Data Privacy Act and its Significance

The matter of the privacy of people’s data has long been an issue. It is one of the main reasons why people lock their file cabinets and use bank-safe deposit boxes. They even use passwords and two-factor authentication codes in their respective accounts, whether through their social media accounts, through their e-mail accounts, or even through their online bank accounts and other related ones. Nevertheless, due to the technology age, we are in right now, most of our data is digital. As a result, we share more data online, and data security is becoming increasingly crucial.

As citizens, we don’t want our personal information to fall into the hands of a criminal who may exploit it to perpetrate cyber-attacks such as phishing, Man-in-the-Middle attacks, ransomware, along with the worse ones. To address this issue, the government implemented the Data Privacy Act of 2012, mainly to serve its purpose: “to protect the fundamental human right to privacy of communication while ensuring free flow of information to promote innovation and growth [and] the [State’s] inherent obligation to ensure that personal information in information and communications systems in government and the private sector are secured and protected”.

The Data Privacy Act of 2012 is a beneficial thing for us since that aims to safeguard citizens and is concerned with privacy on the personal level. The presence of the legislation demonstrates that we should be cautious when providing personal information that may be used against us, particularly on the internet where data about you is required. It is proper to obtain consent for the various data being gathered so that we have control over our own data. Though this may take some time for processing or transactions, the security of our data is ensured. Citizens will be at ease knowing that an implemented law and a committee are in place to tackle the rising threat of personal information, as well as mechanisms with a legal foundation.