"The more electronic communications we use, the more we need a balanced law to protect the consumer from abuse of his/her data, or from security breaches of large databases, while setting down best practice to allow consumers to receive valuable, pertinent information and be kept in touch," said Alastair Tempest, COO of the DMA.
The use of personal information to market goods, services, charities or political parties has grown enormously over the past decade. About 75% of all advertisements invite consumers - in the form of telephone numbers, email, websites etc - to provide information to be used for marketing.
Nearly every company holds databases on its customers - or in the case of charities, of their donors. Government bodies also hold vast databases of citizens, which can be used to inform and help citizens.
The DMA Code of Practice is closely modelled on the POPI Bill, which has been under preparation since 2008. The industry now needs the Bill to be passed into law. Opportunities such as cloud computing, or outsourced call centres, are knocking on the door but without adequate privacy law here in South Africa, EU companies will not be able to invest.
"Economically, if the POPI Bill is balanced and not restrictive, it will stimulate new investments and new opportunities to South Africa," concludes Tempest.
