POLOKWANE – The Protection of Personal Information Act (POPI) 4 of 2013 is here to protect the personal information you share with external parties. This law is set in place to ensure that all responsible parties who has your information handle it in a secure and discreet manner that won’t violate your privacy or safety.
Examples of personal information:
– Identity or passport number
– Date of birth and age
– Contact numbers
– E-mail addresses
– Online or instant messaging identifiers
– Physical address
– Gender, race and ethnic origin
– Photos, video footage – this includes CCTV footage, voice recordings and biometric data
– Marital relationship status and family relations
– Criminal record
– Private correspondence
– Religious or philosophical beliefs – this includes personal and political opinions
– Employment history and salary
– Financial information
– Education information
– Physical and mental health information – this includes medical history and blood type
– Memberships to organisations or unions.
Aside from your personal information, you have special personal information that can only be shared in limited cases: If you give consent, when it is requested by the law, if it is for historical, statistical or research purposes, or if the information has deliberately made public by yourself. Examples of special personal information are religious or philosophical beliefs, ethnic origin, trade union membership, political persuasion, criminal and disciplinary proceedings that you may be involved in, your health or sex life and/or biometric information.
As always, special rules apply when kids are involved. The information of a minor cannot be shared without the consent of their guardian(s). There are, in addition to this, exemptions that allows the processing of personal information without asking POPI for permission first. You can rest assured that this is only when public interest outweighs your rights of privacy and/or if it is clearly beneficial to you. A scenario where this might be applicable to you is when the collection and processing of your personal data is used to protect you against financial loss due to fraud in the banking of financial services industry and property sector.
Make sure to read our next story about POPI, where we explain what agents are and how operators work.
If you’d like to know more and get the easiest solution for your business to comply with POPI, fill in the form below:
First Technology POPI Act
Leave your details here:
