
The Adequacy of Data Protection Laws in Protecting Personal Data in Malaysia
Author(s) -
Nurkhairina Binti Noor Sureani,
Atikah Shahira Binti Awis Qurni,
Ayman Haziqah Binti Azman,
Mohd Bahrin Othman,
Hariz Sufi Bin Zahari
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
malaysian journal of social sciences and humanities
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2504-8562
DOI - 10.47405/mjssh.v6i10.1087
Subject(s) - data protection act 1998 , benchmarking , legislation , data breach , personally identifiable information , context (archaeology) , scope (computer science) , business , internet privacy , information privacy law , data science , computer security , computer science , political science , law , privacy by design , marketing , geography , programming language , archaeology
With the burgeoning technology, Malaysia has seen a staggering number of data breaches and data leaks within this past decade alone, with no signs of the trend decreasing. This has raised questions on whether the Personal Data Protection Act 2010 (PDPA) adequately protects the personal data of Malaysians. With the recent COVID-19 pandemic, data has been collected on a larger scale than before, with more frequent data leaks occurring. Hence, this study aims to analyse the adequacy of the PDPA by benchmarking it to the United Kingdom’s (UK) Data Protection Act 2018, which have seen a decrease in data breaches since the implementation of the new legislation. In this context, personal data refers to information processed or recorded that relates directly or indirectly to a data subject, who may be identified from the information and may include sensitive personal data. The study uses a doctrinal analysis methodology to best explore the ideas and concepts within the literature available regarding the protection of personal data. The study also employs a comparative analysis methodology by comparing the scope and application of Malaysian and UK legislation for benchmarking. The findings suggest that there are improvements to be made for the PDPA to be adequate.