Casa Vera Lounge, Fair Cash fined for flouting data privacy regulations
The Office of the Data Protection Commissioner (ODPC) has fined three firms Ksh9,375,000 over data privacy rights against their subjects.
Among those fined include digital credit provider Mulla Pride Ltd, which operates KeCredit and Faircash mobile lending apps.
The company was fined Ksh2,975,000 for using the names and contact information of complainants which were obtained from third parties, and subsequently used to send threatening messages and phone calls.
"This penalty will ensure that digital lenders and financial institutions notify data subjects when collecting and processing their data and the intention of processing the said data. It will further ensure that the data controllers are limited to strictly dealing with data subjects who have consented to the collection and processing of their data," ODPC said in a statement.
Casa Vera Lounge, a restaurant based along Ngong Road in Nairobi, has also been fined Ksh1,850,000 for posting a reveller's image on their social media platform without the owner's consent.
"This penalty seeks to ensure that other lounges, and clubs seek consent from their customers prior to posting their images online," ODPC added.
ODPC has also fined Roma School Ksh4,550,000 for posting minors' pictures without parental consent.
"This being the first and the highest penalty to an educational facility sends a message to schools and other facilities handling minors' personal data to obtain consent from parents/guardians prior to processing minors' data," ODPC added.
Data privacy
Data Commissioner Immaculate Kassait called upon data controllers and data processors to ensure that the processing of personal data is in accordance with the law.
ODPC has also announced that it is investigating WhitePath (a digital credit provider) and Naivas Supermarket on a recent data breach.
"The findings will be shared with the data controllers for their swift action. The office will be embarking on conducting 40 compliance audits to various data controllers and processors in various sectors this financial year," ODPC added.
