Essay: Role and Responsibilities of The Australian Government and Individuals in Maintaining Data Privacy

The rapid pace in technological advancements has undoubtedly developed multiple comfort zones making life on earth more pleasing. However, the same advanced technologies on the other hand has generated many factors challenging the peaceful life procedures. Particularly, the new era of information and communication technologies has posed a threat to the personal privacies of individuals and organizations as well. Through different means and for different purposes we are constantly sharing our personal information with the community members, organizations or government institutions. In the information sharing process, the shared information or data if not properly managed can be retrieved by the anti-society element for negative purposes causing emotional, physical or financial harms. An organization’s progress would be disrupted if its personal records are not properly managed or there’s a breach in its privacy (Li & Sarkar 2013, p. 796).

Considering the end results of personal data breaches and its unethical use, many legislations influenced by the regional policies for data protection has been designed by different government, whereas it is emphasized that unless all stakeholders of data sharing process contributes their roles, implementing legislations would not be enough to effectively maintain data privacy.  Every individual, business company or government organizations maintain their personal information, regarding academics, financial status, business operations and client’s details in the form of a data. The same data in most cases is intentionally transferred to other individuals or organizations for specific reasons. Moreover, as most of the communication means at present are influenced by the digital technology, while communicating some of our personal information is revealed to the other party. Its quite common, while browsing,  downloading or chatting, the user unintentionally transfers personal information to the other end (Aggarwal & Jauhar 2003, p. 56). Thus, in our daily practices somehow intentionally or unintentionally we are sending and receiving personal data. 

The current era of digital technologies has not only presented multiple development opportunities among all industries and segments of daily life, simultaneously it also provided advanced options for modernized crime practices. The unlimited boundaries and multiple opportunities besides presenting ultimate advantages has also ploughed the grounds for the multiple criminal activities which has appeared as a major threat for the piece of the societies across the globe (Bamrara 2012, p. 1). As data is the accumulation of highly confidential personal information, intrusion into the data allows to manipulate the same for any unethical practices. Safety of the stored Data, specifically safe management of the data transferred for specific reasons is now a major concern of individuals and organizations, organizations are implementing strategies to secure their data or personal information from the unauthorized penetrators (Tehrani, Sabaruddin, Ramanathan 2018).

Data is regarded as the most important possession of an individual or organization which must be maintained or transferred avoiding any heist of mishandling of the same. Regional governments and concerned authorities design legislations and implement strategies providing different measures for safe keeping of the personal possessions. Australian government acknowledging the importance of data safety and the growing incidents of data breaches legislated ‘Australia Privacy Act (Cth) in 1988. As a measure to confirm the safe custody of the data, Australian Parliament at the end of 1988 passed a ‘Privacy Act’, which was implemented at the end of 1988, this act marked the introduction of comprehensive data protection laws in Australia (Dietze & Allgrove 2014, p. 327). The same act however does not cover the entire segments of data breaches, and most of the organizations were addressed under the same law. Later on, with more modifications revised versions of Privacy Act were implemented. Finally, the latest version of the series was enacted in March 2014, ‘Information Privacy Act 2014 (Act)’.   

The new revised Act introduces a variety of new provisions that have the effect of significantly strengthening online privacy protection by addressing the threats to privacy presented by data mining, data matching and direct marketing practices (Selvadurai 2013, p. 299). The Information Privacy Act 2014 (ACT), outlined the data security measures for individuals, organizations, health institutions and the government organizations as well. Under the same Act measures are being initiated to create awareness regarding safety and secure transfer of data. Moreover, to ensure that all safety measures are adopted in handling data, the Privacy Act is composed of thirteen privacy principles (Australian Privacy Principles - APP) which are also revised in compliance with the technological advancements. The APPs are found in the Privacy Amendment (enhancing Privacy Protection) Act 2012 – commonwealth (Cameron et al 2020, p. 878). The same principles signify the mode to be adopted by the non-for-profit, or profit based organizations, medical or academic institutes and territorial governments. 

Every Business company maintain specific records of its account details, customers profile or suppliers’ list in the form of a data. A company’s most of the operational procedures are based on the accumulated records stored as data, hence stored data is the most important and sensitive asset for a company. If the same stored data is lost or misused could cause financial or reputation losses to the company. As such safety of the stored data is of vital importance for a seamless business procedure. Though government has highlighted certain principles and measures for data privacy to be followed by the organizations, however, respective business organizations must also design and implement their own independent strategies for the safety of its data. A common method of retrieving unauthorized data is through penetration into the networking or communication system of an organizations. At present organizations are encouraging BYOD (bring your own devices) policy within their working boundaries. BYOD is a technique of organizations of saving their own resources, in which the workers are allowed to bring in their own mobile devices like smartphones, tablets and laptops, to accomplish their organizational tasks, accessing their employer organization’s online resources e.g., email, file servers and databases (Hayes & Kotwica 2013, p. vii). 

BYOD practice is no doubt a cost-effective technique but on the other hand it is serious threat for the organization’s personal information as well. As stated by Semer (2013, p. 23) that BYOD programs can introduce data security, compliance, and privacy risks such as data leakage when employees forward sensitive documents to unauthorized individuals or make them available through unsecured cloud file-sharing providers, it is the responsibility of the organization’s IT management to implement BYOD practice in compliance with the prescribed data safety protocols.  Moreover, there should be a policy regarding the use of mobile devices, the same should define which type of mobile devices are permitted to access the organization’s resources, the degree of access that various classes of mobile devices may have, and how provisioning should be handled (Keyes 2014, p. 115). Individual users of mobile devices are more vulnerable to data privacy. Mobile applications and their corresponding commercial businesses for mobile users are becoming very popular and profitable (Tsai & Lo 2015, p. 1274). Multiple practices like using public WIFI, downloading unauthentic applications, sharing files through Bluetooth, accessing unethical images, and signing up forms online providing personal information makes individual users of mobile devices more vulnerable to data privacy.   

Moreover, owing to certain particular mobile phone features and applications, data from one cell phone top another can be transferred without any authorization from the actual data owner. The data wrongfully retrieved from other devices are the leading cause of many criminal events at present. Adopting data preventive measures not only can save from any financial or emotional loss but also would aid in minimizing the online criminal activities that are of great concern for the authorities all over the world. Governments and the concerned authorities have facilitated the general public by providing guidelines for maintaining their data privacy. However, general public are themselves the most competent authority who can efficiently maintain their own data privacy. As the online content is linked with accessing different resources, which could lead to the development of abnormal behavioral traits (Aluchna & Idowu 2017, p. 131), individuals can preserve their data by not attempting to access any unreliable or unethical content online. Internet browsing is a common practice and it is also the simplest means of accessing user’s personal information or data. Considering the importance of data privacy now many Web browsers are offering private browsing options. Major function of Private Browsing is to safeguard the confidentiality of user’s data, which are generated in a private browsing session, by avoiding to store them in the file system (Tsalis et al 2017, p. 181).

Browsing through private browsing will restrict the user’s information for being accessed or retrieved by the unknowns. Also, individuals should restrain from downloading applications or other contents from unreliable sources, or accepting any package offer from unknown companies. Individuals can only maintain their data privacy if they make sure that all the outgoing and incoming contents are through and from reliable sources.  The advanced era of digital technology besides presenting multiple opportunities and advantages has also bestowed the world with the complicated issues of Data Privacy. Individuals, business organizations and even the governments had been fallen prey of Data piracy. Considering all the facts it can be concluded that either individuals, private or government organizations, data privacy can only be maintained through strict monitoring of the devices being used within the premises, controlling data access, and adopting measures to ensure safe flow of data.