disclosure of information about the investigation of a particular individual complained about was not a breach of privacy principles as any reasonable person would expect such information to be disclosed. However disclosure of information about a broader investigation that had been undertaken provided more personal information than was necessary for this purpose.