IIM-Africa Chair, DKIPPI Warn Against Data Privacy Abuse

Dr Oyedokun Oyewole, president and chairman Governing Council of the Institute of Information Management (IIM) Africa, and Tokunbo Smith, chairman Data & Knowledge Information Privacy Protection Initiative (DKIPPI), have cautioned individuals, corporate and government organisations on the inherent dangers for neglecting data privacy abuses.

Joined by other experts drawn from the legal, health, religious, educational and information management and other disciplines, in commemoration of this year’s Data Privacy Day (DPD), unanimously agree on the need for speedy passage of the Information Privacy Act lying at the floor of the national assembly for close to a decade.

The Data Privacy Day is recognized internationally as a way to raise awareness of, and discuss solutions for, the growing problem of data privacy vulnerabilities. But if you ask me, I would suggest every day should be Data Privacy Day.

Delivering a keynote address at the occasion held in Lagos, Oyewole said that it is essential for business leaders and other stakeholders to understand the full risk potential of data privacy threats and how to address these issues.

He recalled that in response to the increasing levels of data breaches and the global importance of privacy and data security, in 2010 the Online Trust Alliance (OTA) and dozens of global organizations embraced Data Privacy Day as Data Privacy & Protection Day, emphasizing the need to look at the long-term impact to consumers’ data collection, use and protection practices.

The IIM-Africa’s Chairman said, “The art of technological advancement is embraced by all nations including developing countries. Today, the world has become a global village where people share information at the same time but in different parts of the world over the internet. Unfortunately, a developing country like Nigeria venture into such technology without understanding the implications and the legal frameworks under which those technologies function, considering the fast pace at which technology keeps evolving while the legal pace remains predominantly slow.

“In recent years, the number of African countries which have enacted privacy frameworks or are planning data protection laws has vastly increased. Currently, 14 African countries have privacy framework laws and some sort of data protection authorities in place”.

Meanwhile, seven African countries have data protection bills in place: Nigeria, Kenya, Madagascar, Mali, Niger, Tanzania, and Uganda.

“Nigeria has two Data Protection related bills (one dated 2008 and the other 2010) yet, neither has been passed into law”, he lamented.

Speaking specifically with regards to ‘Issues, Challenges and Opportunities’ in data privacy, the keynote speaker said, “Businesses and their customers’ alike collect, store and transmit vast amounts of information electronically, and they want to believe that this information is secure. At the customer level, the concern for data privacy should stimulate laws and regulations aimed at addressing those issues including what information can be collected and maintained, how the information should be stored, how and where information can be transmitted, and required actions in the event of a security breach.

“As reports of identity theft, inadvertent release of customer and proprietary business information, and successful attempts by hackers to penetrate systems and steal information, continue to command headlines in the media”.

He said that more than ever, intangible assets such as customers, systems and information form the foundation on which corporate value is built.

He added that “Protecting sensitive information is, in fact, one objective that governments and businesses share. Given the risks and related requirements, ensuring the privacy of customer information and protecting critical corporate data should be “top-of-mind” issues for management teams. Organisations should develop and implement privacy and data protection programs, these programs should include understanding the risk landscape (legal, regulatory, etc.) related to information collection and transmittal, organizational policies, sufficient training, and verified third-party providers, among many others”.

Earlier, Mr. Tokunbo Smith, chairman, DKIPPI’s Board of Trustees, said that every member of the society ought to embrace data privacy pledge, which is to, “respect other people’s privacy. Safeguard data within my custody; use data for authorized purposes only; be transparent about collection and use of data; not to share data without consent from owner; not to share my personal sensitive data and not to destroy data integrity”.

According to him, when fully embraced by the members of the society, the aforementioned will go a long way in curbing impunity, and bring sanity even to the cyberspace.