Open any newspaper or news website, and the chances are that you will find a report on someone’s right to personal privacy being infringed, or yet another intrusion through an organisation’s security systems with credit card or other financial information being stolen. With the rise of free flow of information over the internet, the popularity of social media, increasing identity theft and other intrusions on the privacy of individuals, governments world-wide have become increasingly concerned with the purposes for which organisations collect personal information, why they keep it, and how they protect it. The position in South Africa is no different, and consumers in South Africa should be welcoming the impending Protection of Personal Information Bill (PoPI or the Bill).