NZ Information Security Forum - November 2025

Seminar topic:  The Limitations of Data Privacy Laws: Global and New Zealand Developments

This presentation examines recent global trends in data privacy regulation against the challenges posed by artificial intelligence (AI) including generative AI. The regulation of automated processing of personal information, by AI, is problematic. For example, transparency as to its nature and the right not to be subjected to it are very different concepts. Algorithm-generated information or inferred personal information pose difficulties for access and correction rights, when evaluative data, as opposed to facts are concerned. Aggregated and anonymised information is also problematic and allows circumvention of data privacy laws.  The presentation will also briefly examine the regulation of biometrics in New Zealand, which will be seen to extend well beyond biometric identification.

Presenter: Gehan Gunasekara

Gehan Gunasekara is an Associate Professor in commercial law at the University of Auckland Business School. He has published internationally on data privacy and is a regular commentator in New Zealand news media. Gehan was a member of the academic reference committee for the Review of Privacy by the New Zealand Law Commission completed in 2011, advising it on reforming the Privacy Act. He helped establish and was, from 2019 until 2022, Chair of Privacy Foundation New Zealand Inc., a not-for-profit organisation that advocates for protection of the privacy rights of New Zealanders by providing independent, expert, and fair public comment on privacy. His current research is into the concept of group or collective, as opposed to individual, privacy rights.