Last week I was interviewed on Newsroom Africa on the Protection of Personal Information Act and its implications for consumers as Black Friday arrives.

Are retailers doing enough to protect their customer’s data?

A brief summary of the video:

• 📞 Consumers have legal rights against unsolicited telemarketing, and the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA) has strengthened consequences for organizations that break the rules.
• 🛡️ POPIA has brought more teeth to data privacy protection, with potential jail time for executives and significant fines for repeated abuse of personal data.
• 🤝 Balancing privacy and marketing is a challenge for businesses, but repeatedly contacting consumers after they have asked not to be called is a significant offence.
• ⚖️ Enforcing POPIA may require test cases and precedents to be set in court, similar to the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
• 🔒 Data integrity, data security, and data privacy are distinct but interconnected concepts.
• 🌍 Organizations have focused more on securing data from external attacks, but the risk of inappropriate internal access to data is a growing concern.
• 💻 Investments are being made in technologies that enable nuanced access to data, ensuring that only relevant individuals have appropriate levels of access.
• 📊 Managing data privacy and security remains a complex issue, and organizations are gradually increasing their focus and investment in this area.

Watch the interview below and share your thoughts.