Thursday, July 4, 2024

How Even The Smallest Of Nations Can Create A Rock Solid Data Privacy Law

 


Just recently, I submitted a book manuscript which covers the tenets and provisions of all of the major data privacy laws, which include the GDPR, CCPA, etc.  The basic thrust of all of them is to make sure that not only are organizations doing their very best to make sure the controls that they have implemented are safeguarding the datasets to the maximum extent possible, but also to give the right to the dataset owners a strong voice as to how they should be used.

Many states here in the US have adopted their own version of a data privacy law, with other countries following suit as well.  The latest one in this addition is the tiny island nation called Papua New Guinea.  I have heard of it of course, but I had to Google where this little country is located at.  Its in in the Southwestern part of the Pacific Ocean, and the largest country within close proximity of it is Australia.

The legislation that they have created and passed is called the “National Data Protection and Governance Policy 2024.  The exact text of the legislation can be downloaded at this link:

http://cyberresources.solutions/blogs/PNG_Data_Privacy.pdf

There are seven major sections to it, but here is a summary of some of the major highlights of it:

The role of data protection does not rely solely on just one entity.  Rather, it is a shared responsibility between government agencies, businesses, academia, non-profit entities, etc.

*The goal of the country is to establish a “Digital Infrastructure” of sorts, which will allow for all digital assets to be connected with another, especially as the IoT revolution sets in with the population.

*Cyberattacks are now happening much more frequently to the smaller nations in the Pacific Rim, therefore strong legislation like the one mentioned here is absolutely needed.

*The need for Cyber resiliency is a must for Papua New Guinea, therefore it is the goal of this new legislation to establish the framework to make this into a reality.

*Transparency amongst the public is a must in order for any kind of data privacy action to take place, and this new law helps to ensure that this actually does happen.

*One of the more macro goals of this legislation is to further enhance the reach of the Cyber frameworks developed by Papua New Guinea into the international arena.  For example, it has joined the following:

Ø  Global Cross-Border Privacy Rules (CBPR) Forum (more details can be found here:  https://www.commerce.gov/global-cross-border-privacy-rules-declaration

 

Ø  The government of Papua New Guinea is also working on a Memorandum Of Understanding with the government of Japan in order to participate in Cyber Warfare games with the other smaller island nations also located in the Pacific Rim.  (more details can be found here:  https://www.darkreading.com/cyber-risk/japan-runs-inaugural-cyber-defense-drills-with-pacific-island-nations

 

*Even the smallest of nations, such as that of Papua New Guinea, can be strong foe against the Cyberattacker groups.

 

Finally, this new piece of legislation based by this tiny country has eight major objectives to it, which are as follows:

Ø  Establish Clear Principles

 

Ø  Strengthen Data Protection

 

Ø  Promote Data Governance

 

Ø  Facilitate Data Sharing

 

Ø  Enhance Data Literacy

 

Ø  Foster Innovation and Economic Growth

 

Ø  Ensure Flexibility and Adaptability

 

Ø  Align with International Standards

 

Further details about them can be found at this link:

https://www.ict.gov.pg/ndgdpp/

My Thoughts On This:

Here in the United States, we are still struggling in terms of the enforcement of the data privacy laws that we have created.  Not only are the local governments slow to act on this, but with each state producing their own version of it, there is way too much confusion about them.  Therefore, we need a central authority to have a federally created and enforced data privacy law.

Seeing how quickly even the tiniest of nations, such as that of Papua New Guinea can do something like this so quickly, we can learn a lot from them.

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