No Threat To State바카라�s Right To Know You

Besides the personal data we generate (names, emails etc), there is also non-personal data: for example, traffic data that Uber and Ola have, or data with e-commerce companies such as Amazon and Flipkart. A lot of insights바카라�say, on somebody바카라�s socio-economic status바카라�can be drawn from such data. The bill applies to the purposes and extent to which companies can collect personal data. It has provisions for deletion of personal data post-use and withdrawal of consent by the data principal (the person to whom the personal data ­relates) in most cases as well. It also mandates the creation of a data protection authority, with one chairperson and six members, capable of imposing fines up to Rs 15 crore for big offences.

The safeguards, however, do not ­always protect the citizen바카라�s personal and non-personal data from being accessed by the government. It can even direct data processing companies to 바카라�provide any personal data anonymised or other non-personal data to enable better ­targeting of delivery of services or ­formulation of evidence-based policies by the central government바카라�.

바카라�The bill in its current form will negate people바카라�s data protection when it comes to the government and government agencies,바카라� says cyber-security expert Pawan Duggal. 바카라�The State becomes the party, the arbitrator and the judge in the same breath; and judge of its own cause. It will also open a Pandora바카라�s box of legal exposure litigation, because now ­privacy is a fundamental right. As the government becomes the biggest handler, processor and collector of personal data, it will make sure that none of its operations get covered under this law.바카라�

바카라�The government has always had the power to conduct such surveillance,바카라� says a lawyer who has worked with the government and refuses to be identified. On social media anonymity being at risk, he says the bill isn바카라�t the 바카라�right place to bring this in바카라�. 바카라�But we don바카라�t have a fundamental right to anonymous speech. You have a fundamental right to speech, but the State can regulate the manner in which that speech is made,바카라� he adds.

The lawyer points out that Google Maps, Uber and telecom operators have non-personal data, 바카라�important from a public interest perspective, for the State to plan certain schemes better, for example, in planning urban transport바카라�. But the Collection of Statistics Act, 2008, alr­eady empowers the government to collect such data, says the lawyer. He adds that the current bill needs to have 바카라�better ­definitions바카라�, besides stipulating that data should be made anonymous and available only in an aggregate form, not in individual parts that expose the user generating the data.

바카라�Critical personal data바카라�, to be processed only in India, has not been ­defined in the bill, while 바카라�sensitive ­personal data바카라� has been defined as data that may reveal financial, health, sexual orientation, biometric and genetic data, among others. Section 34 mentions when such data can be transferred ­outside the cou­ntry for processing. 바카라�This undoes the work of the Reserve Bank of India, which had stood up for the data localisation of banking data,바카라� says Duggal. 바카라�The bill takes a U-turn on this. The lobbies have been successful in getting the bill watered down.바카라�

Justice B.N. Srikrishna, author of the white paper that laid the groundwork for the bill, says he is 바카라�angry바카라� with the government바카라�s attitude (see ­interview). The bill has been referred to a joint ­select committee of Parliament ­instead of the standing committee바카라�an ­바카라�unprecedented바카라� move, Duggal says. 바카라�The government has found ingenious ways to bypass parliamentary ­procedure. This is a very significant ­legislation, which, if not enacted ­properly, would in the long term harm India바카라�s progress towards becoming an IT ­superpower,바카라� he adds.