By Barbara Ellington

Senator Audrey Marks, minister without portfolio in the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) with responsibility for digital transformation, says that as Jamaica forges ahead in building a modern digital society, we must unite with a shared purpose. 

This, according to her, will ensure that our transformation is not only innovative and efficient, but also built on a solid foundation of trust, privacy and protection of citizens’ data rights. 

“Digital tools promise speed and convenience, but they also demand responsible data governance. Without strong privacy safeguards, digital privacy becomes digital risk. That is why the government of Jamaica is ensuring that as we integrate more technology into daily life citizens’ trust data protection and ethical leadership remain at the core of our activities,” Marks said.

She was delivering the keynote address to the Pioritizing Privacy – Protect, Comply, Thrive conference, at the University of the West Indies (UWI) Regional Headquarters on Tuesday (July 1). The conference, which had a raft of local and international presenters and participants from the Caribbean and internationally, was held over two days.

Marks pointed out that digital innovation will only succeed when people trust the systems behind it. She said she would like to see Jamaica as a country that is not so overregulated that it disrupts the speed at which things get done. 

She informed participants that Jamaica’s primary defence in this digital era is the Data Protection Act 2020, which not only sets rules but also affirms that privacy is a right. It gives Jamaicans control over how their information is collected, used, stored and shared. She noted that under the act, the government has ensured that every Jamaican has the right to know when and why their data is being collected.

“They can also access and correct their information, request deletion, object to processing, move their data if they require, and all data controllers must register with the office of the Information Commissioner,” Marks said.

She expressed the intention of her office to support the Office of the Information Commissioner’s office in their work. She also stressed that being compliant is not about ticking a box but embedding privacy into the culture and systems of the country.

“We must adopt privacy by design, making data protection a default from the start. I want businesses to change how they think, act and innovate where digital transformation and securing privacy are concerned. Jamaica is moving beyond mere compliance into a culture where privacy is a shared value as vital as innovation itself,” she said.

The conference was organised by Privacy and Legal Management Consultants (PLMC), a data privacy consulting firm now in existence since 2009, led by attorney-at-law M Georgia Gibson Henlin and a team of six.

In her remarks, Gibson Henlin encouraged participants to be engaged and ask questions from presenters across the region who were there to share their knowledge on the subject.  

“I am passionate about privacy, and that we get it right as a region. It’s about trade, and until we get it up to a high point, we are giving you sessions that will enable you to think big about privacy”.

She said the conference this year would focus more on what is happening globally in that regard. 

“This year’s conference will include mature discussions about what is happening globally and what technology is available to people to enhance and accelerate their implementation of their privacy programmes,” added Gibson Henlin. 

She noted that the Data Protection Act speaks about good practice guidelines, which look at the various sector organisations in Jamaica that can come together and formulate industry standards that will guide their sectors, thereby making compliance easier and the journey of awareness easier and for the data protection office to monitor and manage compliance with fewer breaches.