Privacy Act 1988 Which Dramatucally in Amendments - Coursework Example

Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) Name: Instructor: Word count = 3780 words Abstract This report analyses the privacy act 1988(Cth). It gives the shortcomings of the act and tries to give the recommendations that will help see that the act is functional without any flaws. It also tries to give corrections to sections that were left with ambiguity in the act. The report highlights the challenges facing personal privacy and ways of overcoming such challenges. These challenges may be faced over the internet or on the ground when an individual is interacting with others or is in his own activities. These challenges come because of the improvement in technology. As technology improves, it should be a revelation to organizations and individuals to consider improving on their security levels. The report analyses laws about the internet, laws on personal privacy, laws information privacy and laws on radio frequency identification and distribution. For all these laws highlighted, the report gives recommendations on how they can be made to be more effective. Table of Contents Abstract 2 Table of Contents 3 Introduction 4 Analysis of the Рrivасy Асt 1988 (Сth) 5 Dangers of today’s technology in regard to privacy 9 Recommendations 12 Conclusion 15 Reference 16 Introduction The purpose of this report is to survey the privacy act 1988(Cth) and give the necessary recommendations that will enable it to operate without contradictions. Privacy is a worldwide human right and needs to be observed and followed keenly at all times. Privacy is a claim of groups, institutions or individuals to determine how, when and to what their information extends may be leaked to others (Campbell, 2006). The privacy act is analysed over a range of issues that it focuses on (Doyle & Bagaric, 2005). These issues include; the definition and clear explanation of what personal privacy is concerned about, an explanation and clarification of information privacy, bodily privacy, communications privacy and territorial privacy (Cashman, 2007). The report also reviews all Australian laws related to the privacy act. The report then highlights all the possible ways that privacy can be interfered with on the internet and on real ground. This report also gives the different ways that technology is used to interfere with someone’s privacy. Privacy of personal information has a number of factors to consider before deciding whether your information’s privacy is considered or not. One needs to analyse how his information is collected. Private information should be collected in an enclosed place or a place far away from people (Cashman, 2007). When private information is collected openly then it ceases to be private. How your information is going to be used and how it is to be disclosed to individuals in need of it is also very important. This information is only to be disclosed to people you know and have recommended them to access it (Campbell, 2006). Anyone not authorized found to be accessing your information is a big mistake and one should be sued. Security of information when already captured from an individual is crucial (Forrester & Griffiths, 2010). Captured information needs to be kept securely and away from people and any destructors. This will enforce the privacy of the information. The rights you are given when accessing the information are also very important. The owner of any information needs to be given clear login username and password, which the user will be using to control access to the stored information. The stored information concerning a person needs to be updated from time to time so that it is in line with what is happening in real life on the ground (Iacovino, 2006). The updates need to be given by the real owner of the previous information. Analysis of the Рrivасy Асt 1988 (Сth) The privacy act as put forward is seen to have a number of ideas that are not up to date about safeguarding a person’s information privacy. The act outlines all the things that need to be observed for every individual to keep in mind not to go against a person’s privacy (Campbell, 2006). An individual needs to know why his personal information is being collected and how it will be used. Here, the act does not make a further step to follow on the given information and ensure that it is safe (Doyle & Bagaric, 2005). There are supposed to be rules that will ensure that the information taken from an individual will be handled with privacy and if not the one who took it is supposed to be judged according to the law. According to the act, any leakage of one’s information regarding political opinions is a violation of the privacy act (Freckelton & Petersen, 2006). In the day today, however, political opinions of individuals is publicly posted on social cites and is shared all over the world for people to see. Political opinions are to be taken as personal issues but not private issues (Cashman, 2007). In the case of a political leader, it is healthy for him to publicly say his opinion so that he can gain followers and votes. In this case, it is advisable that the act be stated otherwise so that saying opinions about politics is not an offence (Doyle & Bagaric, 2005). In the privacy act, a person’s sexual preferences and sexual orientations are supposed to be very private. This is not the case now days shared and publicly showed on social cites without regard to this act (Doyle & Bagaric, 2005). This is an indication that the act is being overlooked hence needs to be restated so that it can make sense when in use. People’s membership with political associations in the recent times is a public thing and is not hidden in any way (Campbell, 2006). According to the act, this is a violation of personal privacy. News reporters and presenters in the day today do not take into