Govt sets up Data Processing Commission to protect personal records
A Data Processing Commission (DPC) has been set up by the Ministry of Communications as an independent body to regulate and protect individual privacy and personal data.
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The establishment of the commission is in fulfilment of the provisions of the Data Processing Act (DPA), 2012 (Act 843) which was passed by Parliament in 2012.
The law provides for a commission to regulate the processing of personal information.
The commission is currently setting up its operations and it will be officially launched on November 18, 2014.
Data rights
At a press briefing in Accra Thursday, a Deputy Minister of Communications, Mr Ato Sarpong, said given the nature and how people shared and processed personal data, it was imperative that provision was made for strong data rights for all in order to protect people against abuse by those who violated their privacy.
He said in introducing the DPA, the ministry was guided by the need to ensure fairness, legality of data captured and maintained, purpose for keeping someone’s data, accountability for them and individual rights and protocols for capturing and assessing someone’s data.
Statistics
Statistics available to the Ministry of Communications indicate that there are six mobile phone companies in the country, 29 million mobile phones in use and 13 million Internet users.
Globally, there are 4.5 billion mobile phone users, with more than two billion users of smart devices and 2.9 billion Internet users who send more than seven billion e-mails a day.
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Additionally, there are about 3.5 billion Google searches, 2.1 billion Facebook interactions, as well as 500 million tweets a day.
Mr Sarpong said data were an essential asset that needed protection, adding that data in the wrong hands might be used to harm, destroy and obstruct peace.
He said privacy fortified the human dignity and guaranteed other key rights such as freedom of association and speech, adding, “This is one of the important human rights enshrined under Article 18 (2) of the 1992 Constitution.”