Rise in spam calls leads to increased use of caller identification apps

We're all familiar with the annoyance of being distracted by unsolicited calls, particularly from telemarketers.

A rise in spam calls has led to a resultant increase in people downloading caller identification apps to minimise these unwelcome interruptions to their day.

Stephen Grootes interviews tech expert Siphumelele Zondi and asks about the limits to the Protection of Personal Information (POPI) Act,

There seems to be a misconception that POPIA doesn't at all allow the sharing of other people's information without permission, Zondi says.

"The issue here is actually the processing of that information and what you do with that information."

Siphumelele Zondi, Tech Expert

Truecaller and other apps like it are largely getting information that is in the public domain, says Zondi.

"In South Africa you'd register through the Rica process when you get your SIM card, and that information in a way is easily available. The caller identification apps then store that info in a data base, which is how it identifies people calling."

Siphumelele Zondi, Tech Expert

Zondi makes the point that these apps also gather data from you, which you have essentially given them permission to do.

"You can go to the app store you use, download the application and then when you say 'accept' you're giving it access to your contact list.'

Siphumelele Zondi, Tech Expert

In fact Truecaller themselves have been accused of sharing some of this data with third parties, which they've denied.

For more detail, listen to the interview audio at the top of the article