Western privacy and ubuntu - influences in the forthcoming data privacy bill

Hanno N Olinger, Johannes J Britz and Martin S Olivier

2005

Citation information

HN Olinger, JJ Britz and MS Olivier, "Western privacy and ubuntu - influences in the forthcoming data privacy bill," in Ethics of New Information Technology - Proceedings of the Sixth International Conference of Computer Ethics: Philosophical Enquiry (CEPE2005), P Brey, F Grodzinsky and L Introna (eds), Enschede, The Netherlands, 291-306, July 2005

Abstract

There is worldwide concern growing regarding the increasing potential threats to the personal privacy of individuals caused by technologies and governments. The international response of governments has been to draft comprehensive privacy legislation in order to protect their citizen's personal information and to enable their citizens to have control over their personal information. In South Africa, the right to privacy is protected by both Section 14 of the Constitution and the provisions of the Common Law, but has at this stage no formal privacy legislation is in place to enforce fair data protection principles. A new Data Privacy Bill must be drafted taking into account South Africa's unique political and social context as well as international demands made by the global economy. The prime influences acting upon the new Data Privacy Bill will be the mandate in the Constitution, the EU Data Protection Directive and the Ubuntu worldview. The EU Data Protection Directive is the best articulated privacy legislation in existence today and the Ubuntu philosophy has been pressed into service very successfully in diverse arenas in South Africa. This paper argues that both influences will be seen in the future Data Privacy Bill, but that the EU Data Protection Directive's influence will be pre-eminent.

Keywords

Ubuntu, privacy, legislation, jurisprudence, South Africa

BibTeX entry

@INPROCEEDINGS(ubuntu,
  AUTHOR={Hanno N Olinger and Johannes J Britz and Martin S Olivier},
  TITLE={Western Privacy and Ubuntu --- Influences in the Forthcoming
     Data Privacy Bill},
  BOOKTITLE={Ethics of New Information Technology --- Proceedings of the Sixth International Conference of Computer Ethics:
  Philosophical Enquiry (CEPE2005)},
  EDITOR={Philip Brey and Frances Grodzinsky and Lucas Introna},
  PAGES={291--306},
  MONTH={July},
  YEAR={2005},
  ADDRESS={Enschede, The Netherlands} )

The full text may be downloaded from http://mo.co.za/open/ubuntu.pdf (PDF, 145K).

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