On 19 September 2024, the Senate referred the Privacy and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2024 [Provisions] to the Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee, for inquiry and report by 14 November 2024.
This parliamentary inquiry has a very short timeframe for consideration of legal reform which apparently intends to capture the content found on all digital news and social media platforms, as well as content found on websites and online chat rooms.
Officially the Bill be considered by the Inquiry:
...would enact a first tranche of reforms to the Privacy Act 1988 to implement a number of legislative proposals agreed by the government in its Response to the Privacy Act Review (September 2023). The Bill would also introduce a new statutory tort for serious invasions of privacy and targeted criminal offences to respond to doxxing. [my yellow highlighting]
The definition of "doxxing" according to the Explanatory Memorandum displayed with the draft Bill is "the release of personal data using a carriage service in a manner that would be menacing or harassing".
A clearer description is probably along these lines; "doxxing is the act of publicly providing personally identifiable information about an individual or organization, usually via the Internet and without their consent" [Wikipedia retrieved 23.10.24].
There are concerns being expressed that the Bill as it now stands may invite misconstruction or legal overreach, as well as have a chilling effect on investigative reporting, political discourse and, the implied freedom of opinion and expression that Australian citizens now enjoy under the Australian Constitution and specifically by way of four of the seven core international human rights treaties Australia is a party to.
The Committee received 68 submissions by the 11 October 2024 closing date.
One public hearing was held in Canberra on 22 October, at which representatives from 21 different different Australian government departments/agencies, independent commissions, public broadcasters, industry and consumer groups, charitable organisations, news agencies & multinational social media corporations.
Among those submissions were 4 pages from Google, 17 pages from Meta and a 39 pages from the Law Council of Australia.
The Law Council's submission is recommended reading as it sets out its concerns and recommendations concisely and clearly.
Its submission can be found and downloaded at
https://www.aph.gov.au/DocumentStore.ashx?id=ab37ee62-de00-4125-8791-711143f3b13a&subId=768485
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