Privacy

The Malaysian Response:
    The Malaysian Constitution does not guarantee citizens the right of privacy.  Like the US constitution, it guarantees the student the right of freedom of speech and expression; however, the Malaysian Parliament can pass laws to restrict these freedoms.  It appears that the student would currently face no penalty under Malaysian laws, but will soon change.

    Malaysia has a bill known as the Personal Data Protection Bill.  The final draft of this new law was expected in March of 2002.  The bill will provide living citizens with, among other things, the right to be informed if their personal data is being held, to correct the data held, to prevent the use or the disclosure of his or her personal data without consent, and “to prevent the collection, holding, processing, or use of any personal data which is likely to cause damage or distress, and the right to claim compensation for such damage or distress” (http://www.shrmglobal.org/publications/baker/0901glob/malay.htm).  The family obviously suffered much distress due to the student’s posting of the family’s personal data.  In addition, the bill also specifies that a person’s data cannot be transferred outside of Malaysia unless given permission by the Minister by order published in the country’s Gazette or by the individual.  (http://www.shrmglobal.org/publications/baker/0901glob/malay.htm).  So the student would also be breaking the law in yet another way by the posting the family’s personal data on the Internet, making the data available the entire world.

    The student is not exempt from this bill.  The student would fall under the term “data user” used by the bill since it is defined as “any person/organization who collects, holds, processes, or uses (automated or otherwise) any personal data” which would not exclude an individual.  The bill also limits the student to collecting the data on the family “fairly and lawfully” and only for a “lawful purpose”. 

    Lastly, the information that the student posted about the family is personal data about the family.  If the student posts any information about the family that makes them identifiable, then that information is personal data.  For instance, the information could be a name, address, phone number, or e-mail address.  According to the scenario, “the family said the message generated a half-dozen subsequent threatening phone calls to the girl's mother”.  The student must have posted information that identified the family for them to have received those calls.