A Data Protection Officer, Emmanuel Gadasu, has advised that it is important individuals keep their data private.
Speaking on data protection and its importance as today marks Data Privacy Day, he averred that it is likely people would abuse information they have about individuals and as such one must be cautious.
“Data privacy is where individuals protect themselves to restrict the amount of information about them that others need to have access to. It is important since privacy is very key in our individual lives because the more people know about you, the more control they will have.”
Emmanuel Gadasu
According to Emmanuel Gadasu, data protection is necessary and as such security measures must be put in place so that at any point in time, one’s information is regulated, protected and well secured.
“Data protection is a whole process right from the data life cycle, processing, storage, archiving and destruction. For us in Ghana, in the year 2012, we came out with our own data protection law which is the data protection Act 2012, which simply seeks to protect Ghanaian citizens.”
Emmanuel Gadasu
According to Mr. Gadasu, the Act states the institutions that collect data, the manner in which they collect the data and how they put in place technical and managerial measures to ensure that the data that they collect is safe.
Data Protection Commission
Emmanuel Gadasu mentioned that the nation also has a Data Protection Commission to oversee the regulation of businesses, individuals, government institutions that process Ghanaian’s data. Furthermore, the Data Officer posited that there are so many ways institutions can get one’s data.
“For example, you are on social media, you put out your number. You go for functions and they tell you to enter your name.”
Emmanuel Gadasu
However, Mr. Gadasu stated that, if one has a suspicion that an institution has sold or not kept his data well, he can complain to the institution.
“If they are unable to give you a convincing answer then you can proceed to the Data Protection Commission and make a complain.”
Emmanuel Gadasu
According to Mr. Gadasu, anytime one makes a complaint, the Commission will come in to investigate and if they find the institution to be culpable, there are sanctions that will be passed.
Emmanuel Gadasu revealed that every institution that uses individual’s data must be registered under the Data Protection Commission and noted that the Commission can prosecute institutions who take data but are not registered under the Commission.
“Registration is not entirely free. There is a process where you pay some fees to the Commission. It is part of their mandate so any organization that refuses to register [can be prosecuted].”
Emmanuel Gadasu
Emmanuel Gadasu also revealed that individuals can have access to all the information they have given to the various telecommunication institutions.
“You can go to MTN and say I want all the records and information about me. It is your right to demand for that and it is their obligation to give it out.”
Emmanuel Gadasu
