Privacy at Work
The advent of the Information Technology era has brought many benefits but also some risks and issues.
One such issue is the privacy of your personal information. This includes information on your:
- Address
- Telephone Numbers
- Occupation and Place of Work
- Tax File Number
- Credit Card Numbers
- Credit Rating
- Bank Account Details
- Criminal Record (if any)
This information, in the wrong hands, is potentially very damaging to the individual. Identity theft is an increasing crime statistic. Anyone who suffers this crime can lose funds from their bank account, lose their credit rating and even find others using your identity to perpetrate crimes in your name.
Businesses must necessarily collect information on their employees. In particular, a business will keep information that will enable employees to receive the correct amount of pay and superannuation, and to deduct the appropriate amount of tax.
This information must be appropriately handled to prevent the possibility of the crime of "Identity Theft". In Australia, all businesses should be aware of the National Privacy Principles, which are enshrined in legislation (Commonwealth of Australia):
- Privacy Act 1988 (Commonwealth)
- Privacy Amendment (Private Sector) Act 2000
This legislation provides a set of ten (10) National Privacy Principles:
| Subject Matter Covered | |
| Principle 1 | Collection Principle |
| Principle 2 | Use and disclosure Principle |
| Principle 3 | Data quality Principle |
| Principle 4 | Data security Principle |
| Principle 5 | Openness Principle |
| Principle 6 | Access and correction |
| Principle 7 | Identifiers Principle |
| Principle 8 | Anonymity Principle |
| Principle 9 | Transborder data flows Principle |
| Principle 10 | Sensitive information |
 |
Office of the Privacy Commissioner |
Not only should employees be concerned about their personal information being misused, but also there is a need to be aware that businesses will monitor their employees in variety of ways including:
|
1
|
Emails can be monitored electronically |
|
2
|
Web browsing can be monitored electronically |
|
3
|
Telephone calls can be monitored |
|
4
|
Employees can be surveilled using CCTV. |
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