Privacy and Data security are crucial in today’s day and age of the Internet. Take Facebook-Cambridge Analytica, 2018 Google+ data breach or the recent news of Israeli spyware accessing Whatsapp, for instance. Thus, data regulation becomes paramount. The Personal Data Protection Bill is India’s foray into governance of personal data.
At the Union Cabinet meeting, chaired by PM Narendra Modi, the bill has been given a nod. The same was announced by Prakash Javadekar, Minister for Information & Broadcasting at a public conference. As he aptly mentions, “data protection is a global issue, and the bill looks at how India’s and people’s interests will be protected”.
The Bill was drafted by the Justice Srikrishna Committee under MeitY in July 2018. Finally, it will be raised in the Parliament during this Winter Session, set to conclude on December 13.
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Once approved and implemented, it will detail ways in which data will be acquired, stored, shared and used by both Government and private companies.
Here’s the official document explaining the Personal Data Protection Bill.
By the way, RBI has been steamrolling Facebook-owned Whatsapp pay to establish its data centers in the country. Until the same is done, it has mandated the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) from a wide public release.
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“The RBI has examined the said reports (by NPCI) and the responses of NPCI and is of the considered view that WhatsApp is storing the following payment data elements outside India beyond the permitted timelines indicated in the circular and frequently asked questions (FAQs) on storage of payments system data issued by RBI on June 26, 2019,” said RBI, as quoted by Times of India.
Going forward, it seems that big techs will have to adhere to the new regulations. This will likely better safeguard the personal data of the end-user.
