Held around Australia from 4-10 May 2020, this year’s Privacy Awareness Week is an important time to focus on how we protect and handle personal information.
“This year’s focus on protecting personal information online is particularly relevant as even more of our activity and interactions move online during the COVID-19 outbreak, for work, school and keeping in touch with family and friends,” Australian Information Commissioner and Privacy Commissioner Angelene Falk said.
The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) is encouraging Australians to ‘Reboot Your Privacy’ during the coming week by:
- Checking and updating privacy controls
- Considering the alternative when giving or asking for personal information
- Deleting any data from old devices and securely destroy or deidentify personal information if it is no longer needed for a legal purpose.
“As consumers, Privacy Awareness Week is an opportunity to reboot our privacy by checking our privacy controls and settings,” Commissioner Falk said.
“For businesses and Australian Government agencies, it serves as an important reminder to check the right controls are in place and to build in privacy by design.”
Now in its 15th year, Privacy Awareness Week is held every May as an initiative of the Asia Pacific Privacy Authorities.
Organisations can sign up to support Privacy Awareness Week at oaic.gov.au/paw and join in the campaign on Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn.
The OAIC has developed tips for consumers to help them protect their personal information in the digital environment.
New resources for businesses and Australian government agencies include:
- a Privacy in Practice e-learning course for Australian Government agency staff
- privacy guidance for employers to help keep workplaces safe and handle personal information appropriately during the COIVID-19 outbreak
- advice to help regulated entities assess the privacy risks involved in changed working environments.
The OAIC’s Privacy Awareness Week website has more information about the campaign including virtual events, privacy resources and digital assets to download.
