Theme C: Protecting Human Dignity in the Digital Age

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Theme C Protecting Human Dignity in the Digital
Age

• Roundtable 4 Regional INFOethics Workshop Africa
• UN Conference Centre, Addis Ababa
• 14h30 16h30, Thursday, 14th September, 2000
• Dr Bob Day
• Executive Director ICT, Unisa

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Privacy - 1

• Constitution(s) should be basis for protection of
  individuals privacy.
• Right to Privacy relatively recent not one of
  original 17th century human rights.
• Globally, this right is not yet well defined.
• Some view OECDs 1981 Guidelines on the
  Protection of Privacy.. as an adequate basis for
  todays privacy policies.
• Others argue that the world has changed beyond
  recognition since then hence the Economists
  question in 1999, are we witnessing the end of
  privacy?

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Privacy - 2

• Central issue is to what extent personal
  information may be used for purposes to which the
  individual has not consented
• Suggested new Privacy Principles
• The right not to be indexed
• The right to encrypt personal information
  effectively
• The right to secure human checking of adverse
  decisions made on computer profiles
• The right to be alerted to such decisions
• The right of disclosure about the collections to
  which others have access and which may affect the
  projection of the profile of the individual
  concerned.

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Privacy - 3

• Suggested Data Protection Practices
• Such practices should be entirely visible to the
  individual
• Any feature which results in the collection of
  personal data should be known prior to its
  operation
• The individual should retain the ability to
  disable the feature or application of choice
• New technologies eroding privacy rights include
• Video surveillance cameras
• Identity cards
• Intelligent agents
• Genetic databases.

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Privacy and Biometrics

• Biometrics offer irrefutable evidence of ones
  identity, eg voiceprints body parts such as
  retina, iris, and hand.
• The use of biometric technology by government,
  law enforcement and business will grow
  dramatically in the next decade.
• The existence of stringent safeguards
  legislative, procedural and technical will be
  needed to prevent biometrics posing a threat to
  informational privacy.
• By applying encryption to biometrics, systems can
  enhance privacy by putting its power into the
  individuals hands, not government or big
  business.

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Approaches to Privacy - 1

• The EU and USA differ significantly, especially
  on dispute resolution who will judge and
  enforce alleged breaches.
• The EU wants binding protections with teeth,
  eg
• An independent authority to investigate alleged
  violations and impose sanctions
• Power to investigate complaints from EU citizens
• Financial payments must be made to aggrieved.
• The USA is much softer, asking only that breaches
  be punished by removal of a privacy seal from
  company web sites, despite their effectiveness
  having yet to be proved (possibly in breach of
  the OECD guidelines).

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Approaches to Privacy - 2

• Alternatives from New Zealand and Hong Kong
  favour a greater role for self-regulatory (or
  co-regulatory) initiatives, plus individual self
  help, plus regulatory and legal action. The
  model includes
• Statutory requirements of compliance with data
  protection principles
• Development of principles, but flrxible and
  user-friendly
• Provision for sectoral codes of practice which
  can vary the principles, and provide for sectoral
  complaint handling
• Default complaints and enforcement machinary for
  sectors without codes of practice
• Provision of appeals, providing a uniform quality
  control mechanism
• Avoidance of any generic registration or
  licensing requirement

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Approaches to Privacy - 3

• Possible ways forward
• No universal agreement yet exists on the
  regulation of information privacy.
• African states should collaborate, and act
  together to decide on appropriate best practices,
  models and legislation to handle privacy issues
• African states should have shared mechanisms to
  collectively stay abreast of international
  privacy developments - benefit from global
  experience, and customise in Africas context.

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Consumer Protection - 1

• E-commerce provides 24 hour shopping, wide
  choice, and outlets all over the world, BUT
  rights enjoyed via national consumer protection
  legislation do not apply.
• Consumer rights will require international
  cooperation on best practices, and coordinated
  global oversight, including
• Basic format of an electronic contract
• Effective complaint mechanisms
• Limits of consumer liability
• Safeguards for the privacy of individuals
• Recourse to specific courts
• Cooperation between governments in support of
  legal redress.

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Consumer Protection - 2

• In the development context of Africa
• Much of the population does not currently have
  access to banking facilities the unbanked
• ICT provides an excellent solution in the form of
  electronic money and smart cards
• BUT more emphasis/research will be required in
  Africa on consumer protection relating to these
  electronic payment instruments

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Consumer Protection - 3

• How does the developing world identify and
  respond to misinformation and the withholding of
  crucial information from their own governments,
  and from the multi-nationals?
• What can we learn from such cases as
• The tobacco wars
• Blue Circle asbestos in the Northern Cape
• Who retains credibility?

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Freedom of Speech - 1

• On a broader scale, for the Knowledge Society to
  flourish, it is important that society strikes
  the best balance between encouraging the free
  flow of information, including freedom of speech,
  and protecting the rights of those to whom that
  information may relate
• Even in the most liberal societies, bodies within
  the establishment see some information as
  sensitive or potentially threatening to their
  area of influence (or power)
• Historically, the establishment has established
  ways to control said information, but usually not
  transparently

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Freedom of Speech - 2

• What is a maveric and do we need them?
• They usually identify a major problem, want
  dramatic changes, are vociferous, tenacious, and
  often appear to be misguided (but later,
  sometimes, prove to be right)
• The establishment prefers incrementalism
  building on what they believe, and usually
  control
• At some stage, most societies marginalise, even
  persecute maverics (conspiracy theory?) label
  their views as extreme or fundamentalism
• BUT, where does innovation and entrepreneurship
  most often originate the developing world in
  particular needs to find alternative ways to
  manage maverics, rather than marginalisation..

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Freedom of Speech - 3

• CENSORED!

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Freedom of Speech - 4

• Change and transformation are accelerating
  globally
• More maverics more pressure on the
  establishment
• The web (together with other media) is being used
  to reinforce the establishment position
• The web, however, is the first easily available
  medium to provide everyone, including the
  maverics with a global voice (providing
  alternative to more extreme outlets?)
• Isnt this righting the balance between privacy
  and freedom of speech?
• Isnt the openess and global availability of the
  web what makes it so uniquely valuable?
• Isnt this what we should be trying to protect
  most?

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Theme C Protecting Human Dignity in the Digital
Age

• Thank You
• bday_at_unisa.ac.za

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