Tag: privacy

Small Business and the Privacy Act

The Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) is a piece of Australian law that determines how personal information should be collected and used. If you are a business, you might end up collecting personal information about your clients. If that is the case then you might be required to comply with the Privacy Act. Even if you are not required to comply with the Privacy Act, it’s still a good idea to consider whether you should put business processes in place to ensure compliance with the Privacy Act.

Generally speaking, personal information is information or an opinion about an individual, who may be identified from the information. That’s a broad definition!

The Privacy Act establishes a set of National Privacy Principles. These set out, for example:

  • How personal information is collected
  • How personal information is used or disclosed
  • What steps are being taken to ensure that the information is accurate and up to date
  • How the personal information is managed
  • How clients can access and update the personal information

If you are a small business who has an annual turnover of less than $3 million, you do not need to comply with the Privacy Act, unless you are:

  • A health provider
  • Trading in personal information
  • Related to a larger business
  • Contracting for the Australian Federal Government
  • An operator of a residential tenancy database
  • Obliged to report matters under the Anti-Money Laundering Act

Even though you are a small business that the Privacy Act does not apply to, it still might be a good idea to put into place business processes to comply with the Privacy Act. After all, clients may be reassured that you are doing something to ensure their privacy, even where you are not required to.

If you need to comply with the Privacy Act or would like to voluntarily comply with the Privacy Act – give us a call, and we can help you sort things out.

Managing Risk through Online Terms of Use

The Web 2.0 era is characterised by the fundamental shift in how people interact with information. No longer does information flow in one direction – opportunities now exist for the consumer of information services to contribute, provide feed back, criticise, or determine if the content is newsworthy. This high level of interaction is typically considered to be positive.

However, as with anything, when engaging in such activities you should be mindful of the potential risks that come along with it – and this is doubly true for hosts of content or webmasters. In addition to considering if content is potentially defamatory, or libellous, one must also consider issues such as copyright, privacy, and control.

If you are a webmaster or a service provider or some sort, these risks can often be managed by a combination of:

  • having a clear and effective Terms of Use;
  • actively policing your user base for breaches of the terms; and
  • having policies in place on dealing with complaints.

In addition to being able to assist in managing your risks, by having clear and effective Terms of Use, you are able to manage your users more effectively. Note that just having a Terms of Use may not be sufficient to protect you – your risk management strategy should consist of both legal and non-legal measures. In addition to this, a Terms of Use has to be effective towards whatever service you are providing. There is no point in going with a standard Terms of Use if the terms contained within are not particular to the type of service that you provide.

While you can draft a Terms of Use by yourself, it is always advised that you should seek legal advice in doing so. A solicitor can identify issues that you may not have previously considered and can generally add value to the entire process.