What is an interference with privacy?

An interference with privacy is caused when an agency or organisation breaches one of the privacy principles of the Privacy Act and harms an individual. Not all privacy breaches are interferences with privacy. A breach without harm is not an interference with privacy. 

The exception to this is in the Privacy Act's rights for people to see their information and ask for it to be corrected.  If an agency or organisation breaches an individual's right to access or correct their information, this is also considered an interference with privacy - without the individual needing to show that they’ve been harmed as a result of the breach.

Individuals who think they have suffered a privacy breach can make a complaint to our Office. Anyone can make a complaint to us. You can find out more about our complaints process here.

If you are running a business or organisation, here are some simple steps you can take to reduce the risk of complaints.

• Be open about the purpose for which you are getting information. You should do this both for customers/clients and for employees. Then they won't be taken by surprise when you use the information.
• Also tell people if you're going to pass the information on to anyone else (and maybe tell them why this is necessary). Again, this means they won't be taken by surprise, and they're less likely to object. You should do this when you collect the personal information. 
• If someone asks for access to their personal information, give it to them promptly, unless a good reason exists to not release the information. The only good reasons not to release are those withholding grounds set out in sections 27(external link), 28(external link) and 29(external link) of the Privacy Act.
• Don't collect more information than is necessary for that purpose. Information is costly to store. The more you have, the more you have to keep up to date. And the more you have, the more likely mistakes are to happen. 
• Don't use the information for other purposes, it annoys people. 
• Make sure that the information is stored securely. A lot of damage can be done by sensitive information getting into the wrong hands. 
• Have a plan in place to check that information is correct before using it. People are quick to complain if they think that you've used wrong information. If a person thinks the information is wrong and you don't, put their letter, or record their views, on the file. This way, at least their view is taken into account.