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Privacy Bill promises protection

By Siyabonga Africa, ITWeb junior journalist
Johannesburg, 08 Oct 2008

The Protection of Personal Information Bill is expected to compel social networking Web sites, such as Facebook, to allow their members to keep their personal information private.

Members of social networking Web sites will also be given the right to stop those Web sites from selling their information.

“When the Protection of Personal Information Bill is passed, companies will be prohibited from giving a customer's information to any other person, or entity, without such customer's consent,” says Department of Trade and Industry spokesman Vukani Mde.

Mde adds that even in the case of Web sites such as Facebook, the consumer must have consented through an e-form prior to personal information being disclosed to other persons.

The SA Law Reform Commission is still drafting the Bill, also known as the Data Privacy Bill. A number of other state departments have made contributions to the drafting of the Bill, including the Department of Trade and Industry and Justice and Constitutional Development.

Crime and punishment

Once law, the legislation will help protect people from criminals by holding companies and individuals, who fail to take adequate steps to protect people's private information, legally liable.

In terms of the proposed law, companies, for example, will be required to notify all customers affected by security breaches that could result in identity theft. Offenders could face up to 10 years in prison, as well as fines and punitive damages.

However, the Bill's progress has been slow - it still does not feature on this year's parliamentary programme and is said to be on the agenda for early 2009. Webber Wentzel Bowens partner Dario Milo says the situation is “not desirable”.

“We are entitled to know what is going on and where the legislative process is at,” he says. Milo notes that a discussion paper and draft Bill were published in 2005 and nothing further has been heard since.

International enforcement

World Wide Worx director Arthur Goldstuck says it will be difficult for the government to force overseas Web sites to prescribe to the rules of the new legislation.

“Other countries compromise by asking the Web sites to warn people their information can be sold and also to provide an 'opt out' option if they decide against joining the social network.”

Goldstuck goes on to say that if the Web site has offices in SA, then the government would be able to apply the new law to it.

He explains that companies operating in the country with a physical presence fall under the jurisdiction of the state.

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