Privacy Commissioner - Te Mana Matapono Matatapu

Good privacy is good business (Karen Curtis)

Keynote address to New Zealand Privacy Issues Forum by Karen Curtis, Privacy Commissioner, Australia.

You can download the full text of this address below (22 pages).

Excerpt:

"What I have been asked to talk about today is why good privacy is good business.

I personally agree with that sentiment and it is also something that my Office has had as somewhat of a mantra since developing its strategic plan in 2000. It has been one of our four slogans and along with ‘respecting privacy’ has been the most used.

To make the case for good privacy is good business I will draw on international experiences, the community attitudes research commissioned by my office in 2001 and 2004, the information gathered in my 2005 review of the private sector provisions of the Australian Privacy Act, and the recommendations from that review.

By examining the evidence, I propose to give you three key messages, three compelling reasons why it is accurate to say that good privacy is good business. These are:

1. risk to brand and reputation damage
2. possible customer and business partner attrition, and
3. the value of information...."