Staff Writer
Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe Director General Dr Gift Machengete has called for strategies that allow effective consumer protection especially in addressing technological evolution and new services, including data protection.
In his opening remarks at the Consumer Committee Meeting in Harare, Dr Machengete emphasised the need for collaborative regulation, across economic sectors, regions and borders.
“We are also in the process of enhancing our consumer protection efforts through collaborative regulation at national, regional, and international levels,” Dr Machengete said.
“Accordingly, we have several working arrangements with other regulators including the Competition Commission, the Central Bank, the Consumer Protection Commission, the Research Council of Zimbabwe and the Consumer Council of Zimbabwe as we believe in whole of community collaborative regulation, across economic sectors, regions and borders.”
He said the meeting came at an opportune time as Zimbabwe had fully operationalised Data Protection Unit.
“We also hope deliberations will proffer suggestions and strategies that allow effective consumer protection, especially addressing emerging issues brought about by the technological evolution and new services, including data protection,” he said.
Dr Machengete said Consumer Protection remained central for meaningful usage of communication services.
“Without feeling safe and without being protected, Consumers will only use ICTs less, therefore, the work of the Consumer Committee in instilling trust and confidence in the use of ICTs cannot be over emphasised.
“We need people to trust our e-commerce platforms, our e-health platforms, our IoT applications. We need people to trust drones and robots, to trust actions performed through machine learning, decisions made through artificial intelligence and guidance given through the use of algorithms. Trust will promote greater use of ICTs, which will enhance participation in the digital economy and promote economic growth,” he said.
He said CRASA should remain on top of the situation in terms of all the thematic areas such as Consumer Protection.
In Zimbabwe intimate images and videos form part of personal information which is categorised as sensitive data under the Cyber and Data Protection Act [Chapter 12:07]. The Act prohibits the collection, sharing and distribution of sensitive data without the consent of the data subject. 2. The Cyber and Data Protection Act (Chapter 12:07] as read with Section 164E of Criminal Law Codification & Reform Act [Chapter 9:07] prohibits the collection, transfer, sharing and or broadcasting of intimate images and or videos without the consent of the person concerned.
The law seeks to curb the humiliation and embarrassment of persons whose intimate images and or videos would have been shared.
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