Units

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Sample subject outline - Semester 2 2012

Note: Subject outlines often change before the semester begins. Below is a sample outline.

Rationale

Common law courts in Australia have been reluctant to recognise privacy as a personal legal right although similar rights have been upheld in American Courts for more than 100 years. Australian legislation, in particular the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) has previously been levelled at the public sector. Amendments to the Act in 2001 have opened up the Australian private sector, particularly those organisations with a turnover of more than $3M dealing in sensitive areas such as health, to regulation and potential liability. Arguably the Commonwealth legislation has failed to keep pace with technological advances such as the Internet and the Act has been criticised as being deficient and outdated compared with similar legislation in the European Union, Canada, the United States and Japan. With the advent of technology, issues of privacy and data security now impact on international trade and cross-border commerce. It is incumbent on many Australian businesses with existing or anticipated international trade relationships to be aware of and comply with the privacy regimes of their foreign trading partners. This unit examines various legal and policy issues relating to privacy and information security and addresses the impact that these issues will have on commercial practice and personal liberties in Australia.

Aims

The aim of this unit is to consider and analyse concepts of privacy law as they apply both within Australia and internationally as a product of the common law, various statutory provisions and through the implementation of international treaties.

Objectives

On completion of this unit you should be able to:
(1) Critically analyse the operation of the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) in relation to private sector businesses and government agencies, including administrative rules.
(2) Explain the broad context of informational privacy regulation including policy issues, political implications and any need for law reform.
(3) Appraise the impact of international law on the operation of Australian privacy laws, particularly in the context of electronic information privacy.
(4) Effectively communicate the solutions to problems arising from the application of the present law orally, having regard to the audience.
(5) Plan strategies and undertake the analysis, synthesis and evaluation of complex issues in the field of privacy law.
(6) Critically analyse, synthesise and evaluate complex legal issues in the context of privacy law and effectively communicate conclusions in a research paper.

Content

The principal areas of the law to be covered in this unit are:

• The sources and history of privacy as a legal right.


• The impact and operation of the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth).


• The operation of privacy principles in the context of:


• employment relationships;


• health care providers;


• the internet


• marketing (particularly direct marketing);


• contracts of insurance.


• A comparison between Australian and overseas regimes, including the United States, Canada and Europe.


• Current issues: databases and identifiers; medical research; telecommunications.

Approaches to Teaching and Learning

Your learning will be facilitated by tutorials offered in internal mode across the 13 weeks of semester in two-hour tutorial classes. These tutorials will involve interaction between students and the lecturer.

Each internal student is required to make a Tutorial presentation, and then to lead discussion on the issues raised. Students are expected to actively contribute to the discussion and analysis (led by the unit co-ordinator). The Tutorial presentation to be delivered by each student should last approximately 15 minutes, followed by a further period of class discussion lasting up to another 15 minutes

The small group discussion forums will be made available to external students via the Blackboard site for the unit for the purpose of formative feedback.

This unit is supported by an on-line teaching site, which includes links to useful web sites and cases.

Assessment

Assessment in this unit is both formative and summative.Throughout the lectures/seminars referred to above, you will be given formative feedback through comments by the lecturer, on both your responses to individual questions and participation in group discussions.

You will be given formal feedback on your oral presentation.

You will be given feedback on your research paper abstract as part of the approval process by the lecturer referred to below.
You will also be given written feedback on your research assignment.

Assessment name: Oral Presentation
Description: The oral presentation may be on any topic, relevant to the issue of privacy. It may be the same topic as your research paper, although you may choose different topics for each piece of assessment. Your presentation will be made to the class and you may be required to answer questions afterwards.
Relates to objectives: 1-4
Weight: 20%
Internal or external: Internal
Group or individual: Individual
Due date: In Class

Assessment name: Research Paper
Description: The research paper will require you to research and write a research paper on an aspect of the unit content.
You are required to submit a research abstract (200 words by the end of week 7 of the semester) to indicate the topic of the research paper, the relative importance of the topic to the issue of privacy and the methodology to be adopted in the analysis. The topic must be approved by consultation with the unit coordinator. It is expected that the research paper will implement the research abstract approved by the unit coordinator.
You will be assessed on your demonstrated familiarity with relevant literature and its critical review together with synthesis of this material into a coherent argument/discussion and the level of critical ability revealed by the analysis.

Word limit: 8000 words
Relates to objectives: 1-6
Weight: 80%
Internal or external: Internal
Group or individual: Individual
Due date: End of wk 13

Assessment name: External exercise
Description: The external exercise will consist of a written answer to a problem-solving exercise.
Word limit: 2000 words
Relates to objectives: 1-4
Weight: 20%
Internal or external: External
Group or individual: Individual
Due date: End of wk 8

Academic Honesty

QUT is committed to maintaining high academic standards to protect the value of its qualifications. To assist you in assuring the academic integrity of your assessment you are encouraged to make use of the support materials and services available to help you consider and check your assessment items. Important information about the university's approach to academic integrity of assessment is on your unit Blackboard site.

A breach of academic integrity is regarded as Student Misconduct and can lead to the imposition of penalties.

Resource materials

There is no textbook on Australian or comparative privacy law, although there is a growing literature on international privacy law and on the law in a number of particular jurisdictions. These include Canada, the United States of America, the United Kingdom, the European Union, Australian and New Zealand Where relevant, detailed references of the material to be considered are set out in the Study Guide.
¿Privacy Law in Australia¿ (Carolyn Doyle & Mirko Bagaric) Federation Press 2005 will be used during the tutorials although it is not a prescribed text for the purposes of the subject.
In addition, students are referred generally to the Federal Privacy Handbook - a looseleaf service prepared by the Office of the Federal Privacy Commissioner and published by CCH, as well as the Private Sector Privacy Handbook, another looseleaf service published by CCH and edited by Mr Tim Dixon.
Relevant internet sites are those maintained by the Office of the Federal Privacy Commissioner (www. privacy.gov.au) and the Australian Privacy Foundation (www.privacy.org.au).

Risk assessment statement

There are no out of the ordinary risks associated with this unit.

Disclaimer - Offer of some units is subject to viability, and information in these Unit Outlines is subject to change prior to commencement of semester.

Last modified: 29-Aug-2012