By Bernie Cahiles-Magkilat
Raymund Liboro
The National Privacy Commission (NPC) expects to come up with a decision on their investigation of Facebook for breach of privacy case before the end of third quarter this year even as it said that fastfood chains Jollibee and Wendy’s are complying to ensure protection of the customers’ data.
NPC Commissioner Raymund Liboro told reporters at the media launched for the upcoming Data Privacy Asia Conference that Facebook is undergoing adjudication and they are expected to render a decision within the third quarter for improperly sharing personal data of its users to the British Cambridge Analytica. There are an estimated 67 million accounts on Facebook in the Philippines, matching the total number of internet users in the county.
In the case of Jollibee and Wendy’s, Liboro said that both fastfood chains have been complying with their compliance orders issued earlier.
“Jollibee is on the road to compliance, they just had discussion with investigation and technical team,” added Liboro, but stressed that a cease and desist order is just a preventive measure so the company can implement measures to stop possible risks of breach of privacy.
It could be recalled that Wendy’s notified the commission on April 23 that its website was infiltrated and that personal data of users were obtained and published online. NPC ordered Jollibee Foods Corp. on May 8 this year to suspend its online delivery platform indefinitely due to a data breach reported by the company in December last year.
He explained Jollibee has not really been affected by the order because the bulk of the company’s delivery service is still through phone.
Meantime, the NPC announced that the Data Privacy Asia on September 19-20 to be held in Manila in partnership with the Contact Center Association of the Philippines will feature more than 15 sessions and more than 25 speakers from across the globe.
This year’s theme: “Supercharging Data Privacy and Cybersecurity Programs” aims to also increase the conference participants understanding of how global issues are impacting local implementation due to the ever-evolving threats on cybersecurity.
This year's program will focus on practical advice and implementation guides to help supercharge the data privacy and cybersecurity programs of businesses and organization. A total of eight hands-on workshops on the second day will provide delegates with the know-how to safeguard their organizations and customers.
Liboro reported that as of August 14 this year, 22816 Data Protection Officers have registered with NPC. Meantime, 2,939 personal information controllers and personal information processors have finished registering their organization’s data processing systems. NPC has also received a total of 1,729 annual security incident report submissions.
Citizen awareness has also increased from an average of five inquiries per month in 2017, NPC now gets around 1,080 inquiries monthly. Since 2017, 2017, NPC has processed a total of 657 complaint-related inquiries, breach notifications, and formal complaints, major of which were from 2018. This includes concerns brought before the Commission, Commission-initiated investigations, and formal complaints. Of the total number, NPC has resolved 443.