Privacy Act Against My School

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AidanS

458 posts

Ultimate Geek

#168587 19-Mar-2015 11:50

Hi,

I am just wondering if I am able to make a privacy act request against my high school? I know that they store information and teachers make notes on students in the IT system that other teachers can then view.

I would presume that the Privacy Act would apply to schools as well?

Has anyone done this before, how would I go about doing it, is there someone in particular I should contact within the school?

Thanks in advance for any help!
-Aidan.

johnr

19282 posts

Uber Geek
Inactive user

#1262298 19-Mar-2015 12:06

You should just be able to ask for it from the school no issue, Not privacy related as it's your information

itxtme

2102 posts

Uber Geek

#1262314 19-Mar-2015 12:11

John is incorrect, it is relevant to the privacy act. You can obtain any private information held by an organisation. The privacy commissioner has a great website about it, and your rights https://privacy.org.nz/the-privacy-act-and-codes/privacy-principles/access/

EDIT: As a side note I have seen occurrences of individuals asking for emails around their names etc. and ending up with thousands of emails talking about them!

johnr

19282 posts

Uber Geek
Inactive user

#1262331 19-Mar-2015 12:25

@itxtme I don't think I am incorrect about this case, The OP should be able to approach the school and make a request for the information held on record, Might have to be a written request but it should not be that difficult

scuwp

3885 posts

Uber Geek

#1262332 19-Mar-2015 12:25

itxtme: John is incorrect, it is relevant to the privacy act. You can obtain any private information held by an organisation. The privacy commissioner has a great website about it, and your rights https://privacy.org.nz/the-privacy-act-and-codes/privacy-principles/access/

EDIT: As a side note I have seen occurrences of individuals asking for emails around their names etc. and ending up with thousands of emails talking about them!

"You can obtain any private information about yourself held by an organisation"

there are also grounds for certain information to be withheld.

Lazy is such an ugly word, I prefer to call it selective participation

jaymz

1133 posts

Uber Geek

#1262334 19-Mar-2015 12:26

I agree with johnr that you should ask the school for the information, my guess is if it is not going to impact your education then they will simply hand it over.

The link that was given by itxtme has some good information in it, one part that stood out was regarding the age of the person trying to get information, if you are under 16 then they could refuse the request.

I am curious as to what type of information you are attempting to get hold of:

AidanS: I am just wondering if I am able to make a privacy act request against my high school? I know that they store information and teachers make notes on students in the IT system that other teachers can then view.

Any information that is stored would have been provided by you or your parents at the time of enrollment.

Teacher only shares are setup so teachers can share information about classes and other documents about classroom learning plans that students have no need to view.

loceff13

1065 posts

Uber Geek

#1262362 19-Mar-2015 12:49

Fair Go has a draft letter for requesting information somewhere on their website

sidefx

3711 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#1262367 19-Mar-2015 12:55

Is there an age limit on these requests? Just curious really - I sort of wouldn't think it would be reasonable for example for my 6 year old daughter to be able to request this sort of thing...?

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itxtme

2102 posts

Uber Geek

#1262422 19-Mar-2015 14:00

Not sure what some of you thought I was saying. My entire point was that information store by an organisation must be in line with the privacy act. Any person that wants to request information has a right (bar the exceptions within the act) for that information. Asking the school for that information is you invoking your rights under this act.

John I agree that he should just be able to request, my point was the privacy act is at play here.