Salomie Lyle-Scott, Senior Project Manager at MC Systems, the technology company, said that smart cities would ease traffic congestion.

Last year, the government of Jamaica committed to establishing the country’s first “smart city.”

Dwayne Russell, general manager, MC Systems, urge MSMEs to embrace digital transformation to become more competitive.

“Net neutrality promotes technology innovations that are often generated by small businesses.”

Kathryn Chin See, Business Development and Research Analyst at MC Systems, explains what a digital footprint is: “Think of your digital footprint as a trail of patty crumbs, or dirty footprints across your mother’s freshly mopped terrazzo floors. Your digital footprint is a data trace of where we have been and what we’ve done in the digital space. It encompasses the websites you’ve visited, your social media activities, your email composition and distribution.”

Digital identity theft is on the rise and occurs in every industry with an online presence. An infamous case of identity theft affected social media giant, Facebook following the revelation that hackers accessed data of some 30 million users late last year. Local experts in technology say that securing one’s digital identity is imperative.

Nicholas Lawrence, Senior Software Engineer at Management Control Systems (MC Systems) argued that the market will provide adequate adjustment in a competitive environment; and that there is no need for legislation currently.

Mr. Burgess said the attackers disguise themselves as a trustworthy friend, or entity to acquire sensitive information, typically through email or other online messaging. This is the most successful form of acquiring confidential information on the internet, accounting for 91 per cent of attacks.

Despite having more than half the population having access to the internet, Jamaica is not fully leveraging its access for economic and social development, according to Professor of Management Information Systems at the University of Technology, Jamaica, Dr Paul Golding, and may need intervention to encourage more sophisticated use.

A consequence of having a ton of access to information is that people don’t always know if they can trust the information that they receive. Businesses, on the other hand, do not have that luxury, they have to know that they can trust the data they get. This is especially so for cross-border financial services entities, such as banks and insurance firms.