Page 108 - Research & Innovation Report 2020

LAW

To WhatsApp or not

to WhatsApp

Nelson Mandela University adjunct professor of cyberlaw, Sizwe Snail ka Mtuze, and Stephen
Newman, Faculty of Law, have been researching key aspects of cyberlaw, notably the Protection
of Personal Information Act and the Cybercrimes Act.

South Africa’s response to these growing concerns has been to
There are a number of cartoons in circulation that feature implement the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA),
Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg secretly reading or listening to our which prevents our personal information being used in an unlawful
WhatsApp messages and chats. At the heart of it is a worldwide manner.
concern about WhatsApp (which Facebook owns) accessing and
using personal information. This was compounded by WhatsApp’s “In terms of POPIA, without obtaining prior authorisation from
recently updated privacy policy, which gives them greater access South Africa’s Information Regulator (IR), WhatsApp cannot
to data. process the contact information of its users other than for the
purpose for which it was originally collected,” Prof ka Mtuze
Prof ka Mtuze explains: “WhatsApp states that they do not have explains. “It may not link that information to information processed
access to private information such as individual conversations; by other Facebook companies or share it with any others.
that these are end to end encrypted. They claim their new
policy only gives them access to ‘data’ as opposed to ‘personal “Companies operating in South Africa were obliged to comply
information’. What is concerning, however, is their use of the term with the POPIA by 1 July this year. They now have to deal far more
data, because the line between data and personal information is diligently with the personal information they collect and the buying
diffused, and both are very valuable commodities that can be
shared and sold.

“WhatsApp’s response is that they only use data about data
(metadata) which, inter alia, assists marketers (who pay them
for online advertising) to more accurately and directly serve and
market to the consumer,” says Newman. “However, WhatsApp
has access to all of its subscribers’ personal information, including
phone numbers, email addresses, avatars, account registration
details and service information, which is very revealing personal
information. There is conflict between their policy and the
protection of personal information as well as consumer protection
regulations.”

Adding to the concern, they explain, is that WhatsApp is not a
stand-alone company. Facebook has a huge amount of power
globally: it owns the four most downloaded apps of the decade –
Facebook, Facebook Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp.

“The potential for the cross-pollination of data and information is
virtually unlimited,” says Prof ka Mtuze. “Having said this, it needs
to be emphasised that WhatsApp is just one of a multitude of
apps gathering data from you; they all do and they all routinely
ask permission to access your location, photos and other personal
information.” Prof Sizwe Snail ka Mtuze

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