300 research outputs found

    Privacy and data protection in eHealth in Africa - an assessment of the regulatory frameworks that govern privacy and data protection in the effective implementation of electronic health care in Africa: is there a need for reform and greater regional collaboration in regulatory policymaking?

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    This thesis examines and evaluates the legal protection of privacy and personal data in South Africa and across Africa in the electronic health care industry, that is, where medical services are provided to individuals by way of networked technological platforms including mobile telephones. This thesis presents a critical understanding of, and pragmatic solution to, the questions that lie at the intersection of the following: an individual's right to privacy and data protection, cultural disparities when defining privacy, the emergence of electronic health care, the sensitivity of health related data, the need for health care in areas, where lack of resources and lack of accessibility are often commonplace, and the introduction of networked technologies within the health care system as a solution. Firstly, eHealth services and applications are described. Secondly, notions of privacy and data protection are considered. Thirdly, the prevailing legal determinants that form the basis of African and South African data protection regulatory measures are ascertained. Fourthly, selected illustrations are presented of the practical implementation of eHealth services and certain recent influencers within the digital environment, which may inform the future eHealth privacy regulatory framework. Finally, criticisms of the Malabo Convention are presented and recommendations advanced. As there is limited guidance with regard to policymaking decisions concerning privacy and data protection in the implementation of eHealth in developing countries, possibilities for reform are suggested. These will allow a more careful balance between, on the one hand, the normative commitment to providing accessible health care using electronic means and, on the other, the rights to privacy and data protection of the user, which require safeguarding within an African context. In proposing a solution, it is argued that adequate privacy regulation of electronic health must (1) be sensitive to societal and cultural differences in what is considered private, (2) be responsive to rapid technological transformation in healthcare industries, and (3) build user confidence in data protection in this context, to enable nascent electronic health initiatives to reach their potential in Africa. It is proposed that the adoption of an accepted social imperative protected by a powerful triumvirate of ethical constraints, effective legal provisions and regulations, and operational necessities, is possible. Greater regulatory collaboration across the continent is called for based on harmonised domestic and international laws, national policies, and industry codes of conduct that are sensitive to local conditions and challenges

    Power struggles in Korean cyberspace and Korean cyber asylum seekers

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    This thesis examines the potential power of internet users to use the internet in the conduct of their everyday lives by discussing the impact of state and non-state actors on cyberspace. The debate about ‘who controls the internet?’ has avoided the question of the power of internet users, which is needed to understand the character of cyberspace. Theoretical debates identify the overwhelmingly territorial nature of cyber governance through nationally developed and enforced legislation, which is in direct opposition to the power of transnational ICTs. This thesis contributes to this theoretical debate through the use of the concepts of alternative and radical media, which are usually categorised as anti-establishment resistance strategies. I use Michel de Certeau’s notion of the heterological practice of everyday life to develop a perspective on the power of the powerless on the internet. I also adopt Franklin’s theoretical stance on the relations between state, non-state, and social actors, which is influenced by de Certeau’s ideas about the plurality of space. In order to illustrate this argument, I discuss the Korean ‘cyber asylum seeker’ phenomenon, which arose when Korean internet users migrated from local web portals to global corporations, such as Google and YouTube, who had refused to comply with the restrictions that the Korean government policies imposed on the local internet. This development allowed Korea cyber asylum seekers to become power holders, thus expanding the reach of Korean cyberspace. The Korean cyber asylum phenomenon was a result of both the Korean government’s cyber intervention following the 2008 Candlelight protest and Korean web portals’ compliance. I therefore understand the Korean cyber asylum seeker phenomenon from the perspective of a tripartite inter-relationship between the Korean government, the web portals, and internet users. This tripartite approach sheds new light on current debates about the questions: ‘Who controls the internet’, ‘Why is it controlled?’ and ‘How is it controlled?’ by adding the question, ‘What other groups have had an impact on power formations in cyberspace?’ My field research points to the significance of internet user mobility for a more complete understanding of the effect of the Korean government and the web portals on the expansion of Korean cyberspace. The research project is based on an analysis of the Korean government’s internet policy, business reports of Korean web portals, and interviews with officials from government bodies, the Korean internet industry, activists, citizens and online community members, as well as online community observation

    Data protection and transborder data flows : implications for Nigeria's integration into the global network economy

