In 1993, the internet was in its infancy, Mark Zuckerberg was nine years old, and Facebook was just a twinkle in his eye. That same year, the Privacy Act was passed in New Zealand.

It was the first national information privacy law outside Europe to apply to both the public and private sectors. It was considered a ground-breaking piece of legislation and it went a long way to advancing the privacy rights of individuals in New Zealand.

A lot has changed since then. Social media, ecommerce, cloud computing, and Big Data have all conspired to make personal data the new oil — a commodity that is bought and sold to the highest bidder. The updated Privacy Act 2020 includes stricter data protection rules and raises the standard of privacy when it comes to dealing with clients’, customers’ and employees’ personal information.

Privacy Breaches

The Privacy Act 2020 came into effect on 1 December 2020 and replaces the 1993 Act. The new law retains many of the original principles of the 1993 Act with some notable tweaks.

One of the most significant changes is that businesses must now report any privacy breach, i.e. where private personal information is lost, made public, or accessed by unauthorised parties that could cause, or has caused, serious harm to the individuals involved.

The mandatory breach notification principle means businesses will have to notify the people whose information has been leaked and also report the breach to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner. Previously, it was up to individuals to make a complaint and prove they had been harmed as a result of a privacy breach.

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