Welcome to the DataBench Blog site where we will continue to post a series of relevant privacy related topics.

To get things going we thought we might kick off with one of the most prominent questions we get asked: 

(Q) “What is Personal Information?”

This seems like a fair question to ask so lets start here.

(A) Personal Information (PI) under The Privacy Act 1988 is information or an opinion about an identified individual, or an  individual who is reasonably identifiable. For example, personal information may include: an individuals name, signature, address, phone number or date of birth, plus sensitive information, medical records and financial information.

Sounds simple right? Well, the answer to what is personal information is not so straightforward. The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC), whom we refer to often as a source of direction and information will openly state that any organisation should err on the side of caution and treat information as personal information in accordance with the Australian Privacy Principles (APP) if they hold any doubt on the matter. (Better to be safe than sorry rule).

Let DataBench help you on your journey of data privacy compliance. Go to www.databench.com.au and click on ‘Get In Touch’.