Business Compliance to Changing Privacy Protections

On the 21st December, 2001 Australia introduced a new privacy law titled the Privacy Amendment Private Sector Act, which extended the Privacy Act (1988) to apply to private sector companies. Previous literature has examined the gap between self-regulation and legislation, but no research had investigated Australia´s transformation from self-regulation to legislation. The methodology used in this paper employs a triangulation method, which includes literature research into the background of privacy in Australia and research into the Privacy Amendment (Private Sector) Act 2000 itself, a longitudinal web site assessment and questionnaire. The study also outlines whether the new law brought into force at the end of 2001 meets government and consumer expectations in Australia, and how this method of privacy protection compares with different privacy protection methods such as (i)self-regulation, found within the US, and (ii)legislation found within the EU.