The Privacy Act requires anyone collecting your personal information to tell you the reason it is being collected, what it will be used for, and who will have access. (See our Privacy law report for more information.)
The Act prohibits anyone from gathering personal information for one purpose and using it for another, although there are some exceptions.
That's why most forms you fill out these days ask if it's okay for the information to be used for marketing purposes. Not surprisingly, this request is normally buried in the fine print.
Problems can arise if your details are in a public register and the register's purpose isn't clear.
The Privacy Act places limits on when government departments and businesses can give out personal information. Some departments, like the Inland Revenue Department (IRD), also have specific controls in their own legislation. For example, the IRD can't give out your income details to anyone - except for very limited purposes such as data-matching with other government departments to help catch benefit fraudsters.
The Privacy Act also means you have a right to see any personal information an organisation holds about you. You should not be charged.
If the organisation doesn't respond within 20 days, or you believe it may not have shown all the information it has on you, or it fails to correct any mistakes, you can ask the Privacy Commissioner to review the matter.
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