Awaiting millions? How to file a complaint if your data is used online without your permission
A few weeks ago, a handful of Kenyans won their cases and banked millions after the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner in the Ministry of ICT, Innovation and Youth Affairs found that their data had been used by second parties for financial gain without seeking permission from the subject of their promotional materials.
In the aftermath, several entertainment joints issued public notices to their revelers that should anyone patron their premises, they were subject to being captured on video or photographs that would be used for promotional purposes, and were not liable to any prosecution as the patrons willingly entered their premises.
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Other premises went a step further and advised that glowing wristbands would be issued to patrons who did not want their image captured while in the premises.
According to the Data Protection Commissioner, the use of a person’s personal data without their express permission known as data breach. Should a person have concerns about the misuse of their personal data in violation of the Data Protection Act, there are ways for them to lodge their grievances via the Office’s designated portal.
Nairobi News outlines the steps an individual can take in lodging their complaint:
- The complainant should provide their first and last name, gender, identification number, telephone number where they can easily be reached and their postal address.
- The complainant, for statistical purposes, should state if they have any disability.
- The complainant should also provide their email and preferred mode of communication and optionally, their physical address or location.
- The complainant must then detail the respondent (person who used their personal data without permission) – the name and contact of the respondent be it an individual or institution.
- The date of the occurrence of the alleged misuse of the personal data must be provided as well as the name(s) of any person who can provide further information relevant to the complaint.
- The complainant must then detail the nature of the complaint, provide particulars of other persons impacted by the alleged infringement and particulars of any person/institution that previously made any attempts to resolve the matter before bringing it to the Data Commissioner’s Office.
- The complainant must detail any actual or potential harm or any urgency to be taken note of.
- The complainant must then state, in their own view, what measures or relief they are anticipating.
To do all this, a complainant can log onto https://www.odpc.go.ke/file-a-complaint/