Innovation

Bringing PoPI to life

It’s been a long journey to get the office of the Information Regulator up and running, and it’s still not there yet.

11 June 2019

Following the high-profile hack of Liberty Holdings in June 2018, there has been at least one major breach every month involving large enterprises in South Africa. The reason we don’t know anything about them is that they haven’t been reported, or at least not in the press. Other than the company itself, and its lawyers, there’s at least one other person who is getting told about them, and that’s Pansy Tlakula, South Africa’s Information Regulator.

Mention our Protection of Personal Information Act (PoPI) to anyone, and you’re likely to be met with a variety of responses ranging from confidence to incomprehension, to concern, and in some cases, unease. It’s a vexed subject, and while the rules are pretty clear, it’s not yet known how Tlakula is going to respond to organisations in breach. But it’s clear that with matters related to personal information, there are going to be some changes in the way institutions handle this data. And if you’re found wanting, you’ll need to show, at the very least, you’ve thought about the consequences.

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