Office of the Privacy Commissioner | Whether the addresses of fire incidents are ‘personal information’ and if so, would disclosing such addresses breach the Privacy Act?
In this advisory opinion the Privacy Commissioner addresses a legal question posed by the New Zealand Fire Service (NZFS) in respect of their proposed initiative to publish the addresses of fire incidents on its website, in order to reduce administrative burden from insurers seeking this information.
The NZFS asks whether addresses of fire incidents are personal information, and, if so, if disclosing this information would be a breach of the Privacy Act. The Commissioner finds that addresses of fire incidents will often constitute personal information, and disclosing them in the manner described would be a breach of the Privacy Act and suggests an alternative way of sharing this information with insurance companies without compromising individual privacy.