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    One of the realities that developing countries like Nigeria have to face today is that national and international markets have become more and more interconnected through the global platform of telecommunications and the Internet. This global networked economy is creating a paradigm shift in the focus of development goals and strategies particularly for developing countries. Globalisation is driving the nations of the world more into political and economic integration. These integrations are enhanced by a globally interconnected network of economic and communication systems at the apex of which is the Internet. This network of networks thrives on and encourages the expansion of cross-border flows of ideas and information, goods and services, technology and capital. Being an active member of the global network economy is essential to Nigeria’s economic development. It must plug into the network or risk being shut out. The global market network operates by means of rules and standards that are largely set by the dominant players in the network. Data protection is a critical component of the regime of rules and standards that govern the global network economy; it is evolving into an international legal order that transcends geographical boundaries. The EU Directive on data protection is the de facto global standard for data protection; it threatens to exclude non-EU countries without an adequate level of privacy protection from the EU market. More than 50 countries have enacted data protection laws modelled on the EU standard. Access to the huge EU market is a major motivation for the current trend in global harmonisation of domestic data protection laws. This trend provides a compelling reason for examining the issues relating to data protection and trans-border data flows and their implications for Nigeria’s desire to integrate into the global network economy. There are two primary motivations for legislating restrictions on the flow of data across national boundaries. The first is the concern for the privacy of the citizens, and second, securing the economic well-being of a nation. It is important that Nigeria’s privacy protection keeps pace with international norms in the provision of adequate protection for information privacy order to prevent potential impediments to international trading opportunities.Public, Constitutional, and InternationalLL. D

    Values for a Post-Pandemic Future

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    This open access book shows how value sensitive design (VSD), responsible innovation, and comprehensive engineering can guide the rapid development of technological responses to the COVID-19 crisis. Responding to the ethical challenges of data-driven technologies and other tools requires thinking about values in the context of a pandemic as well as in a post-COVID world. Instilling values must be prioritized from the beginning, not only in the emergency response to the pandemic, but in how to proceed with new societal precedents materializing, new norms of health surveillance, and new public health requirements. The contributors with expertise in VSD bridge the gap between ethical acceptability and social acceptance. By addressing ethical acceptability and societal acceptance together, VSD guides COVID-technologies in a way that strengthens their ability to fight the virus, and outlines pathways for the resolution of moral dilemmas. This volume provides diachronic reflections on the crisis response to address long-term moral consequences in light of the post-pandemic future. Both contact-tracing apps and immunity passports must work in a multi-system environment, and will be required to succeed alongside institutions, incentive structures, regulatory bodies, and current legislation. This text appeals to students, researchers and importantly, professionals in the field

    Values for a Post-Pandemic Future

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    Exploring the dynamics of chronic conflict in four selected schools in the Durban Region.

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    Masters Degree. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban.Using reflexive narrative and autoethnography, this study explores the nature and manifestation of ‘chronic conflict’ in school leadership. With autoethnography as a method in this study, the researcher employs a systematic self-reflective analysis in exploring her own life story within a sociocultural and historical context in which it occurred, alongside those of her colleagues. This approach challenges traditional ways of doing research and presents research as a socially conscious activity, the reflexive nature of which makes it both a process and product. In presenting the rationale for the study, it is argued that educational leaders should become reflective practitioners since they engage with educational reform and find ways to facilitate and sustain school improvement. The purpose of the study was to develop a deeper understanding of the phenomenon of conflict as experienced by school principals and educators during their interaction with staff and important stakeholders, like governing body members. The use of the term “chronic” in this thesis is a borrowing from a medical disease model where chronic conflict is regarded as an illness that develops slowly over time, producing symptoms that remain continuous or intermittent. The research confines itself to a series of in-depth narrations by selected participants of four schools, two secondary and two primary where the narrators of each of these institutions presents a vivid account of recurring conflicts at their specific schools. The case study approach used in this study responds to the key questions of this study, namely, what is the nature of chronic conflict at schools; how is chronic conflict manifested at schools, and why does chronic conflict manifest in the way it does at these schools? Complexity theory, one of the main theories to dominate the conflict theory landscape is used to underpin the observations and analysis of conflict in this study. This theory asserts that changes in any system are non-linear, unpredictable and the product of complex processes and multi-systems, which necessitates deep self-reflection, original strategy development and intervention for each conflict scenario. 6 The findings reflect that the manifestation of conflicts multiply in frequency and intensity which, over a prolonged period, “mastasizes” and forges an array of “intractable” consequences which contributes to the idea of chronicity
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