Related Research Articles
Freedom of information laws allow access by the general public to data held by national governments and, where applicable, by state and local governments. The emergence of freedom of information legislation was a response to increasing dissatisfaction with the secrecy surrounding government policy development and decision making. In recent years Access to Information Act has also been used. They establish a "right-to-know" legal process by which requests may be made for government-held information, to be received freely or at minimal cost, barring standard exceptions. Also variously referred to as open records, or sunshine laws, governments are typically bound by a duty to publish and promote openness. In many countries there are constitutional guarantees for the right of access to information, but these are usually unused if specific support legislation does not exist. Additionally, the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 16 has a target to ensure public access to information and the protection of fundamental freedoms as a means to ensure accountable, inclusive and just institutions.
Emily O'Reilly is an author and former journalist and broadcaster who became Ireland's first female Ombudsman in 2003, succeeding Kevin Murphy. On 3 July 2013, she was voted European Ombudsman by the European Parliament. She was re-elected in 2014 and in 2019, in each case for a mandate of five more years. She was educated at University College Dublin, Trinity College Dublin, and Harvard University, where she was awarded a Nieman Fellowship in journalism.
The right to privacy is an element of various legal traditions that intends to restrain governmental and private actions that threaten the privacy of individuals. Over 185 national constitutions mention the right to privacy. On 10 December 1948, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR); while the right to privacy does not appear in the document, many interpret this through Article 12, which states: "No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with their privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honor and reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks."
The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) is a non-departmental public body which reports directly to the Parliament of the United Kingdom and is sponsored by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology. It is the independent regulatory office dealing with the Data Protection Act 2018 and the General Data Protection Regulation, the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003 across the UK; and the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and, to a limited extent, in Scotland. When they audit an organisation they use Symbiant's audit software.
The Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act is a Canadian law relating to data privacy. It governs how private sector organizations collect, use and disclose personal information in the course of commercial business. In addition, the Act contains various provisions to facilitate the use of electronic documents. PIPEDA became law on 13 April 2000 to promote consumer trust in electronic commerce. The act was also intended to reassure the European Union that the Canadian privacy law was adequate to protect the personal information of European citizens. In accordance with section 29 of PIPEDA, Part I of the Act must be reviewed by Parliament every five years. The first Parliamentary review occurred in 2007.
The Australian Human Rights Commission is the national human rights institution of the Commonwealth of Australia, established in 1986 as the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC) and renamed in 2008. It is a statutory body funded by, but operating independently of, the Australian Government. It is responsible for investigating alleged infringements of Australia's anti-discrimination legislation in relation to federal agencies.
A privacy policy is a statement or legal document that discloses some or all of the ways a party gathers, uses, discloses, and manages a customer or client's data. Personal information can be anything that can be used to identify an individual, not limited to the person's name, address, date of birth, marital status, contact information, ID issue, and expiry date, financial records, credit information, medical history, where one travels, and intentions to acquire goods and services. In the case of a business, it is often a statement that declares a party's policy on how it collects, stores, and releases personal information it collects. It informs the client what specific information is collected, and whether it is kept confidential, shared with partners, or sold to other firms or enterprises. Privacy policies typically represent a broader, more generalized treatment, as opposed to data use statements, which tend to be more detailed and specific.
Personal data, also known as personal information or personally identifiable information (PII), is any information related to an identifiable person.
Information privacy, data privacy or data protection laws provide a legal framework on how to obtain, use and store data of natural persons. The various laws around the world describe the rights of natural persons to control who is using its data. This includes usually the right to get details on which data is stored, for what purpose and to request the deletion in case the purpose is not given anymore.
The Privacy Act 1988 is an Australian law dealing with privacy. Section 14 of the Act stipulates a number of privacy rights known as the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs). These principles apply to Australian Government and Australian Capital Territory agencies or private sector organizations contracted to these governments, organizations and small businesses who provide a health service, as well as to private organizations with an annual turnover exceeding AUD$3M. The principles govern when and how personal information can be collected by these entities. Information can only be collected if it is relevant to the agencies' functions. Upon this collection, that law mandates that Australians have the right to know why information about them is being acquired and who will see the information. Those in charge of storing the information have obligations to ensure such information is neither lost nor exploited. An Australian will also have the right to access the information unless this is specifically prohibited by law.
The Access to Information Act or Information Act is a Canadian Act providing the right of access to information under the control of a federal government institution. As of 2020, the Act allowed "people who pay $5 to request an array of federal files". Paragraph 2. (1) of the Act ("Purpose") declares that government information should be available to the public, but with necessary exceptions to the right of access that should be limited and specific, and that decisions on the disclosure of government information should be reviewed independently of government. Later paragraphs assign responsibility for this review to an Information Commissioner, who reports directly to parliament rather than the government in power. However, the Act provides the commissioner the power only to recommend rather than compel the release of requested information that the commissioner judges to be not subject to any exception specified in the Act.
Privacy law is a set of regulations that govern the collection, storage, and utilization of personal information from healthcare, governments, companies, public or private entities, or individuals.
