The Freedom of Information Act 1992 (WA) (FOI Act) and Privacy and Responsible Information Sharing Act 2024 (WA) (PRIS Act) include the same definition of ‘personal information’. It is defined as:
“information or an opinion, whether true or not, and whether recorded in a material form or not, that relates to an individual, whether living or dead, whose identity is apparent or can reasonably be ascertained from the information or opinion.”
The definition is intended to have a broad scope. It captures information that may not be factually correct, opinions about individuals and information about deceased individuals. Importantly, personal information can also include information inferred or generated by analysing or using other information about you.
Whether information is personal information will depend on the context in which it appears. Context will help determine the extent of the connection between the information and an individual. If there is no connection, or the connection is too tenuous, information cannot be said to ‘relate’ to an individual.
Context is also important when assessing whether an individual is identified or identifiable. Where an individual is not identified from the information itself, the context (including what other information is available) must be considered to determine whether the individual’s identity can be reasonably ascertained.
Examples of personal information include:
- name
- date of birth
- address
- contact details
- photographs, video recordings or voice recordings
- location information
- unique identifiers (such as a driver’s licence number or IP address)
- information relating to an individual’s physical, genetic, cultural or behavioural identity (such as medical information, ethnicity or behavioural patterns)
- inferences about an individual, including predictions in relation to an individual’s behaviour or preferences and profiles generated from aggregated information.
These examples are not exhaustive.
The PRIS Act recognises a number of subcategories of personal information, including sensitive personal information. For more information please see What is sensitive personal information?
The full definition of personal information is in:
- the Glossary of the FOI Act.
- section 4 of the PRIS Act.
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