Cyprus has taken ’many steps’ forward in cultivating a culture of data protection

Cyprus has taken many steps forward in terms of cultivating a culture of personal data protection but there is still scope for more actions, Personal Data Protection Commissioner, Irene Loizidou Nicolaidou said.

In an interview with CNA on Saturday to mark European Day for the Protection of Personal Data, marked on January 28 each year, the commissioner said the public themselves “are the bearers of our personal data”.

“Our privacy concerns us primarily and we should be aware of them since we use technology every day,” she said.

The commissioner described the legislation in place for the protection of personal data as sufficient and added that it is now accepted that the general regulation known as GDPR, which for which there is broad awareness, “is a powerful legal tool”.

She noted that the consolidation of personal data and its protection was at a very good level, but there were still steps that could be taken.

Loizidou mentioned that there were a lot of cases and they concern, among other things, allegations of violation of personal data through the sending of span emails.

In order for there to be no violation there should be express, clear consent from the data subject and at the same time and “even though we give our consent, there should be the option to change our minds via a ‘stop SMS’ for telephone messages and ‘unsubscribe’ for emails, she said.

Asked if her office has received complaints to do with the unsolicited emails during the presidential election campaign the commissioner instructions are always issued during election periods on what campaign offices and candidates can legally do regarding the issues of sending messages with political content.