consideration person’s privacy. They openly advertise and make known to the public the membership of a person to a political association (Doyle & Bagaric, 2005). This is a clear indication that this act needs to be readjusted so that all the rules stated are followed keenly to avoid confusion. Racial and ethnic background of a person in today’s life is not an offence to display openly either (Cashman, 2007). People are not offended by saying their identity and in fact, some people love it when they show off the tribe they come from (Hood, 2007).This is not in line with the privacy act (Forrester & Griffiths, 2010). It therefore indicates a need to change the statement in the privacy act so that it can make sense when stated. Body scanning at airports is done without any questioning. This may be a breakage of the privacy act. An individual is supposed to be aware of the processes he is going to be passed in because it is a way of retrieving information from an individual (Doyle & Bagaric, 2005). According to the privacy act, someone’s criminal records are supposed to be protected from being known to the public (Campbell, 2006). In this case, the privacy act is not clear on why the criminal records need to be protected from being known to the public (Forrester & Griffiths, 2010). In my opinion, any criminal record needs to be open to the public so that the public can help identify and locate criminals that are on the run. In this case, the privacy act needs to state that any kind of verification and retrieval of information is supposed to be private. In case the information obtained makes, an individual questionable for criminal records then this information needs to be put public. Over the internet, it is difficult to locate criminals that look for others private information and manipulate it for their own selfish purposes. This is because website hosting is done in different countries hence difficult to identify the real country (Campbell, 2006). It is also difficult to locate the particular individual since such people use different software that enables them to use the internet without the site administrators noticing their correct origin and their computer codes (Cashman, 2007). This option, however, is not highlighted in the privacy act (Forrester & Griffiths, 2010). The act does not highlight the plight of such criminals if found and does not give an option on what should be done to stop or find such criminals (Doyle & Bagaric, 2005). This is a clear indication that the act is getting outdated and needs to be reformed to cope with the fast changing technology changes. According to the act, disclosing religious beliefs about a person is against the privacy act. Religious beliefs are universal hence no need to make it a private affair (Cashman, 2007). Religion is something one needs to be proud of hence should not be held as private. In this case, it is advisable that the act is restated with proper statement concerning religion (Campbell, 2006). It should not be left to be private, though it is a personal matter. It should be dealt with as a personal and not private matter (McKenzie, Limited & Management, 2010). Also according to the privacy act, a third party representative is never allowed to assist a person in doing anything legal. In this era where there is new technology, there is need for this act to be restated such that third party representatives can be used in doing legal processes in place of another person. This is very possible with the new technology in place as the third party representatives will easily be analysed to confirm that they are the true third party representatives selected to carry out the specified task (Doyle & Bagaric, 2005). It is a waste of time and resources to delay processing of important documents because they are being held by third party individuals. The act needs to be amended to enable smooth running of events (Forrester & Griffiths, 2010). The act also restricts individuals from exposing or showing their membership to a profession or a trade union. Belonging to a profession is something that needs to be joyous to know. It should not be an issue to hide from people (Campbell, 2006). After graduating as a professional, it is then thought that the next thing will be to look for a job to do. It is challenging to be looking for a job to do and at the same time, you are hiding your professionalism from people (Cashman, 2007). This act should actually be amended and leave people to be free to advertise themselves as professionals. After this analysis of the privacy act, it is clear that some laws available in the act are not as good as they seem to be (Doyle & Bagaric, 2005). They need amendments now that there is new technology in place so that they can manage society members efficiently (Wang, 2011). Dangers of today’s technology in regard to privacy Technology in the recent past has improved significantly worldwide giving a big challenge to those sharing and storing information (O'Neill, Rice & Douglas, 2004). With today’s technology, information can easily be stolen from where it is stored regardless of the security measures in place (Campbell, 2006). There are many ways of siphoning information whether digital or physical from one point to another. Information stored on servers in also at risk because there are qualified hackers who can manage to steal such information (Cashman, 2007). This calls for structuring of security systems that are of high technology to keep thieves away from accessing important information. Locating a person’s personal information is quite easy with use of modern technology (Doyle & Bagaric, 2005). One only needs to search over the internet for the location of the individual or use modern tracking software that can easily show the position of an individual on the planet. This may be possible by tracking his mobile phone or tracking him