Cybersecurity Policy Report, New Zealand Sees Uptick in Privacy Complaints, (Dec 9, 2024)

By Tony Foley

The New Zealand Office of the Privacy Commissioner (OPC) received a total of 1,003 complaints during the last fiscal year, a 15% increase over the previous year, according to the OPC’s annual report.

"No one should be happy we received over 1000 privacy complaints,” Privacy Commissioner Michael Webster said in a statement. “That demonstrates to me that people are concerned that their privacy has been harmed in some way, and it’s often in quite significant ways.”

The statement notes that the OPC dealt with 724 complaints as “fast resolve files” in which the office acted swiftly to help people resolve their privacy concerns or provided agencies with information on how to comply with their obligations. The remainder of the complaints were investigated by the OPC where the relevant harm threshold was established, or an agency (including businesses and organizations) had not provided access to personal information. Of these 279 investigation files, 6.5% resulted in financial compensation to the complainant.

Two-thirds of the complaints received in the past fiscal year related to access to personal information, according to the commissioner’s statement. Under New Zealand’s Privacy Act, people have the right to ask whether an agency holds information about them and to request access to such information. If an agency fails to provide access, the OPC can order its release. In addition, the OPC received 864 total data breach notifications, of which 414 were considered serious in nature. The full text of the OPC’s 2024 annual report may be accessed from the statement.

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