We're back after a break. This week, Arj is joined by elevenM privacy practice lead Melanie Marks to discuss the Australian Government's move to significantly lift penalties on businesses that violate privacy, as the nation experiences a spate of serious data breaches.

They discuss the likely impact and effectiveness of the fines, clear up some misconceptions about what the fines are actually for, and explore some of the less-discussed additional powers introduced alongside the fines.

Links:

Privacy Legislation Amendment (Enforcement and Other Measures) Bill 2022 https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/download/legislation/bills/r6940_first-reps/toc_word/22113b01.docx;fileType=application%2Fvnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document

Attorney-General press release https://ministers.ag.gov.au/media-centre/tougher-penalties-serious-data-breaches-22-10-2022

Explanatory Memorandum https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/download/legislation/ems/r6940_ems_715c9651-94ce-4b91-9912-a4023d8c7f61/upload_word/22113%20EM.DOCX;fileType=application%2Fvnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document 

Link to make submissions on the Bill https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Legal_and_Constitutional_Affairs/PrivacyEnforcement2022

OAIC's Federal Court proceedings against Facebook https://www.oaic.gov.au/updates/news-and-media/commissioner-launches-federal-court-action-against-facebook

Credits:

Music by Bensound.com