As of February 2023, more than 50 different countries or territories practise some variant on the ‘Right to be Forgotten’ — the European legislation that enshrines in law our right to have our personal data erased. But that leaves plenty of places where people are still fighting for those rights to be upheld in a court of law. Currently, Australia is among the countries lacking European-style privacy laws, but all that could be set to change.
In late January 2023 it was announced that lawmakers are considering new legislation that will bring the Right to be Forgotten to Australian citizens. Speaking to the press, Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus admitted that current legislation was not up-to-scratch for the digital era and that officials are committed to updating the Privacy Act.
“I’ve already brought in… substantial increases to penalties which I hope has sent a message to corporate Australia that they have to take more care about the privacy of Australians… about the data of Australians that they have in their custody,” Dreyfus told press.
Determined to tackle the thorny issue, lawmakers have looked to the EU for inspiration, where Article 17 of the GDPR gives individual citizens control over their personal data. And, on the surface at least, much of Australia’s big business appears to be behind them. According to a spokesperson for Meta, which operates Facebook, the company “supports stronger privacy protections for Australian customers… including the introduction of a statutory tort for serious invasions of privacy and a right to erasure in certain circumstances.”
But not everyone agrees that a European-style Right to be Forgotten is the way forward. According to the Business Council of Australia, there is not sufficient evidence that such restrictions are needed — particularly given that the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner already deals with complaints relating to privacy online.
As our lives become more digitised than ever before, it seems a given that legislation will need to adapt accordingly. And in the future, experts predict that the Right to be Forgotten will spread to even more countries across the world. But will Australia be among them?
