The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) has joined other international jurisdictions to warn video teleconferencing companies (VTC) that their privacy safeguards have not kept pace with the expansion of their services during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In a statement, the OAIC said an open letter, signed by data protection and privacy authorities from Canada, Gibraltar, Hong Kong, China, Switzerland and the United Kingdom, including itself, provided the VTC companies with guiding principles to address their key privacy risks.
The Office said the risks included Security measures; Privacy programs; Knowing their audiences; Transparency; and End-user control.
It said the group of signatories invited five of the biggest VTC companies to reply to their letter with Microsoft, Google, Cisco and Zoom responding by setting out how they took the principles into account in the design and development of their VTC services.
OAIC said the fifth company – Houseparty – did not reply, possibly because it announced in September that for business reasons it had decided it would cease offering its VTC service.
The Office said the activity was an example of constructive engagement between the privacy regulatory community and the organisations the various jurisdictions regulated.
“It has allowed the joint signatories to engage, in a coordinated manner and with a uniform voice, with some of the largest and fastest-growing technology companies, whose services are used worldwide,” it said.
“It has also given those companies the opportunity to explain their approach to data protection and privacy through direct and practical interaction with a subset of the global privacy regulatory community, representing citizens from jurisdictions across four continents.”
OAIC said the dialogue had proven effective, efficient and mutually beneficial.
