2014-09-18 protection of personal information act readiness workshop
DESCRIPTION
I presented at the 3rd Protection of Personal Information Act readiness workshop of 2014 on the topic of practical data protection practices. I focused on high level constraints and useful approaches to policy development and data processing strategies.TRANSCRIPT
2014-09-18
A practical approach to data protectionProtection of Personal Information Act Workshop
2014-07-24
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#POPIready
Key principles and themes
Lawful processing conditions
✤ Accountability!
✤ Purpose limitation!
✤ Purpose specification!
✤ Further processing limitation!
✤ Information quality!
✤ Openness!
✤ Security safeguards!
✤ Data subject participation
Conditions for lawful processing of personal information *
* Subject to exceptions
Consent and data collection
Privacy in a digital world is complicated
“The very practice of privacy is all about control in a world in which we fully know that we never have control. Our friends might betray us, our spaces might be surveilled, our expectations might be shattered. But this is why achieving privacy is desirable. People want to be *in* public, but
that doesn’t necessarily mean that they want to *be* public. There’s a huge difference between the two. As a result of the destabilization of
social spaces, what’s shocking is how frequently teens have shifted from trying to restrict access to content to trying to restrict access to meaning.
They get, at a gut level, that they can’t have control over who sees what’s said, but they hope to instead have control over how that
information is interpreted. And thus, we see our collective imagination of what’s private colliding smack into the notion of public. They are less
of a continuum and more of an entwined hairball, reshaping and influencing each other in significant ways.”
– danah boyd writing in her article “What is Privacy?”
01Consent, justification and objection
“… it seems to be a sensible approach to say that the scope of a person’s privacy extends a fortiori only to those aspects in regard to which a legitimate expectation of privacy can be
harboured.”
– Bernstein and Others v Bester NO and Others
Options
Consent
Legitimate interests
Contractual conclusion or performance
‘‘consent’’ means any voluntary, specific and informed expression of will in terms of which permission is given for
the processing of personal information
Example
Only where consent is required may a data subject withdraw permission
“Legitimate interests” is vague, undefined and, yet, a very interesting justification
“The processing is necessary for the purposes of legitimate interests pursued by the data controller or by the third party or parties to whom the data are disclosed, except where the
processing is unwarranted in any particular case by reason of prejudice to the rights and freedoms or legitimate interests of
the data subject.”
– Section 6, Schedule 2, UK Data Protection Act
Still, the “Lawful processing of personal information conditions” provide broad parameters and context for
“legitimate interests” arguments …
01
Special personal information
✤ Children’s personal information!
✤ Religious or philosophical beliefs*!
✤ Race or ethnic origin!
✤ Trade union membership*!
✤ Political persuasion!
✤ Health or sex life!
✤ Criminal behaviour or biometric information
Example
‘‘child’’ means a natural person under the age of 18 years who is not legally competent, without the assistance of a competent person, to take any action or decision in respect of any matter concerning him-
or herself;
How transparent are you?
Write clear privacy statements
Examples
Privacy statement essentials
✤ What personal information do you collect?!
✤ What do you do with that personal information?!
✤ When may the personal information be disclosed and to whom?!
✤ How long do you retain personal information, where do you retain it and what are your safeguards?!
✤ How may a data subject interrogate your databases?
Example
“A responsible party must take reasonably practicable steps to ensure that the personal information is complete, accurate,
not misleading and updated where necessary.”
– Section 16, the Protection of Personal Information Act
Do you facilitate meaningful access to personal information you hold?
Example
Data processing
“Personal information may only be processed if, given the purpose for which it is processed, it is adequate, relevant
and not excessive.”
– Section 10, the Protection of Personal Information Act
Purpose specification
“Personal information must be collected for a specific, explicitly defined and lawful purpose related to a function or activity of
the responsible party”
Be transparent about the purpose
Examples
Further processing must align with the original purpose*
* There are exceptions too
Data integrity and retention
“… records of personal information must not be retained any longer than is necessary for achieving the purpose for which the information was collected or subsequently processed …”
– Section 13, Protection of Personal Information Act
Don’t lose sight of the bigger data retention compliance picture
Electronic Communications and Transactions Act
Protection of Personal Information Act
Everything else
POPI places special emphasis on security safeguards
“A responsible party must secure the integrity and confidentiality of personal information in its possession or
under its control by taking appropriate, reasonable technical and organisational measures …”
– Section 19, Protection of Personal Information Act
Examples
“A responsible party must, in terms of a written contract between the responsible party and the operator, ensure that
the operator which processes personal information for the responsible party establishes and maintains the security
measures referred to in section 19 …”
– Section 21, Protection of Personal Information Act
Identifying key risk areas
How do you process personal information?
Helpful questions
Are you the responsible party or the operator?
Is your reputation at risk and what could go wrong?
Do you engage in direct marketing?
Do you process personal information on your responsible party customers’ behalf?
Be responsible, reduce reputational harm risk in the process
Transparent dealings with stakeholders
2014 Heartbleed Bug
OpenSSL exploit came to light
Providers proactively contacted users and recommended password changes
“The way to gain good reputation is to endeavor to be what you desire to appear”
– Socrates
Implementation
What are your people actually doing?
What should your people be doing?
What does your policy framework say you do?
01
Communicate effectively with your teams
01
Document your processes and monitor compliance
Thank you for your time.Please feel free to contact me if we can assist you or answer questions.
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Paul Jacobson 083 444 8260