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Privacy authorities in our region rounded off the year in Vancouver with the 48th Asia Pacific Privacy Authorities (APPA) Forum on 16-17 November. The meeting was hosted by the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (OPC-Canada) and the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner for British Columbia (OIPC-BC). Our office was represented by the Commissioner, John Edwards, and myself.
Rumours of the demise of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) have proved premature. It has been given new life - with some important changes – as the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP). What has happened and does this mean anything for privacy?
The Ashley Madison data breach had its enforcement postscript this month, with the dating website’s parent company agreeing to settle with privacy authorities by paying $US1.6 million.
Privacy authorities typically perform regulatory and enforcement functions on their own - or occasionally with another public body - within their domestic jurisdiction. They know the domestic law they enforce. The law will clearly lay out the authority’s role and provide a clear pathway to the intended outcomes.
The World Wide Web was invented in 1989 at much the same time that final drafting touches were being made to a privacy bill to be introduced to New Zealand’s Parliament. By 1993, when the Privacy Act was finally enacted, there were – wait for it – an estimated 15 million users of the Internet worldwide. That same year, according to Down to the Wire, Nat Torkington created New Zealand’s first ‘real web site’.
APEC recently moved one step closer towards the goal of updating its privacy framework in time to mark the 10th anniversary of the framework’s adoption in 2005.
When I took up the job in February last year, I was pretty familiar with the legal and policy issues around privacy, and I knew a fair bit about complaints. One area that I hadn’t had so much experience with was international engagement. But this has long been important and will be a very prominent feature of the Office’s focus in 2015.
