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ARTICLE · 16 JUNE 2023

Protection of Personally Identifiable Information (PII): A growing concern

Law In Order
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PII is 'information or an opinion about an identified individual, or an individual who is reasonably identifiable'.

AustraliaPrivacy

[3 minutes read]

PII is 'information or an opinion about an identified individual, or an individual who is reasonably identifiable'.

It includes names, home and email addresses, passport and driver's licence numbers, employment status, criminal record, age, ethnicity, race and more. Identifying all of these diverse forms of data is a complex task.

Under Australian Legislation data, including (PII) is protected under the Privacy Act 1988 as well as under the Australia Government Notifiable Data Breaches Scheme which was introduced in 2018. The latter requires Australian Government agencies and organisations to notify individuals affected by data breaches likely to result in serious harm.

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