Can I forward an email to others without informing the original sender?

Yes, if you’re acting in a personal capacity. The Privacy Act doesn’t prevent you from on-sharing an email containing someone’s personal information, except where it would be regarded as highly offensive to do so.

However, you might want to consider if the information was entrusted to you in confidence and the impact on that person of sending it on. You should also be cautious about on-sharing sensitive personal information. Even though the Privacy Act doesn’t apply there is a tort of privacy – that is, one person can sue another for a breach of privacy.  Depending on the circumstances and how widely the information is circulated, there might be a risk of legal action against you for the publication of private facts. The Harmful Digital Communications Act might also apply to your actions.

If you are acting in a business capacity or any context other than a personal one, you need to comply with privacy principle 11 before disclosing someone else’s personal information without their consent. Disclosure where necessary for the purpose you have obtained the information is permitted in limited circumstances.

If the email was sent to you by mistake, you should be cautious about sending it on to anyone other than the sender. If you are concerned that getting the email in error is a privacy breach(external link), you can contact OPC in confidence to discuss it. But under the Privacy Act, depending on the circumstances, it may be harder to justify sharing it with others for your personal, family or household affairs.