Leaders from Elgeyo Marakwet have called on residents to jealously guard their privacy, saying the responsibility of protecting one’s data starts with the individual.
Led by the Deputy Governor, Prof. Grace Cheserek, the leaders regretted that Kenyans and especially the youth carelessly share their personal data on social media without giving a thought to how the information may be used against them.
Speaking during a sensitization seminar on data protection in an Iten hotel, the leaders said while the government is doing all it can to protect one’s data through setting up institutions like the Office of Data Protection Commission (ODPC), once information is released, it becomes difficult to control how it could be used.
Principal Data Protection officer in charge of Advocacy and Collaboration at ODPC, Abdullahi Ali, advised Kenyans to beware when opening links sent to their smart phones and also allowing apps downloaded from the internet to access information on their phones.
He called on Kenyans to report to the Commission any calls or organisations they suspect may be misusing their data so that they could be investigated.
Nicholas Kipkoech, also from the Commission, said any organisation, both private and public that processes data, citing schools, health facilities and churches, among others, must register with the Commission so that they can be regulated.
Saying that Kenyans are asked for their personal data regularly, which is normal, Kipkoech said they have a right to have the same information expunged after they are through.
“We are normally asked to provide our personal data that is our names, IDs, and phone numbers, when entering some buildings due to security reasons. We have a right to request to have our personal data expunged once we leave the building,” he said.
The Deputy Governor said going forward, any company doing business with the county must register with the ODPC since they would be using data from the county and therefore need to safeguard the same according to the law.
The County Commissioner, John Korir, said while collection of data is as old as mankind, technology has made it dangerous to share the same due to the possibility of it being misused.
By Alice Wanjiru