personally (Campbell, 2006). When a person’s location is identified, it can then be used as a pointer to where he is hiding his information (Forrester & Griffiths, 2010). With such software, it is difficult for one to pretend that his information is secure from unauthorized access. Using technology, people are able to encrypt data before sending over long distances (Cashman, 2007). This is one way of ensuring information security. However, the same technique of encryption can be reversed by experts such that the information is hijacked and stolen along the way (Forrester & Griffiths, 2010). This has caused many loses in big companies and among individuals. This is a big threat to those sending classified information (Doyle & Bagaric, 2005). There is the risk of their information being intercepted before it reaches the destination. Modern technology is also used by terrorists to intercept phone calls and trap any information being passed across by the communicating individuals. If the information is classified, then the owners of the information may undergo a big loss as the interceptors can track many other things with the gathered information (Campbell, 2006). With this kind of technology and expertise, such individuals can easily steal large sums of money by intercepting emails. Emails having money transfer information can be trapped then their money stolen without knowledge of the sender and the recipient. Biometric systems, which can use fingerprints as a way of authentication, are also in danger of being deceived by conmen who are well conversant with the current technology (Forrester & Griffiths, 2010). Situations arise where one has a plastic skin bearing someone’s fingerprints (Cashman, 2007). The plastic skin is then used to access remote and private areas (Stair & Reynolds, 2012). This is a big threat to the government and big companies that use this technology. Using the internet as a form of communication has a number of dangers about information loss or interception. On the internet, there are cookies and web bugs that interfere with communication (Campbell, 2006). This causes information not to be safe over the internet. There is also the use of spyware software, which is normally installed in the hard disk of your computer without a user’s knowledge (Doyle & Bagaric, 2005). All these are a violation of privacy as spyware monitors every activity that is run on the computer. Using technology, there are individuals with the ability to bypass security measures and hack into a system making changes to the information of system (Forrester & Griffiths, 2010). This is a big challenge as the information stored in the different systems is normally private information, which is supposed to be used by the individual alone (Cashman, 2007). This violates what the act states and needs to be addressed. Unfortunately, in the act there is no action stated as punishment to such individuals. On the other hand, finding such individuals is not easy. This forms a complex situation to solve and needs to be looked into with immediate action. Use of CCTV on buildings also is a way of uncovering peoples’ privacy. In a building having such equipment, it should be clearly stated that they exist so that an individual knows how to carry himself around the building. CCTVs deny the right to be free in doing his activities because anything done is recorded (Cashman, 2007). With modern technology, there is quicker and faster communication over the internet in terms of emails (Doyle & Bagaric, 2005). Emails can be sent to any part of the world and travels within seconds to their destination. Although emails also suffer from the problem of being intercepted, it is a bit easy to use (Forrester & Griffiths, 2010). Emails can easily be redirected into another person’s inbox hence they are not reliable. This can cause private information to be leaked to the outside world, which is very risky (Cashman, 2007). This is yet another danger to private information. Today’s technology is dangerous as to access someone’s information one needs to only have the login details (Campbell, 2006). This is very dangerous as a person can steal another person’s details and pretend to be the owner of the account. In this case, the information in the account will be visible to a third party, which is against the privacy law. This makes new technology to be more vulnerable to information loss. Recommendations 1. From the analysis of the privacy act above, it can then be seen clearly that the act needs to be rewritten to have the appropriate punishment to those who go against the rules as stated in the act. Those found hacking or unlawfully accessing others, information using their own means need to be given the highest level of punishment (Cashman, 2007). This will help the others with the same mischievous acts to shy away hence enforcing security and privacy. These punishments are in terms of statutory cause of action and civil penalties. 2. There is need to introduce a single set of privacy principles that will guide both the public and the private sector (Doyle & Bagaric, 2005). This will enable both sectors to move together in unison rather than in separation. It also ensures that when technology improves both sectors are affected equally hence the need to change to newer versions of the privacy act. 3. There is need to introduce industry specific privacy codes in the different faculties of specialization. Every ministry needs to have its own guide of the privacy act, which will guide it in the daily activities (Doyle & Bagaric, 2005). Differentiating the ministries and giving them different acts will help cater for technology changes. This is so because technology changes differently in the different ministries hence they are independent. Differentiating between the ministries will help have an act without contradictions. 