As we go about our daily lives, we leave digital fingerprints everywhere we go. Businesses can leverage from these digital fingerprints, and it can help them learn more about their current and future clientele, how to meet their needs and create new revenue streams.
With saying this, comes the abuse of personally identifiable information by impostors and online hackers, which brings concern of who has your personal information, and what is being done with it, and most importantly how is the information being protected.
Due to this abuse privacy legislation has become stricter and more obvious that your business needs to be up to date and comply with these laws to ensure that personal information is used responsibly. This is why it’s vital that you understand what is expected of your business when it comes to POPIA.
What is the new POPIA ACT (Protection of Personal Information ACT) in South-Africa – See this as a bodyguard for personal data! It guarantees that companies, websites, and organisations handle personal information with care and safeguard it from misuse or hackers. It puts the data subject in control of who gets to “peek” at their data, requiring you to ask nicely (and legally) before using it. If we mishap occurs and a breach materializes, your organisation can get into trouble and the Information Regulator can issue an enforcement notice or even worse fine you and that can harm your business’s revenue stream and integrity, so think of POPIA as a privacy superhero for digital life.
Here are some of the most recent enforcement notices issued to various businesses of different sizes by the Information Regulator, and this showcases that they aren’t just regulating large businesses, but any company can be looked at.
https://inforegulator.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/DIS-CHEM-ENFORCEMENT-NOTICE.pdf
https://inforegulator.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/ENFORCEMENT-NOTICE-DOJCD-MATTER-090523.pdf
At A de Bruyn attorneys we can help you understand the intricacies of the ACT and help you navigate your business, to ensure you comply.