The Evolving Privacy Right: an Analysis of Tanzania’s Legal Scheme in E-health Data Protection

Abstract

Rapid technological developments and globalization have brought new challenges to the protection of personal data. The scale of the collection and sharing of personal data has increased significantly. Technology allows both private companies and public authorities to make use of personal data on an unprecedented scale to pursue their activities. Natural persons increasingly make personal information available publicly and globally. The importance of the subject of privacy and data protection has gained unprecedented attention in recent years, requiring better and more elaborate rules of protection. Individuals are sometimes exposed to possible abuse and even to harmful consequences as a result of the developments in information and communication technology (ICT) and the role it plays in the collection of personal information, and the tendency of companies and business enterprises to collect and use personal information in making business decisions. It is therefore not surprising that many countries in the West enacted comprehensive legislation on data protection some time ago. Europe in particular, through the recently passed General Data Protection Regulation, 2016, is heading towards the harmonization of data protection laws to have consistency within the region This article aims to provide an overview of the evolving “right to privacy (Data protection)” in this digital health (e-health) world to give the main key facts to stakeholders in e-health sectors to adapt their practices and ensure compliance with the current evolving legal scheme in Tanzania. The processing of personal health data, genetic data biometric data, and other kinds of sensitive information is strictly regulated and even widely interpreted by justice-dispensing organs.