Relevance : GS Paper III (Science and Technology)
[1000 words reduced to 250]
- B N Srikrishna committee has prepared a draft data protection bill.
- Pros of the committee
- inclusive functioning style
- recommendations such as setting up of an independent data protection authority
- suggestion that the Aadhaar Act requires several modifications
- recognition given to data portability.
- Cons of the committee
- Suggestion that the UIDAI be both the data fiduciary and the regulator for Aadhaar.
- suggestion that even though personal data can be transferred outside India, data fiduciaries will be required to store a local copy.
- cliched vocabulary and superficial treatment of several important issues, for example, data quality and data storage limitation
- failure to define clear-cut guidelines for the safe use of artificial intelligence and big-data analytics
- has not carefully evaluated the data processing requirements of the diverse private sector
- Way forward
- investigation of the nuances of digital identity and guidelines
- analysis of the extent to which personal information needs to be revealed
- understanding of the possible pathways of information leaks
- analysis of the possibilities of privacy preserving tools, techniques and protocols from computer science
- improved data processing methods for tax compliance, corruption control, etc.
- digitisation, surveillance and processing of large-scale personal transactional data
- analyses of how such surveillance can be achieved without enabling undesirable mass surveillance
- balancing the conflicting requirements of individual privacy and the benefits of large-scale data processing
- defining the requirements and standards of access control, and protection against both external and insider attacks
- availing the benefits from computer science
- participation of civil society