In brief
- Attorney-General Michelle Rowland will announce a raft of new protections for Australians online on Monday.
- The new protections will overhaul Australia's privacy laws related to social media, AI and smart glasses.
Australians could soon force social media companies to destroy their personal information under an overhaul of privacy laws.
Attorney-General Michelle Rowland will on Monday unveil plans for extra protections for people online, including the right to erasure.
The policy would mean social media users can request tech companies delete their personal information published online or held by the platforms.
The draft laws will not apply to media organisations publishing news articles.
Rowland said the privacy laws were needed to keep up with technology changes.
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"The right to erasure will help put more control in the hands of Australians, allowing personal information to be destroyed from large digital platforms," she said.
"We must ensure appropriate safeguards are placed around technology and stop the erosion of our privacy protections."
The privacy reforms are also expected to contain measures to strengthen protections around AI and smart glasses.
Rowland had ordered the privacy commissioner in August to investigate whether extra regulations were needed for the glasses.
Concerns had been raised about their use to record people without their knowledge or consent following cheap versions hitting the market.
It comes as the federal government moves to roll out extra protections for identity documents online.
A service called IDLock will allow people to block or unblock the use of identity documents such as passports.
IDLock will be made available through the government's MyGov platform from 2027 after a small-scale trial in late 2026.
"Australians deserve to have control over how their personal identity information, such as their driver licence or passport, is used to verify their identity online," Rowland said.
"As data breaches, scams and cyber-enabled crime continue to evolve, Australia's approach must evolve with them."
IDLock was developed as a way for people to access the security of the Credential Protection Register.
The register was set up by the federal government in 2022 to stop ID documents being used in identity fraud.
The tool has blocked more than 830,000 identity fraud attempts.
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