Privacy Awareness Week

Privacy Awareness Week is happening from 28 April to 4 May 2013. Held each year to promote greater privacy awareness and the importance of protecting personal information, Privacy Awareness Week is an initiative of the Asia Pacific Privacy Authorities Forum (APPA). Activities take place across the Asia Pacific region by APPA members. Privacy Commissioner Timothy Pilgrim has announced that over 150 partners from the private sector, government agencies and the not-for-profit sector have joined the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) during Privacy Awareness Week to promote the protection of privacy in Australia.

The Privacy Awareness Week was launched on Monday, 29 April, hosted by the OAIC. The OAIC launched its Guide to information security, ‘reasonable steps’ to protect personal information at the event. It is designed to assist organisations and agencies meet their Privacy Act obligations in relation to personal information security. Pilgrim said privacy law reforms that passed last year will commence in less than 12 months. In particular, he noted there has been some recent discussion on obtaining insurances for data breaches by enterprises. Pilgrim’s view is that implementing privacy thinking into the product construction stage may be the best insurance an innovative organisation can invest in.

“I’m asking private sector organisations and agencies to consider where they are at with preparations for the new laws. Early preparation is definitely going to be key for compliance with the new requirements,” Pilgrim said.