- India’s IT minister has said that country’s own Data Protection bill will be passed in the monsoon session
- The bill contains clauses that will make the Internet safer for consumers and put strict regulatory norms on Big Tech
- Companies like Google and Facebook have openly expressed their disagreements with the bill as it will halt their dominant status
After nearly three years of deliberations with almost every stakeholder of the industry, the Modi government seems to have settled on regulation regarding the Internet in India. India’s own Data Protection Law is now about to see the light of the day.
Data Protection Bill to be passed in Monsoon session
Ashwini Vaishnav, India’s IT minister has said that by the end of the Monsoon session, India will have its own Data Protection Law. Detailing the reason for the delay, he informed that various rounds of deliberations and discussions are going on the suggestions related to various clauses in the draft bill. Additionally, he also quashed rumours of the government thinking on the lines of scrapping the long-awaited bill.
Explaining the consultation process, the IT minister said, “The consultations which happened were very comprehensive and the report which has come out is again very comprehensive report. It definitely is a complex subject…which has matters that need to be resolved.”
Apprising that government is on its way to resolve the contentious issues, he said, “I think we should be able to resolve them very soon and bring it…our target was actually this Budget session itself. But, definitely, by the monsoon session, we should be able to do that,”
Read more: First success of Ashwini Vaishnaw: Twitter now follows all clauses of the IT Act 2021
Struggle for regulating Internet
The amount of data on the Internet is so huge and so much diverse that it has proved to be tough for any country to regulate them. Recently, the European Union and a few other western nations did pave the way for countries all around the world, but the sheer diversity of local data has proved to be tedious to codify and regulate.
In India itself, the advent of the internet opened the way for excess misuse. That’s why the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government passed the IT Act in 2000. Soon, it proved to be not enough for India as our user base expanded exponentially. Users’ privacy and mental health became a key concern for the government.
Bill took 3 years to take final shape
In 2018, Modi Government proposed the Data Protection Bill. The bill provided for the storage of data of Indian users in data centres located inside of the country. However, it met with stiff resistance. Later, the bill was sent to be scrutinized by the Joint Committee of Parliament (JCP). JCP consulted every stakeholder including the government, consumers, and famous companies in the Tech domain like Google, Apple and Paytm.
In December 2021, JCP gave its final suggestions regarding tinkering with the bill.
- The committee suggested that the government should strive to protect not just the personal data of individual users, but even non-personal data as well.
- JCP has proposed that social media platforms should be made responsible for any kind of information circulating on their platforms.
- JCP also advised that if any company is found of data breaches, then it should be forced to pay either 4 per cent of its global turnover or up to Rs 15 crore. Additionally, the responsible authorities will also need to face a jail term of up to 3 years
Big tech is not happy
The clause of storing data inside the Indian Territory is giving nightmares to big tech companies like Google and Facebook. In multiple regulatory filings to the US Security and Exchange Commission (SEC), both companies have registered their concerns regarding the same. On the other hand, companies like Paytm, Ola and Uber have supported this clause.
Internet Data is a reality that cannot be ignored and so is the one-sided dominance by a few tech giants. India’s Data protection bill is expected to open the market for new entrants in the game.
This is urgent and this Data Protection Bill must be passed in Monsoon session as we have seen first hand how serious the threats are from Big Tech firms like Google, Twitter, Facebook suppressing and banning the free voices from the Russian Ukraine’s war.