When can I use publicly available information?

There is a general obligation under the Privacy Act not to use or disclose personal information, unless an exception applies.

One of the exceptions which allows use or disclosure of personal information is where the information you plan to use or disclose was obtained from a publicly available publication.

However, you can only rely on this exception if you originally obtained the relevant information from a publicly available publication. If you got the information any other way (but the same information happens to now be publicly available), you will need to find another exception if you want to use or disclose the information.

You can also only use or disclose personal information you’ve obtained from a publicly available publication where it would not be unfair or unreasonable to do so.

Exactly what is unfair or unreasonable will depend on the circumstances of the case, but could include these factors:

• How old is the information? (Is the information from a historic report which has recently been put online or something from yesterday’s newspaper?)

• How was the information made public? (Was it in an official report or information from a Facebook page which had been reposted from a private Facebook account?)

• How sensitive is the information?

• How serious might the impact be of you using or disclosing the information? and

• What steps, if any, have you been able to take to check or verify the information?