Digital Rights and Data Privacy

 Fintech Across Africa have become somewhat of a necessity across Africa providing the unbanked (and the banked) with vital financial services, enabling them to participate in the economy, on both the national, and international scale. However, with this immense potential to do good, also comes the ability to cause harm on an unprecedented scale if left unchecked - something we’ve already seen happen locally. 

In Kenya, Digital Credit Providers (DCPs), that provide micro-credit (small loans) to the users at the tap of a button, were quite notorious in abusing the customer trust and data available to them by engaging in unethical practices, especially with regard to how they used their customers’ data. 

How did this happen? As many of these unsuspecting users took out small loans on their mobile devices, many unknowingly granted these applications access to data stored on their devices. All would be fine, up until the point when you’d delay or miss a payment - that was when they’d utilize the data you unknowingly gave them access to.
 
Should you, for any reason, miss any of your payments on the loan you took out, some of these money lending DCP apps would go to the extent of accessing contacts stored on your device and sending mass texts claiming the client used those contacts as referees. 

If that wasn’t bad enough, some of these apps were known to constantly call not only the client, and referees but other contacts, and proceed to insult, ridicule and berate the clients who are unable to pay their loans on time. Causing a number of Kenyans undue stress, and shame, with some resulting in taking their own lives to escape this public shaming.

Fortunately, after much public outcry, the government of Kenya passed the Digital Creditors Act whereby anyone dispersing loans via mobile applications would have to register with CBK and comply with their regulations on data privacy, debt collection and distribution of funds. Digital Credit Providers in Kenya are now subject to confidentiality requirements and compliance with the Data Protection Act. 
 
This was the classic case of innovation getting ahead of legislation. In many parts of Africa our laws haven’t kept up with the advancements in tech that is now ubiquitous in today’s society.

 Digital technologies are transforming the way basic rights such as freedom of expression and access to information are exercised, protected and violated, and are also leading to the recognition of new rights. In closing, data governance, and data rights are important, and we should have a vested interest if we wish to navigate this digital society that we find ourselves in.

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