The government is embroiled in a major privacy scandal at the moment, with repeated careless leaks from ACC of private information about clients, and repeated malicious leaks from Ministers of private information about critics. So naturally, now is the perfect time for them to announce that they plan to overhaul the Privacy Act...
Fortunately, this is just a case of bad timing. The overhaul is in response to the Law Commission's 2011 Review of the Privacy Act, and will update the Act to deal with the internet (which was a geek curiosity 20 years ago when the present Act was passed). From the government's response to the Law Commission, its non-threatening, being mostly about streamlining complaints processes and plugging loopholes. There's also the possibility of tighter restrictions on international transfer of personal information - something which is best practice overseas, and which we should be pushing for here. From the sound of it, they'll be consulting on the changes later this year, and introducing the bill next year. I'll be paying attention, just in case they try and slip anything dubious in...
