Description:

I am proposing a session where I will engage participants to discuss ways in which we can develop and increase concern for information privacy in African communities. This is in response to the ongoing data protection policy reform on the continent which is likely to be in vain if the people do not know of their rights under these laws. Many African countries have recently and some are currently enacting data protection laws. This is a good move especially in this technological age where personal data is considered a resource. These legal reforms provide citizens of these African states and opportunity they have never had before which is to exercise the rights provided for in the data protection laws. But they can only exercise these rights if they know about them and are concerned about their privacy. In the session, we will discuss how people who have for ages lived communal lives can be made to appreciate privacy rights that are so crucial in their lives. We will look at what governments, private sector, civil society can do to educate their people on the right to privacy and why it is important to them. All these should lead to strategies that the participants can use to increase concern for information privacy in their communities.