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Law Commission makes privacy recommendations

Friday, February 26th, 2010

There’s another report from the Law Commission on privacy: this one the culmination of many of the others. The report’s not up on the website yet, but it seems that the key recommendations are: no change to the tort established in Hosking v Runting. creation of a new offence of trespassing on someone’s property to […]

Are you really anonymous online?

Monday, November 23rd, 2009

According to the Pew Internet and American Life Project, 55% of bloggers blog under a pseudonym. Obviously plenty of others use pseudonyms when posting comments about the place. Some of the posts by bloggers and commenters breach laws such as defamation, privacy, breach of confidence, harrassment and copyright. In most cases, the relevant ISPs have access […]

Minister in breach of privacy laws?

Tuesday, July 28th, 2009

Did Paula Bennett’s release of her critics’ benefit details breach privacy laws? My VUW law school colleague Dr Nicole Moreham thinks it might have. UPDATE: Paula Bennett was squirming under Mary Wilson’s skewer on Checkpoint last night, simultaneously trying to insist that she had done the right thing in “getting the facts out there” and […]

Law Commission goes all social networky

Monday, June 22nd, 2009

And you thought they were geeks. Bzzzzt. The Law Commission has launched an interactive website called “TalkLaw” for us to have our say on law reform issues. (I did a couple of holiday stints at the Law Commission in the early 90s, and they were throwing around a similar idea then – but it was […]

Upcoming privacy forum

Wednesday, August 13th, 2008

If you’re interested in privacy, you might like to register for the Privacy Commissioner’s Privacy Issues Forum, to be held in Wellington on 27 August. The programme includes a keynote speech from the Commissioner herself and a presentation on the Law Commission’s work on privacy by Sir Geoffery Palmer and John Burrows QC, as well […]

Review of Review of the Law of Privacy

Wednesday, May 28th, 2008

Earlier this year, the Law Commission released its Review of the Law of Privacy. It’s well worth a read. It demonstrates what a nebulous and problematic concept privacy is. The review is part of a four-stage inquiry into the whole gamut of privacy laws, including the Privacy Act, public registers, the tort, and other privacy-related laws. […]

New Law Commission report on privacy out

Thursday, February 14th, 2008

Get your copy here. It’s an early stage in the Commissions Herculian project aimed at reviewing the entire law of privacy. In this study paper they look at the big picture: the concepts behind privacy, and the effect of the rapidly changing social, legal and technological environment. (I’m part of a reference group that the […]

Free speech audit in Australia

Thursday, December 6th, 2007

Former NSW Ombudsman Irene Moss has conducted an audit into the state of free speech in Australia and concluded that “free speech and media freedom are being whittled away by gradual and sometimes almost imperceptible degrees.” I confess I’m always a bit suspicious of death-by-a-thousand-cuts claims, since they often overlook or underestimate the ways in which free […]

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