POPIA and Personal Information
Almost every job today involves personal information: customer names and phone numbers, ID copies, CVs, payslips, medical certificates, CCTV footage and WhatsApp messages. The Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA) sets the rules for how this information may be collected, used, shared, stored and destroyed. Employers can face heavy fines and other penalties for getting it wrong, and employees who are careless can face discipline. This course explains POPIA in plain language. You will learn what counts as personal and special personal information, who the data subject, responsible party, operator and information officer are, the lawful reasons for processing information, and the eight conditions for lawful processing. You will learn how to recognise and respond to a data breach (a security compromise), the everyday habits that keep information safe, your rights as a data subject, the rules on direct marketing, and how to complain to the Information Regulator. The course is fully online and self-paced. Each lesson has a short activity in your workbook. You finish with a practical task and a final assessment, and you receive a MetaCo Certificate of Completion that you can add to your CV. The course gives general information about the law, not legal advice on your own situation.
What you will learn
Understand the Protection of Personal Information Act: how to handle people's information safely at work, what to do after a data breach, and how to use your own rights.
- Module 1: Introduction
- Module 2: What POPIA Protects
- Module 3: The Eight Conditions in Practice
- Module 4: Data Breaches and Security
- Module 5: Your Rights as a Data Subject
- Module 6: Putting It into Practice
How it is assessed
Short quizzes as you go, a final assessment with three attempts (fresh questions each time) and a practical task.
Certificate
MetaCo Certificate of Completion, with your own number and a QR code employers can scan. This certificate confirms completion of a MetaCo short course.
What you get
- The lessons, quiz and practical task
- A downloadable workbook (PDF)
- The Law toolkit
- A one-page cheat sheet to keep
- The MetaCo certificate with a QR verification link, and a "Copy to my CV" line
- The Career Starter Kit, free with your first purchase
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