Private sector privacy: not a ‘light touch’ but a ‘feather touch’

The American legislation was developed in response to research by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission which revealed that 89% of 212 commercial children’s web sites collected personal information from children but only 24% posted privacy policies and only 1% required parental consent for the collection or disclosure of that information.

Clearly, something needs to be done in Australia to put parents back in charge of their children’s personal information. Families need to be given the tools to control who collects personal information from their kids, to dictate how that information is used and most importantly to determine whether it is shared with third parties.

The American approach is receiving considerable support from reputable ISPs who are helping to publicise the rules and to provide a specific link back to the Federal Trade Commission’s kids privacy page. Australian families do not have these important safeguards.

The Australian Labor Party is awaiting a report from the House of Representatives Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee before finalising its response to the government’s privacy legislation. However, there are a number of areas where the Bill requires improvement and we will be putting forward amendments to ensure that there is adequate protection for Australians’ personal information.