Tag: European Union General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR)

The privacy and protection of personal information has been front of mind for many organisations since the enactment of the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA) in 2013 and its subsequent commencement in July 2020.

Businesses that have taken steps to comply with the General Data Protection Regulation passed by the EU will also have to be compliant with South Africa’s Protection of Personal Information Act by July 2021. Compliance with one, does not ensure compliance with the other.

Many companies that experienced delivery delays due to disrupted supply chains, have now received their IT equipment upgrades for 2020. This means there is an abundance of redundant electronics ready for disposal. Scrapping storeroom bound computers without proper consideration for data protection processes and regulations, or the proper elimination of data, could be disastrous for any company.

Mobile-internet developments have made smart devices the most popular way to go online. These devices store a wealth of user data with an increasing number of apps installed from uncontrolled sources, but also raise security risks.

With the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA) planned to commence imminently, the way direct marketing is carried out and received by South African consumers is set to shift.

Businesses have never before been so accountable for the use, storing and handling of data. As highlighted by the Cambridge Analytica data misuse scandal, there is in intense focus currently on data privacy, data security and the responsibility of protecting one’s digital identity.

The millions of Facebook profiles analysed by Cambridge Analytica constitute one of the biggest breaches of personal information to date. The data was collected through an application accessed by Facebook users in terms of which these users agreed to have their data collected for academic use. What was also collected by the application was information from the Facebook users’ friends.

The EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) officially came into force on 25 May, followed by its local cousin, POPIA in the second or third quarter of the year. You may be feeling this already – who hasn’t received a flood of Privacy Policy and Data Protection Policy updates from around the world. Both GDPR and POPIA are set to dramatically change the way South African organisations do business – especially how personal data is handled and stored.

The ZA Central Registry (ZACR) NPC is aware that the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) will come into effect on 25 May 2018. In addition, there are talks that South Africa’s own Protection of Personal Information (POPI) Act 26 of 2013 may come into effect during the course of 2018.