‘We just want to be Heard!’ Dataveillance and location data – do South Africans care?

Abstract

People’s perceptions of digital communication platforms as related to dataveillance, and location data are examined in order to offer suggestions for increasing regulatory strength on the part of the government. Qualitative data collected from 65 participants through unstructured interviews were analysed. The analysis reveals that most of the participants are concerned about what the technology companies do with data collected without their consent. However, because of the numerous advantages digital platforms offer, they are not bothered about the technology companies’ use of the data collected without their consent. The same applies to location data. Recommendations are offered that could help the South African government strengthen its regulatory framework.