THE Government is looking to develop a way to protect individuals' personal data that can 'best address' three issues.
These are privacy concerns, commercial requirements and national interest.
An inter-ministry committee is already reviewing the issue, said Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts Lee Boon Yang.
'As data protection is a complex issue, with extensive impact on all stakeholders, this review will take some time,' he said.
He said this in a written reply to a question posed by Ms Lee Bee Wah of Ang Mo Kio GRC in Parliament on Monday.
She had asked if his ministry will consider a comprehensive privacy law, and wanted to know what laws there are to protect people from spam mail and the unauthorised sale of personal information.
Also, what about those whose photographs have been posted on blogs and other new media platforms without their authorisation, she had asked.
This would be considered a 'civil matter', said Dr Lee.
'The aggrieved persons could first ask the site's webmaster to remove the pictures,' he said.
'As with matters relating to online libel and personal defamation, they could also seek professional legal advice to determine the most appropriate legal recourse.'
As for the protection of personal data, the minister said that although no generic data protection law exists, such data is still protected.
He listed the various measures that are already in place.
For instance, there are 'strict provisions' in sectoral laws such as the Banking Act, and codes for medical professionals to protect sensitive financial and health information, he said.
There are also other industry codes of practices against the unauthorised use of personal information, he added.
For example. the Telecom Competition Code requires licensees to take 'reasonable measures' to prevent the unauthorised use of consumers' information.
In addition, there is a voluntary privacy code, which has been adopted by many companies in the private sector, said Dr Lee.
Called the Model Data Protection Code, it offers guidelines on how user information should be collected and shared electronically by companies.
'The Government also takes data protection within the public sector seriously,' he said.
It structured its policy after the code, and this has been incorporated in the government instruction manuals, he added.
xueying@sph.com.sg
This story was first published in The Straits Times on 21 January 2009.
