In September 2005, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner surveyed websites maintained by New Zealand’s largest employers. The survey was a relatively simple counting exercise and no attempt was made to review the content for compliance with the New Zealand Privacy Act 1993. We found that just over half displayed a privacy notice.
Purpose
We reviewed a sample of 100 public and private websites with these aims:
1. Count how many websites had a link from the home page to a privacy notice.
2. Count how many websites had contact facilities, provided online services, or accepted job
applications online.
3. Identify if there are differences between public and private sectors.
Methodology
Selection of websites
We visited 50 public and 50 private sector websites chosen from the largest employers listed in the online Kompass database supplemented with public sector agencies from www.govt.nz. A wide cross section of websites included food, sales, transport, central and local government, health, and public sector companies. A complete list of sites visited is in Appendix A.
Website visits
Visits to each website gathered information about
- The presence of a privacy notice.
- The web page the notice linked from.
- The name of the link to the privacy notice.
- Online e-mail links and contact forms.
- Online services.
- Online job application.