On 25 May 2018, the EU’s new General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) will come into force. While the regulations are aimed at protecting EU citizens and residents, its reach will be global and will impact on certain businesses operating in South Africa.

The GDPR replaces the Data Protection Directive and is far-reaching, imposing additional obligations

The functions of the Information Regulator include:

  • to provide education about the Protection of Personal Information Act, for example, giving advice to data subjects in the exercise of their rights;
  • to monitor and enforce compliance with POPI;
  • to consult with interested parties;
  • to handle complaints;
  • to conduct research and to report to Parliament;
  • to issue

The Department of Health in South Africa has recognised that one of the reasons for the failure to achieve ‘Health for All’ as envisioned by the Alma Ata Declaration is the failure to address health systems effectively. In line with their intention to prioritise access to medicines and vaccines the department launched self-service medicine-dispensing machines

The use of technology in the health sector is on the rise.  The intersection of these two industries leads to interesting legal questions relating to digital risk, including big data analytics, data security and privacy.

In his budget speech on 10 May 2016, Minister Aaron Motsoaledi discussed the following interesting medical technology initiatives being undertaken

Cybercrime happens at the speed of broadband with criminals able to easily move the tools of their activities from one location to another. Successfully combatting cybercrime therefore requires real time detection and investigation, often by different agencies in different countries.

Cybercrime has exploded internationally in the past several years in tandem with the surge of

Each device which accesses the internet is allocated a unique number (Internet Protocol or IP address) by its internet service provider (ISP). A record is created each time this IP address accesses a webpage, including the date, time and URL (website address) accessed. These records are stored by the ISP.

ISPs are prohibited from providing

The proliferation of data gives rise to two challenges:

  • Companies need to manage the vast amounts of data they now control and turn it to useful purposes.
  • The availability of so much data has been an ideal environment for an explosion of various forms of cybercrime.

Data

The role of data scientists and analytic technology