Data Commission marks Data Protection and Privacy Day

Data Protection and Privacy Day is a day that focuses on educational initiatives originally dwelling on raising awareness among businesses as well as users about the importance of protecting the privacy of their personal information online, particularly in the context of social networking in this new era.

The educational focus has expanded over the years to include families, consumers, and businesses. In addition to its educational initiative, Data Privacy Day promotes events and activities that stimulate the development of technology tools that promote individual control over personally identifiable information; encourage compliance with privacy laws and regulations; and create dialogues among stakeholders interested in advancing data protection and privacy.

The international celebration offers many opportunities for collaboration among governments, industry, academia, nonprofits, privacy professionals, and educators.

In Ghana, the Data Protection Commission has over the years commemorated this day with week-long national awareness activities which have included free awareness training, free webinars, roadshows, and public education activities for all. This year, the Day is celebrated under the theme 'Data Governance for a safe Digitized space'.

Speaking at the opening ceremony of the Data Protection Week which took place at Kumasi, the Executive Director was keen on putting out the agenda of the Commission this year which is to scrutinize the work of Data Controllers and be stringent on what the Data Protection law requires of them with regard to safeguarding the data they collect and how they store it.

She continued to emphasize the fact that privacy is a fundamental human right and therefore individuals have the backing of the Data Protection law to exercise their rights to be informed about how their personal data is used.