Complains over privacy breaches hit record high

New rules surrounding personal data privacy amendments has seen a large increase in complaints on usage of personal information.Privacy commissioner for personal data Allan Chiang said yesterday that 1,792 complaints were received in 2013, a record high for the commissioners office.Some 38% of the 1,792 complaints received were about the use of personal data without the consent of users, but complaints related to social media and smartphone applications have also risen sharply.Chiang said the rise was due in part to businesses and consumers being unfamiliar with the recent legislation.But he called on top management to embrace privacy rules as part of their corporate governance responsibilities."They should implement holistic and encompassing privacy management programmes which ensure that robust privacy policies and procedures are in place and applied throughout the organisation."