Govt considers privacy body

Press, 19 April 1989, Page 8

Govt considers privacy body

By

OLIVER RIDDELL

in Wellington The Government is looking at ways of ensuring the protection of privacy, according to the Minister of Justice, Mr Palmer. He said it now had a wealth of material on privacy protection, data privacy, personal information and related issues. The principles should be administered by an overseeing body, such as a privacy commissioner, who would have a number of functions. These would include monitoring, auditing personal data bases for compliance with data principles, education, dealing with disputes by mediation or determination, enforcing rights of access

and correction, making recommendations for change, studying the impact of future technology, examining proposed legislation, and encouraging self-regulation and cooperation. Mr Palmer said a privacy commissioner would develop specific codes for particular industries, such as credit reference agencies. The scope of any future scheme was very important. It would be essential that both the public and the private sector be subject, to controls. A unified approach to data privacy was preferable because the conduct and decisions of commercial and professional agencies affected everyone as much as the conduct and decisions .of State bodies, he said. ‘