If Australia had its own version of the US celebrities nude photo scandal, there's not much the victims could do about it.
That's the conclusion of a report by the Australian Law Reform Commission which says the UK, New Zealand, US and Canada have legal measures for dealing with serious privacy breaches but Australia doesn't.
The report concludes privacy is a fundamental value worthy of legal protection, and that invasions of privacy may occur more often and more easily in the digital era.
Mobile phones are potential surveillance devices, drones are becoming cheaper and more advanced, and personal information, once placed online, seems impossible to destroy or forget.
The release of this report coincides with a scandal in the US following the leaking of a large number of nude celebrity photos, hacked from apparently secure online accounts.
In the report, the ALRC examined creating a Commonwealth law allowing civil legal action for serious invasions of privacy.
Such breaches would occur through reckless or intentional intrusion into a person's seclusion or misuse of their private information in circumstances where a person had a reasonable expectation of privacy. Compensation could be awarded for actual harm or emotional distress.
Various legal defences would be available where privacy breaches were conducted by police or other authorities or where it involved publication of public documents or fair reporting of legal proceedings.
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