Protecting your confidential information

DATA PROTECTION There are two sides to the issue of Data Protection namely:

• •⊎ Protection of Company Information; and
• •⊎ Protection of Personal Information.

The proliferation of computers within government, business and the public generally has provided certain individuals with enormous potential power over the people and the information gathered in the many databases in existence throughout the world. The cross matching capabilities of these systems at terrific speeds has given rise to genuine concerns as to the purposes to which this information will be put and the possible abuses.In Australia (unlike the US) there is not constitutional protection of privacy and the only remedy available to either companies or individuals is via the common law for breach of confidence or the unauthorised disclosure of a trade secret.In this article I intend to raise some of the issues faced by both the corporation attempting to restrict access and abuse of confidential information together with the protection of individual privacy in the face of increased central data collection.