TM - warrantless requests for personal information

[digidog]

This is the first time I've seen figures on official requests for personal information made to TradeMe by Police and other government bodies.

A range of agencies have been citing Principle 11 of the Privacy Act to get people's personal details.

Of New Zealand companies, Trade Me is unusual in its public declaration of Principle 11 clause requests it receives. Police made warrantless requests for information on 1663 occasions in the year ending June 2014, while other government agencies made 641 requests. Jon Duffy, Trade Me's head of trust and safety, said it wanted more done to encourage government agencies to make responsible requests.

Police assistant commissioner Malcolm Burgess said: "While the Privacy Act can be used to access low level information, such as basic account details, higher level data must be obtained through a production order."

Well done TradeMe for releasing these numbers.