Truth about protection of personal information in South Africa

While the name may suggest differently, Popia only regulates the processing of private information and not the collection of it. - mybroadband.co.za

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Despite its name, the Protection of Personal Information Act (Popia) does not prohibit data collection but regulates how it can be processed once obtained. This is according to the managing director and data and tech attorney at Michalsons Attorneys, John Giles. "One of the things that people are often surprised to hear about Papia is that it doesn't prevent organizations from collecting and processing personal information," Giles told Cape Talk.

"It simply sets out about eight conditions for the lawful processing of that personal information. And so often, they are lawfully gathering and processing that information." "Popia shouldn't be the protection of personal information.



It should be the processing of personal information. The idea is to set the conditions or the rules for when it can be lawfully processed," he continued. South Africa's Information Regulator, formed to ensure Popia compliance, lays out eight conditions for processing personal information that companies must adhere to.

These include accountability, processing limitation, purpose-specific, further processing limitation, information quality, openness, security safeguards, and data subject participation. Giles' comments follow a Pam Golding data breach that resulted in numerous people receiving notifications from the real estate company despite never..

. Daniel Puchert.