Privacy and the pandemic: An African response
Publications
21 June 2020
COVID-19 has led to a surge of efforts by both state and private actors to manage the pandemic itself, and the consequences of it, with the aid of technology. Yet privacy has immediately been cast as a required trade-off in the efforts to combat the disease. Key examples of this are being seen in the introduction of contact tracing and related surveillance interventions, worldwide. These technologies are…
Data protection in Africa and the COVID-19 pandemic: Old problems, new challenges and multistakeholder solutions
Publications
15 June 2020
Data protection in Africa can still be described to be in its nascent stage. Most African states do not have a data protection law. Countries on the continent are divided along the lines of countries with a data protection law, countries with fragmented frameworks, and countries without any semblance of a law. Out of the 55 states on the continent, only 28 countries have a data protection law, of which 15 have…
Can the social contract theory justify data rights violations? A review of South Africa’s contact tracing regulations
Publications
13 June 2020
We are slowly becoming aware of the proliferation of our data by different companies and entities across different sectors due to a data “spillage” as we access the digital conveniences and necessities of the world that we live in today.
These companies and entities range from advertising, insurance, banking, and even government sectors. Companies and entities that have a significant influence on our…
The “forgotten constituency”: Making a case for digital rights for prisoners in Zimbabwe during and beyond COVID-19
Publications
13 June 2020
The evolution of digital communications technology has changed our societies, many of our institutions and the way we live in profound ways. Internet access is now viewed as a basic requirement for many in society. Information on health, education, science, sports, etc. is now easily accessible on the internet. In some developed countries, public administration and bureaucratic communication have gone paperless.…
Digital divisions: COVID-19 policy and practice and the digital divide in Africa
Publications
12 June 2020
The sudden and dramatic advent of the COVID-19 global pandemic caught the world by surprise and left many floundering for responses, none more so than those in the information and communications technology (ICT) sector: the policy makers, regulators and internet and other ICT service providers. It was a few short weeks from the first reports of a strange new respiratory illness in faraway Wuhan (December 2019),…
Data protection in the age of technology-based disease surveillance
Publications
11 June 2020
Principle 8 of the African Declaration on Internet Rights and Freedoms provides for the right to online privacy, including the protection of every person’s personal data. Such a right and such protection have become necessary because of the uses of personal data and data in general. It used to be that a person’s personal space was limited. However, emerging technologies have allowed for entities to make use of…