Data research on child abuse and neglect without informed consent? Balancing interests under Dutch law.

According to the Declaration of Helsinki, participation of human subjects in medical research is only acceptable if subjects have given their consent. But in child abuse and neglect, many studies use a design in which subjects do not actively participate. Data in these studies are gathered from sources such as medical records or Child Protective Services. As long as such data are used anonymously, this does not interfere with individual privacy rights. However, some research is only possible when carried out with personally identifiable data, which could potentially be misused. In this paper, we discuss in which situations and under which conditions personal data of children may be used for a study without obtaining consent. In doing so, we make use of two recent studies, performed in our hospital, in which we encountered this issue. Both studies involved collecting personal data. After careful consideration, we decided not to ask informed consent; instead, we arranged for specific safeguards to protect the subject's and their parents' privacy as well as possible. CONCLUSION: Altogether, we conclude that our approach fits within the Dutch legal framework and seems a reasonable solution in situations in which individual privacy rights are at odds with the public interest of child abuse and neglect research. We argue that, although, in principle, data research is only acceptable after informed consent is obtained, the law should allow that, under specific circumstances and safeguards, this requirement is put aside to make research in the field of child abuse and neglect possible. WHAT IS KNOWN: • In principle, data research is only acceptable after informed consent is obtained.• In practice, this is not always feasible. WHAT IS NEW: • Under specific circumstances and safeguards, the informed consent requirement can be put aside.

Recent Amendments to the Australian Privacy Act.

The recently passed Privacy Legislation Amendment (Enforcement and Other Measures) Act 2022 (Cth) introduced important changes to the Australian Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) which increase penalties for serious and repeated interferences with privacy and strengthen the investigative and enforcement powers of the Information Commissioner. The amendments were made subsequent to a number of high profile data breaches and represent the first set of changes to the Privacy Act following the review of the Act commenced by the Attorney-General in October 2020. The submissions made to the review emphasized the need for more effective enforcement mechanisms to increase individuals' control over their personal information and as a form of deterrence. This article reviews the recent amendments to the Privacy Act and explains their effect. It comments upon the relevance of the amendments for health and medical data and other data collected in the context of healthcare, and refers to the Attorney-General's Department's review of the Privacy Act regarding other proposals relating to enforcement which have not as yet been put into effect in legislation.

Career opportunity of whistle-blower in the workplace: the role of privacy legislation and supervisor support.

Purpose: This study aims to explain the interaction of perceived privacy legislation on the relationship between affective commitment and whistle-blowing. Additionally, it seeks to determine the consequences of whistle-blowing on employee careers moderated by perceived supervisor support in government organizations. Design/methodology/approach: A Moderated Regression Analysis was used to analyze survey data from 411 local government employees in West Java, Indonesia. Findings: The result found a positive relationship between affective commitment and whistle-blowing. Perceived privacy legislation also had a significant moderating effect on the correlation between the two variables. Furthermore, whistle-blowing found a positive relationship with career opportunities, moderated by perceived supervisor support. Originality/value: The finding may contribute to the extension of scientific literature by making privacy legislation a moderator with the potential to increase employee affective commitment to whistle-blowing behavior. It determines the relationship between whistle-blowing on employee careers opportunity moderated by perceived supervisor support. In contrast, previous studies only focused on factors influencing whistle-blowing behavior.