Law needed as private lives become public

Press, 22 July 1988, Page 34

Law needed as private lives become public

PA Wellington A new law protecting individual privacy is needed in New Zealand, the Consumers’ Institute says. Private lives of citizens are increasingly becoming public property, the latest "Consumer” magazine editorial has reported. "Banks hold financial information on customers, debt-collecting agencies keep files on bad payers, and credit companies keep records of people with good and bad credit ratings.” , The biggest collector of personal information was the Government.

There might be as many as .800 separate ways Government departments and agencies could collect information about people, the information authority reported. In almost 400 cases the Government had the power to compel people to supply the information.

The worry today was the ease and speed computers allowed data to be found and passed on to others, and the way information from one computer source could be combined with that from another, “Consumer” says.

Because of computer technology, the potential to misuse personal information existed and the systems for doing this were becoming more sophisticated.

The Consumers’ Institute believes urgent action is needed to protect individual rights. It recommends three guidelines.

First, information collected must be relevant. For example, income is relevant to a credit bureau but not race or criminal record. Information should be collected in a fair and lawful way and people should have a right to know that personal details are being gathered. Second, the use to which personal data can be put should be clearly defined. Data collected by Government departments should not be passed on to other Government agencies or private organisations unless there is a legal reason. Third, people should have an absolute right to know what information is being held on them. They should have the right to see the information and dispute it if they think it is inaccurate.