Final Report Released for Serious Invasions of Privacy in the Digital Era
Monday 8 September 2014 @ 10.57 a.m. | IP & Media | Legal Research
The Australian Law Reform Commission’s (ALRC) Final Report, Serious Invasions of Privacy in the Digital Era (Report 123, 2014) was tabled in Parliament on 3 September 2014 and is now publicly available.
Terms of Reference
As previously stated by TimeBase, the Terms of Reference for this Inquiry, required the ALRC to design a tort to deal with serious invasions of privacy in the digital era. In this Report, the ALRC provides the detailed legal design of such a tort located in a new Commonwealth Act and makes sixteen other recommendations that would strengthen people’s privacy in the digital environment.
Conduct of the Inquiry
During the course of the Inquiry, the ALRC produced two consultation papers, received 134 submissions and undertook 69 face to face consultations with media, telecommunications social media and marketing companies amongst other organisations, many expert academics, specialist legal practitioners, and judges, public interest groups and government agencies. Two legal roundtables in Sydney and London were also conducted.
Results of the Inquiry
ALRC Commissioner for the Inquiry, Professor Barbara McDonald, said:
“The ALRC has designed a remedy for invasions of privacy that are serious, committed intentionally or recklessly and that cannot be justified as being in the public interest—for example, posting sexually explicit photos of someone on the internet without their permission or making public someone’s medical records. The recommendations in the Report also recognise that while privacy is a fundamental right that is worthy of legal protection, this right must also be balanced with other rights, such as the right to freedom of expression and the freedom of the media to investigate and report on matters of public importance."
The Report also recommends that a new Commonwealth surveillance law be enacted to replace existing state and territory laws, to ensure consistency of surveillance laws throughout Australia, and a number of other reforms to supplement the statutory cause of action.
The Report and a Summary Report is available to freely download or purchase in hard copy from the ALRC website. The Report is also freely available as an ebook.
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