The Assistant Privacy Commissioner says the Commerce Commission appears to have been let down by an external provider.

Computer equipment belonging to the provider was stolen in a burglary.

It contained more than 200 transcripts of Commission meetings and interviews on laptops that weren't password protected.

Jon Duffy told Mike Hosking it's concerning how the data was lost and agencies need to be able to trust contractors.

He says they have been let down by a contractor with poor practices.

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