Canadian privacy law is derived from the common law, statutes of the Parliament of Canada and the various provincial legislatures, and the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Perhaps ironically, Canada's legal conceptualization of privacy, along with most modern legal Western conceptions of privacy, can be traced back to Warren and Brandeis’s "The Right to Privacy" published in the Harvard Law Review in 1890, Holvast states "Almost all authors on privacy start the discussion with the famous article 'The Right to Privacy' of Samuel Warren and Louis Brandeis".
There is no absolute right to privacy in Australian law and there is no clearly recognised tort of invasion of privacy or similar remedy available to people who feel their privacy has been violated. Privacy is, however, affected and protected in limited ways by common law in Australia and a range of federal, state and territorial laws, as well as administrative arrangements.
The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC), known until 2010 as the Office of the Australian Privacy Commissioner is an independent Australian Government agency, acting as the national data protection authority for Australia, established under the Australian Information Commissioner Act 2010, headed by the Australian Information Commissioner.
There are several national data protection authorities across the world, tasked with protecting information privacy. In the European Union and the EFTA member countries, their status was formalized by the Data Protection Directive and they were involved in the Madrid Resolution.
The Ombudsman in Ireland is an officeholder and public servant whose role is to examine complaints from members of the public who believe that they have been unfairly treated by certain public service providers. The current ombudsman is Ger Deering.
The Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data (PCPD) is a Hong Kong statutory body enforcing the Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance.
The right of access, also referred to as right to access and (data) subject access, is one of the most fundamental rights in data protection laws around the world. For instance, the United States, Singapore, Brazil, and countries in Europe have all developed laws that regulate access to personal data as privacy protection. The European Union states that: "The right of access occupies a central role in EU data protection law's arsenal of data subject empowerment measures." This right is often implemented as a Subject Access Request (SAR) or Data Subject Access Request (DSAR).
The Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act is an Act of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia governing the public sector. It is commonly abbreviated "FIPPA" or "FOIPPA", though other Canadian provinces such as Alberta, and Ontario, use similar FIPPA acronyms for their public sector privacy law. "BC FIPPA" can be used as an acronym for further differentiation. FIPPA holds public bodies "accountable for their information practices". The legislation defines public sector requirements for collection, use, disclosure and safeguarding of individuals' personal information, decrees individuals' right to access public sector records, including access to an individual's "own 'personal information' as well as records in the custody or control of a 'public body' "—subject to specific exemptions. FIPPA requires public bodies to "take reasonable steps to protect the privacy of personal information they hold". Independent oversight and enforcement for FIPPA rests with the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner for British Columbia.
References
- ↑ "Bangladesh Right to Information Act (Full Text)" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2013-11-26. Retrieved 2014-03-08.
- ↑ RILEY, T. "Canadian Federal Information Commissioner's Report". Transnational Data Report. 15 (4): 49–50.
- ↑ "The Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data website". Archived from the original on 2018-02-02. Retrieved 2016-09-21.
- ↑ "Hong Kong's personal data protection reforms : Clyde & Co". www.clydeco.com. Retrieved 2023-04-06.
- ↑ "Doxxing Offences". www.pcpd.org.hk. Archived from the original on 2023-04-06. Retrieved 2023-04-06.
- ↑ "Central Information Commission website". Archived from the original on 2011-06-30. Retrieved 2012-05-18.
- ↑ "President appoints Peter Tyndall as Ombudsman and Information Commissioner". The Office of the Ombudsman. 2013-12-02. Archived from the original on 2013-12-11.
- ↑ "Ceapachán an Choimisinéara Faisnéise" (PDF). Iris Oifigiúil . 2022 (1): 7. 4 January 2022. Archived (PDF) from the original on 15 June 2022. Retrieved 1 December 2023.
- ↑ Freedom of Information Act 1997, s. 33: Establishment of office of Information Commissioner ( No. 13 of 1997, s. 33 ). Enacted on 21 April 1997. Act of the Oireachtas .Retrieved from Irish Statute Book .
- ↑ Freedom of Information Act 2014, s. 43: Continuance of office of Information Commissioner ( No. 30 of 2014, s. 43 ). Enacted on 14 October 2014. Act of the Oireachtas .Retrieved from Irish Statute Book .
- ↑ European Communities (Access to Information on the Environment) Regulations 2007, Art. 12 ( S.I. No. 133 of 2007 ). Signed on 28 March 2007. Statutory Instrument of the Government of Ireland .Retrieved from Irish Statute Book .
- ↑ "Who we are". Commissioner for Environmental Information. Archived from the original on 3 July 2023. Retrieved 1 December 2023.
- ↑ "Who we are". Information Commissioner. Archived from the original on 24 November 2023. Retrieved 1 December 2023.
- ↑ Federal Act on Data Protection of 19 June 1992 (status as of 1 January 2014) Archived 19 January 2021 at the Wayback Machine , Federal Chancellery of Switzerland (page visited on 21 September 2016).
- ↑ Federal Act on Freedom of Information in the Administration of 17 December 2004 (status as of 19 August 2014) Archived 20 September 2016 at the Wayback Machine , Federal Chancellery of Switzerland (page visited on 21 September 2016).
- ↑ "European data protection bodies list". Archived from the original on 2017-07-18. Retrieved 2012-05-18.
- ↑ "Authorities Listings | Global Privacy Enforcement Network". www.privacyenforcement.net. Archived from the original on 2023-01-29. Retrieved 2023-04-06.
