Section 11(1)(c) of the Protection of Personal Information Act  4 of 2013 (“POPIA”) states that information can be processed if there is an obligation imposed by law on the responsible party. Sections 12(2)(d)(iii); 15(3)(c)(iii), and 18(4)(c)(iii) of POPIA; state that information of a data subject can be collected from another source; can be further processed; and that the data subject does not have to be made aware of such processing where non-compliance is necessary; “if such...

Section 74 of the Protection of Personal Information Act states that any person or juristic person may submit a written complaint to the Information Regulator alleging interference with their personal information. Interference with any person or juristic person’s personal information may refer to a breach in the confidentiality, integrity or availability of their personal information. Interference with any person or juristic person’s personal information may be caused, amongst other things, by...

Direct marketing through unsolicited communications remains the Information Regulator’s most complained about grievance since the establishment of the Information Regulator. The People’s right to privacy, as now supplemented and extended in terms of the POPI Act, continues to be neglected by pestering business communications to market an unwanted good or service. To combat this sales tactic, Section 69 of the POPI Act attempts to regulate direct marketing through unsolicited electronic...

The Protection of Personal Information Act, No.4 of 2013 (POPIA), hereinafter referred to as “the Act”, provides in terms of Section 40 for establishing an Information Regulator to exercise certain powers and perform certain duties and functions. One of these duties includes receiving and investigating complaints about alleged privacy violations of data subjects. First, it is important to understand the definition of the “Parties to a dispute", which comprises the data subject and the...