Do users know or care about what is done with their personal data: A South African study

Abstract

People engage with various technologies in their daily lives and become data subjects when they share personal information with software, devices, services or organisations. Sometimes individuals may be oblivious to the fact that their personal data is being captured, or of the possible ramifications, once their personal information is outside their control. Data protection has become an area of great interest across the globe as it directly affects fundamental human rights and particularly the right to privacy. The objective of this paper is to explore the extent to which individuals within South Africa are knowledgeable or concerned about the collection, use, transfer, etc. of their personal data. Based on the information collected using a survey, it was found that individuals in South Africa do care about their personal data privacy, although they are not always familiar with legal regulations governing personal data protection or legal rights related to their personal data.