3 What Wednesdays #10 – The right to be forgotten

On Wednesdays (other than wearing pink) we’ll bring you a legal update so you can up your legal knowledge game.

WHAT?

Presently, under the Privacy Act 1988 (‘Privacy Act’), Australians have the right to request access to the personal information an organisation holds on them and the right to correct such personal information. Under proposed changes to the Privacy Act as set out in the Attorney General’s Privacy Act Review report released in Feb 2023, of the 116 recommendations for change, there will be a new ‘right to be forgotten’.

SO WHAT?

If the recommendation is adopted, then Australians will have the same existing rights our cousins in Europe enjoy under the EU’s General Protection Data Regulation. This means that you, as an individual, could make a request to an organisation the likes of Facebook or Twitter to erase your personal information. This also extends to 3rd parties who receive your personal information from those organisations. If requested, the organisation  would be obligated to inform the 3rd party recipients of this request to be forgotten by you. 

NOW WHAT?

There are a number of new individual privacy rights which are proposed under the Privacy Act Review report. Whilst they are not enacted as yet, we can see on the horizon that there is a push for governments and ultimately companies and businesses to recognise that privacy is a fundamental individual right.  Your personal information is owned by you and so you should get the right to control who may hold your personal information and what they can do with it.