The recently-enacted Protection of Personal Information (POPI) Act, which sets conditions for how organisations can process information, has caused significant upheaval in the South African business environment. Companies are either panicking about how to comply or opting to pay the fines for non-compliance, which they see as the less onerous option. However, privacy of information is not a new issue, either locally or internationally. In Europe, information privacy has been a concern since the 1970s, and many countries have stringent laws in place. In South Africa, Section 14 of the Constitution protects the right of privacy of citizens, which POPI enforces, and the law itself has been in the making for almost a decade.
