DailyPost 2956
CAN DATA PROTECTION HAPPEN?
The rules of the DPDP Act are still to see the light of the day, to transform the act from just being a law to an operational legal reality. Different countries started their tryst with privacy, more so digital, at different points in time, GDPR being the most important landmark. The Indian story started with the Right to Privacy, unanimous judgement of the Supreme Court in 2017. The landmark verdict is still to become the operative law seven years down the line. The Act has been passed, the rules have still not been finalised, stamped and put in use.
No stakeholder seems to be in hurry, even the persons who are going to benefit from it, the common man, with all others. Maybe they feel that privacy is already a lost cause. The personal data blitzkrieg it is thought is not going to be dented by the DPDP Act. Seven years have been quite a long time to be lost in the data war of attrition to catch up, when personal data was being put to all the tests, to make it as surrogate as possible, and that has broadly been achieved. How the DPDP Act intends to bring back the lost ground is left to each one’s fertile imagination. Most likely it is not going to happen.
We will start with two extremes, first if the data is stored on foreign soil, no foreign government can block their courts from accessing this data for legal or “for less than legal purposes.” On the other end of the spectrum we have banks as the worst defenders of personal data because “they think they can share your personal details with their relationship managers.” Where does the whole barrage of data come from, which is being used to intimidate the victim during digital arrest? What about the tele-callers? Literally, every single database is scraped to the bottom, for an indefinite number of data-monetisation models.
Few specific examples would make things crystal clear. Before Aadhar was masked, it had already been shared with many. From state registrars to telecom companies, it was all over. The data had been “privatised”, and shared in antithesis to what has been contemplated in this act. Banks have been the worst defenders of privacy. Their relationship managers carry the personal data with them, even when they change banks as their personal asset. The data going through the revolving doors within a sector, like realtors, is a reality. Social media sites leak the data like crazy. Blocking is barely serving any purpose. What rogue states can do with personal data is too well known. And finally, if Angela Merkel’s privacy was not respected by the US, will they respect ours? Data clock cannot go back?
HOW DO WE RECLAIM OUR PERSONAL DATA, IF WE DO, WOULD BE FASCINATING!
Sanjay Sahay
Have a nice evening.