Through a qualitative research, Digital Citizenship came up with some findings that could be areas of work to mitigate any breach of privacy in Tunisia:
- The topic of privacy is sensitive but very unknown for the common stakeholders.
- There is a common belief that Social media is monitored but it is unclear which body is behind that and what tools or soft-wares are used in the matter.
- There is no transparency in dealing with contracts for drivers of surveillance. There is a record of hiring private sector to develop apps and platforms without a transparent process nor communication about the protection of citizens’ personal data and privacy policy.
- There is no accountability regarding data privacy, access and analysis.
- There is a need to update the law to deal with the new technologies and soft-wares. Despite being the first country to have a Data Protection Law, this one dates back to 2004.
- No further updates on the new bill to regulate and grant access to personal data. This one was in the making under the supervision of the former Minister of “Government Relations with Civil Society and Human Rights” Ayachi Hammami.
- The right to access to information has its limitations in certain cases such as the surveillance matter. The different Government bodies rarely respond to the individuals or NGOs inquiries and lawful access to information requests.
- Lack of mechanisms to mitigate data breaches or constitutional right to privacy.
- Lack of awareness of what personal data means and what the right to privacy, data protection and access to information mean.
- Tunisians are unaware of their civic and constitutional rights. They do not practice some of them i.e right to privacy and personal data protection.