[Benard Ondiek]

Are we protecting data so much that we are unintentionally preventing it from being used to solve societal problems?

Discussion

[Justice Sitsofe]

@Benard Ondiek could you be more specific about the data and problems you want to address?

Data Protection is about the protection of Personally Identifiable Information (PII) for the safeguard of the individual privacy and freedom rights.

Data Protection does not prohibit using data for research, however that processing should be done in a lawful manner.

My submission is based on Ghana Data Protection Act, Act 843

One of the objective of the Act is to provide the framework within which PII could be processed without infringing on the privacy or freedom right of the individual (ref: Section 18(1)(a).

The individual has the right to be informed about the purposes of the processing, who will have access to the data, how it will be stored, and disposed off when it is no longer needed. (ref: Sections 20(1)-(3), 22, 23, 24(1)-(2)(c)-(3)

[TedyOuma]

Yes, when data protection focuses more on restricting access than enabling safe, accountable use, it can unintentionally slow solutions to societal problems, but the real challenge is designing governance that protects people while still allowing data to create public value.

[Author]

Replies