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Ensure Privacy and Security of Everyone’s Private and
Confidential Information - My Data, Your Data and Your
Neighbour’s Data
Pass a Data Protection, Privacy & Sharing
Act
e-Waste Legislation
With increased use of technology and the use of electronic
methods of storing data, we must ensure that we maintain
confidence among the people of Jamaica that their personal
information is safe and secure.
The protection of my information, your information and the
information of ALL citizens of this country IS A RIGHT, NOT A
PRIVILEGE. Outside of the Constitution there is no detailed
legislation yet, that speaks to this in the context of today’s digitized
reality.
We must ensure that with the new ways in which information is
stored, shared and accessed, citizens are protected.The providers
and gatekeepers of this informationmust be held accountable for its
use. Digital information is much easier to access and manipulate.
Measures must be put in place to ensure that personal information
is kept secure. This is why the Data Protection Act is so important.
Without this level of confidence among our people and businesses,
many of the proposed initiatives aimed at improving the efficiency
of Government services and the conduct of business transactions,
will no doubt fail.
Let us for a moment think about the number of electronic items we
use and throw away from time to time: televisions, refrigerators,
microwaves, printers, desktop and laptop computers, batteries
and the like.
All of these items have some form of electronic component or
volatile chemical inside. Recycling these electronic components
has become a valuable alternative to mining for these high-value
and sometimes rare metals such as silver, gold and rare earth
elements.
Recent reports have shown that by 2017 the annual volume of
e-waste will increase to an estimated 65.4 million tonnes. It goes
without saying that we need to capitalize on this.
There are countless establishments island-wide full of end-of-life
electronic equipment.What’s worse, without a viable place to send
these items, many would already have ended up in our landfills,
where they risk contaminating the soil and water.
We need to engage the telecoms providers, appliance retailers
and repair shops, IT Service Providers and any entity that sells,
repairs or stores end-of-life of electronic devices, and create an
environment for e-waste reclaiming and recycling to be profitable.
e-Waste is big business worldwide, and we cannot afford to miss
this boat. By putting the policies and legislation in place, Jamaica
can carve out our niche and reap the benefits of a lucrative market.