Author Description

"This report considers whether the existing legal protections from the disclosure and serious misuse of private information are sufficient and effective. At present, while various protections for victims of such misuse and related breaches of privacy exist, these derive from an assortment of different statutory and common law causes of action. This patchwork of laws - several of which were designed primarily to address matters other than misuse of private information - not only risks some instances of serious misuse of private information not being effectively provided for and those affected finding themselves with no real recourse or remedy. Given these shortcomings, it is submitted that a statutory tort of misuse of private information should be introduced. A draft bill that would give effect to these recommendations is appended to this report" -- Extracted from executive summary.