Keeping privacy front of mind when developing policy and designing new processes or systems helps deliver good outcomes while maintaining individual privacy interests.

As a government inquiry into mental health and addiction concludes later this month, we thought it was an opportune moment to discuss some of the common concerns that can arise about disclosing mental health information.

Last week was a big week for privacy internationally. Privacy Commissioners and Data Protection Authorities met in Brussels for their annual conference for the 40th time.

A recent data breach incident provided an example of how your responsibility to protect personal information in your care remains a duty until you securely dispose of that information.

After 25 years’ service to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner, Assistant Commissioner Blair Stewart is retiring. For anyone with an interest in privacy law, this is significant and sad news. Blair’s contributions to the promotion of privacy within New Zealand and internationally are substantial and enduring.

Police in some overseas countries have begun using genealogical websites to solve crime. But are Police here using similar techniques to identify crime suspects? The answer is no.

Privacy Commissioner John Edwards was asked about workplace surveillance, settling employment disputes, job references and other topics at a Privacy and Employment Law seminar for employers and human resources managers in Wellington on 3 September 2018.

Genealogy is apparently the second most popular hobby in the United States, after gardening. In New Zealand, we’ve also seen a growing interest in tracing one’s ancestry. It has become a much discussed topic in online forums and the news media. Some of this boom has been driven by the ease with which people can submit the DNA information to find matches via genealogical websites such as Ancestry.com.