Online Privacy Policy Laws In Australia

The Commonwealth Government’s 13 proposed Australian Privacy Principles (APP), to be included as part of a new Privacy Act 1988 (Cth), and will change the Information Privacy Principles (the IPP, which govern the Commonwealth public sector) and National Privacy Principles (or the NPP, which govern private sector conduct). The Cabinet Secretary in charge of drafting the new laws, Joe Ludwig, has stated that the individual’s right to privacy is a ‘fundamental human privilege that should be taken care of’. As a result, the existing legislation will be amended with the following objectives in mind:

The two existing sets of principles (the IPP and NPP) will be replaced by a single, structured and harmonised set of responsibilities that draw on the existing principles; That the Principles should depict a balanced list of standards to cope with the possibility of harm from incorrect giving and treating of an individual’s sensitive information; To ensure that the standards also take into account an individual’s realistic objectives around the handling of their information; and To ensure that the restrictions reach a stability between the Public’s and the individual’s desire for useful, valuable service delivery and public security.

On the other hand, website terms and conditions usually are not the very first thing you check out when browsing a web page, realistically most people never check out a website’s terms and conditions unless confronted with a dialogue box needing their acceptance. However creating a page of terms and conditions in addition to a privacy policy is significant to the successful performance of your website or internet business. In 2009 the ACCC began a crackdown on the websites of online retailers who “simply ‘cut and paste’ information from other sites on warranties and refunds without verifying that the details are correct”, to quote the ACCC chairman Graeme Samuel. The ACCC properly pursued the large online retailer DealsDirect over warranty terms with their goods that were in breach of the Trade Practices Act 1974 (Cth). The business was instructed to tweak its website terms and conditions according to a court order.

While problems in the previous Trade Practices Act 1974 (Cth), now the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth), are limited to websites selling goods or services, every website will need terms and conditions as other laws will impact on them. As an example you might like to minimize the ways in which people can use your website’s content; this will simply be enforceable if your terms and conditions abide by the common and statutory laws of contract, and the Copyright Act 1968 (Cth). Here are some areas to take into account when drafting website terms and conditions: What does your website provide? Every website is different and will therefore require a unique range of terms and conditions. Websites can generally be divided into the categories of providing information, product and/or service sales, and those permitting user generated content. It is critical to sort out what it is your website is providing and draft your terms and conditions accordingly.

For instance a web page allowing end users to purchase products and/or services is going to take terms about distribution, warranties, a returns policy, and to guarantee such terms and conditions do not go against the provisions of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth). Websites allowing user generated content needs to have terms outlining who carries legal responsibility for the content, and methods for dealing with offensive content. Any website will also need to clarify the conditions upon which consumers can use website content and features, and to determine what uses of original content are permitted under the Copyright Act 1968 (Cth). One size does not fit all, and just copying and pasting the terms and conditions of another website to your own will mean you are left with a policy that won't match your website’s content and processes - a difficulty that may have legal implications like it did for DealsDirect.