This week Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus confirmed we will see a ‘whole range’ of modernisations as part of the Australian government’s reform of the Privacy Act.
The right to be forgotten - also called the right to erasure - could be one of those changes.
Under Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the right to be forgotten gives individuals the right to ask an entity in certain circumstances to destroy the personal information that the entity holds about them.
Australians don’t currently have this right under the Privacy Act.
Under the existing Australian regime, individuals can ask an entity to provide them with access to the personal information held about them. Individuals can also ask for correction of their personal information. Entities must also delete or de-identify personal information once it is no longer required for the purpose for which it was collected or required to be retained by law.
Introduction of a right to be forgotten to Australia would expand the rights available to Australians to control their personal information.
However, the right is unlikely to be absolute. It will be subject to exceptions that are aimed at achieving a balance between the interest of individuals to control their data, and public interest reasons for entities to retain the data in certain circumstances. Examples include where the information is required for law enforcement or archival purposes.
If introduced, Australian entities will have some work to do to ensure they have the technical and operational measures in place to delete or deidentify personal information across their systems.
If the right to be forgotten is introduced, Australian entities can start preparing themselves by identifying where they hold personal information, and what changes would need to make to implement the right. Public facing privacy documents will also need to be updated to include procedures for individuals to request erasure or deidentification of their data in certain circumstances.
We don’t know for sure what privacy reforms we’ll see this year, but it is clear from the Attorney-General’s statement that the changes are going to make headlines.
