Privacy breaches double, but Commissioner worried many unreported

The number of privacy breaches reported nationally has more than doubled, after a law change that made it mandatory for organisations to notify the Privacy Commissioner. Since December last year, if a privacy breach causes, or has the potential to cause, serious harm -- it must be reported. A quarter of the breaches were email mistakes, and about a fifth each were due to the unauthorised access, or sharing, of personal information. Meriana Johnsen speaks to the Privacy Commissioner John Edwards who says more than half of the breaches involved emotional harm.