Power up your privacy

Privacy Awareness Week, 6-12 May, is a great opportunity to pause and consider what you can do to ‘power up’ privacy, either for yourself or at ACU.

Developments in technology, including AI and facial recognition technology, as well as the use of analytics, social media, and our ever-present devices, all require us to actively think about privacy and how to protect personal information. Regulations and laws set the ‘guardrails’ but we all play a role in supporting and upholding good privacy practices.

That’s why this year’s Privacy Awareness Week focuses on privacy, technology and the foundational privacy principles of transparency, accountability and security. Regardless of the technology, or whether technology is used at all - the same principles apply at ACU when personal information is involved.

Transparency

It’s pretty simple. Always tell individuals, whether they're students, staff or the community, why you are collecting their personal information, how you intend to use it and who you will disclose it to. Tell them how long you intend to keep it and how you’ll protect it. Where necessary, obtain their consent using the template available on the ACU Privacy Hub. If something goes wrong, be honest.

Accountability

This means we take responsibility for the decisions we make and the actions we take. Using third party technology or services doesn’t disavow us of our responsibility to assess carefully, minimise the use of personal information and to fix immediately if something does go wrong.

ACU wants to be trusted by students, staff and the community, which means putting these same individuals, about whom personal information applies, at the centre of your thinking. Then it is just a matter of working outward to safely get to the outcome you seek. Our ACU Privacy Co-ordinator Natalie Koppe can help you get there.

Security

At ACU, there’s a whole process that reviews security and privacy in relation to technology in particular, but also physical scenarios. Having and following the right processes keeps student and staff information safe from loss, misuse or overuse. ACU constantly reviews and strengthens access and protective security measures, whilst ensuring that use is appropriate in the first instance. Start here when seeking to buy or re-contract existing technology (products change over time).

Whether in our own day-to-day lives or at ACU, consider what you can do to ‘power up’ privacy in balance with technology and the key principles that protect.