Hon Judith Collins
Minister of Justice

2 May 2012

Address to Privacy Awareness Week
Intercontinental Hotel Grey Street, Wellington

Good morning

Thank you for inviting me to address you this morning.

It’s great to be here.

This is an exciting – and challenging – time to be involved in privacy matters.

The way people in countries like New Zealand interact with each other has significantly changed in the last 20 or so years.

At the heart of this change is the ease of interaction through new communication technologies.

We now have a great and growing variety of communication options: telephone, cellphone, email, text, ‘Facebook’, ‘Twitter’, ‘Skype’, and I’m sure many, many others.

With new communication media comes new possibilities.
We can be close to family overseas.

We can do business from home.

We can bring together many minds in many places.

And we can get the answers to complex questions quickly.

Technology is the foundation of our modern economy and in five years’ time I’m sure we will be communicating in ways we haven’t yet thought possible.

As a result, the way the Government interacts with New Zealanders is also changing.

We are embracing new information and communication technologies to improve service delivery.

The Government has committed $1.5 billon to the roll-out of ultra-fast broadband to homes, hospitals, schools, urban businesses and rural areas.

We’ve ensured zero tariffs on the import of new technologies and launched the New Zealand Cyber Security Strategy to improve our country’s protection against cyber threats.

Our i-govt service also allows government service providers to offer more personalised online services with confidence in an individual’s identity.

Society is fast adapting to new technologies to better shape our life options and the economy.

But while we can be quick to embrace changes in technology and new media, we have been slow to understand their immediate risks and long term effects.

Historically, communication was conducted person to person, by letter or by telephone.

With the advent of new media, we are seeing the introduction of third parties mediating the message between communicator and receiver.

The platforms for communication by these third parties are often available for ‘free’.

However – the real cost of these platforms is individual privacy.

We know that most web-based email accounts are not entirely private.

What’s more is that almost every communication leaves a ‘digital footprint’.

And third parties stand to benefit from storing communications.

Information created online may be stored indefinitely and used in the future.

Social media is a good example.

A post or status update today may be capable of being retrieved in 5, 10 or 100 years.

And there is no way of telling who might be able to retrieve that information in the future as personal information stored overseas is not necessarily protected from use and disclosure like it is in New Zealand.

With new communications devices and software we are increasingly seeing blanket requests for us to waive our privacy rights.

Either you waive your privacy rights or you don’t use the technology.

This is, in part, the reality of the new world we are living in.

It is also an area that warrants some caution.

We don’t really understand the implications of a communication today being retrieved in 50 years.

So when we agree to waivers, we need to really understand what we are signing up to.

More regulation is only a partial solution to mitigate these risks.

Communications are global and easily transcend national boundaries.

More regulation may prevent New Zealand from embracing the opportunities that these technologies present.

Rather, we need to place consumer pressure on technology and software providers to meet our privacy expectations.

We need to be confident and discerning privacy consumers.

We need to help educate each other about the value of our personal data, and how to manage the risks using it.

While we don’t need more regulation, the quality of our regulation can be improved.

This is an ever-changing environment and privacy regulation needs to be both accessible and relevant.

This is why the Government has agreed with the Law Commission’s recommendation to replace the Privacy Act with a new Act.

The Commission concluded that the approach taken by the Privacy Act works well, but changes are needed to deal with the issues that have arisen since the Act was created.

The Government agrees.

Since 1993 technology has developed rapidly.

Expectations about the security of personal information have changed.

The way that business, both public and private, is conducted has also changed.

Many of the issues that have arisen with the Act relate to how difficult it is to read, understand and apply with confidence.

Refreshing the language in the Act and clarifying its key provisions will help users better understand its purpose in our modern environment.

I will report to Cabinet in September with proposals to reform the Act and expect to have a Bill ready for introduction in the first half of 2013.

One proposal that is already being progressed is the Privacy (Information Sharing) Bill – this is based on the Law Commission’s proposal for better information sharing to improve public services.

It provides a new framework for making quality decisions about what, when and how personal information held by public service providers should be shared.

The Bill is currently before the Justice and Electoral Select Committee.

It is timely that the theme for this privacy forum is thinking big in the age of ‘big data.’ The Government is a ‘big data’ holder.

There is a great need to use this data to make efficiency gains and improve public services.

There is also a great opportunity to provide better and more targeted services to individuals whose information is shared.

But this should not be done at all costs to personal privacy.

Public awareness and understanding of privacy is crucial.

Understanding new technologies and how they are used, is the first step for anyone wishing to protect their privacy in an information rich society.

It is my privilege to officially open this privacy issues forum.

I would like to thank the Privacy Commissioner and her office for their excellent work bringing privacy issues into the mainstream.

The speakers at today’s forum are all eminent privacy professionals.

They have all made sizeable contributions to the field and I know there will be much to learn and share.

ENDS

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