4. The privacy act needs to be amended such that there is removal of small business exemption so that all companies face the same equal privacy act. This will enable all the small and bug companied to move in unison in terms of growth and technological improvement (Cashman, 2007). Leaving small firms outside the framework of the privacy act encourages laziness among the small companies and will not boost industrialization. It will slow down the process of acquisition of new technology because there will only be few firms working towards improvement in technology. 5. There is need to restate the privacy act as it forms too brief and strict laws which makes it difficult for people to help each other. There are various situations that deny people the opportunity to accomplish important missions (Doyle & Bagaric, 2005). A man is said to fail to book a service on a machine simply because it was purchased by the wife. Another situation is depicted where a person is unable to make payments for a sick friend in hospital because of the privacy laws. Another situation is told where a widow is unable to change financial details on joint accounts in a bank to match her own names (Cashman, 2007). The privacy act denied her the right. This scenario is actually not good and the laws need to be adjusted. In these times of modern technology, it is very possible to verify that a person has been authorized by another person to carry out a certain task for him. This is how it is supposed to be (Pearson, Batten & Limited, 2010). Laws do not need to make us slaves (Tucker, 1992).We need to structure them such that they work for us. 6. Political opinions in the privacy act need to be personal but not private. This is because politics is an open forum thing and needs to be known by people especially if you are a contestant. This will help you to gain popularity (Doyle & Bagaric, 2005). With the coming of new technology, letting people know the opinion of someone should not be a problem. One’s views should be broadcasted for the society to know which politician to follow. 7. With the coming of new technology, people are not afraid to show off their sexual preferences and sexual orientations. On the internet, there are very many different sexual exposures of people and it is not a thing to hide anymore (Cashman, 2007). Sexual orientations and preferences should be something personal but not something private. The privacy act needs to be amended so that it is in line with the new coming trends and events. This will reduce instances of conflict between people and the law. 8. When criminals are caught with unlawful acts, they need to be told to the public publicly. This will help reduce instances of criminals in the society. Keeping criminals as a private issue is an idea that encourages more young men to turn to criminal acts since the law covers them. Exposing such individuals to the public also helps the public to know who among those in the crowds is a good person and who among them is not. This act improves on the security of the society (Cashman, 2007). The privacy act should therefore be restated such that this section is amended to be in line with the new resolution. 9. Membership to a political party is not something to hide from the public. It is something universal as everyone belongs to at least one political party (Doyle & Bagaric, 2005). This should even be emphasized where the one in question is a political leader. It is an issue that is personal but not private. Political leaders need to tell the society their stand in the political parties so that they can get followers to support them. In this respect, it is advisable that the privacy act be restated with new resolutions. 10. Another issue that needs to be amended is religious beliefs of people. Religious believes need not to be private issues though they are considered being personal issues (Cashman, 2007). There is no need to hide a person’s religious belief as they are universal and in a society, they may be shared by a good number of individuals. This shows that actually there is need for amendments to be done in regard to religious beliefs and practices. 11. There is also the need to establish national privacy law framework that will ensure legal consistency across the state and all its departments. This will help bring uniformity in enforcing the privacy law among the citizens (Doyle & Bagaric, 2005). The national privacy law will also bring unity among the citizens. It will make it simple to enforce the laws, as they will be cutting across the whole country hence no exemptions. Conclusion In conclusion, it can be clearly seen that the privacy act 1988(Cth) needs to be amended so that it can serve its purpose efficiently now that technology has improved. It has been noted that it is facing difficulties in addressing some issues accompanied with the coming of the new technology. It is evident that with the improvement in technology, privacy of personal information has continued to diminish due to the many new ways of getting information using the new technology. For instance, information of many people nowadays can easily be found on the internet. This can be advantageous in one way but also be very disadvantageous in another. This is a big challenge to the privacy law as it emphasizes that personal information needs to be very private. This is a thing that has been outweighed by the new technology. The rules accompanied by the privacy laws also need to be considered for amendment. Rules that lock out third party participants from participating in any legal activity are not friendly to the society. They can cause even more problems instead of bringing peace. They are actually not friendly at all. They cause more suffering instead of bringing joy and happiness after solving an issue. The sooner the privacy laws are amended the better. 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