Data protection, ICT laws key to growth – tech minister
Published:Wednesday | May 22, 2019 | 12:22 AMRomario Scott/Gleaner Writer
The Government is upbeat about the prospective benefits of the controversial Data Protection Bill and the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Act, Technology Minister Fayval Williams has said.
Speaking at the Global Digital Marketing Summit at the Spanish Court Hotel in St Andrew last week, Williams said that the two laws were urgently needed to protect the country as the use of technology increases.
She said that with more businesses using technology to achieve growth and development, the Data Protection Bill was essential to ensuring that these entities’ digital footprints are not being utilised in a nefarious way.
BUSINESSES MUST BECOME AGILE
The minister said that businesses must become “more agile for the times” to remain competitive and relevant to the clients being served by retooling, upskilling, and strategising.
“Organisations of all sizes have growing volumes of information flowing into their databases on a daily basis,” hence the finalisation of the Data Protection Bill is a high priority on the Government’s legislative agenda, Williams added.
“This legislation will protect the privacy of individuals, setting guidelines of how personal data can be collected, processed, stored, used and disclosed,” she told the audience.
According to Williams, while technology has improved the ease of doing business on the island, it has made Jamaicans vulnerable to cyber threats, which necessitated the Information and Communications Technology Act.
She said that the act would provide the ICT sector with an adequate legislative and regulatory framework to address emerging issues surrounding competitiveness and consumer protection.
Williams said that the Government is cognisant of the importance of technology in building the Jamaican society and growing the economy.
The minister stated that in driving the island on to the digital-technology highway, the ministry, through e-Government Jamaica, will be embarking on several initiatives aimed at improving the pace at which business is conducted.
“We continue to design and implement a governmentwide area network (GovNet), which will facilitate a secure, high-speed, reliable and resilient platform to interconnect all government entities.
“This network will connect MDAs [ministries, departments and agencies] to facilitate shared services, including data-centre computing services (GovCloud), a consolidated voice-communication system (GovTalk), and a consolidated email system (GovMail),” Williams said.