Done By Law

Your right to privacy - does it exist?: 26 July 2011

In the wake of the phone hacking scandal in the UK that has implicated Murdoch’s News Group newspapers in illegal hacking of mobile phone messages and obtaining unauthorised access to confidential personal data, Done By Law this week will focus on the right to privacy in Victoria. Do individuals in Victoria have a right to privacy of personal information? What personal information can individuals expect to be kept confidential? Can the media be held accountable for breaching privacy - or should it? Joining us tonight to discuss these issues is Dr Anothny Bendall, Deputy Commissioner of Privacy Victoria.

Watershed protesters take government to court: 9 November 2010

The political and legal furore over the Wonthaggi desalination plant keeps heating up: a new legal action has been launched by protesters regarding the Victoria Police’s agreement to share law enforcement data with the private company building the plant. Tonight we discuss the issues with Christopher Heislers, from protest group Watershed and Elizabeth McKinnon, from the Environment Defenders Office.

DBL: Bingle, Privacy and the Wild West of the internet: 9 March 2010

You would have to have been living under a rock not to have noticed the media frenzy and public debate surrounding the naked photo of Lara Bingle, allegedly taken without her consent by Brendan Fevola while she was in the shower. Bingle’s manager Max Markson announced that Bingle would take legal action against Fevola for breach of privacy, defamation and misuse of her image.

However, the unauthorised taking, distribution or publication of photos and film has been an issue (including in the law) since these media were invented. In the age of cameras phones and internet publication, this problem has become more prevalent and somewhat more permanent.

Joining us tonight on Done by Law is the Victorian Privacy Commissioner, Helen Versey, to discuss Australia’s privacy laws and how technology and the internet have prompted calls for changes in privacy law.