Page 66 - 30NOV2018E

COLUMN

Our lives have become

an open book, literally!

his gentleman, who had come over to suit India’s requirements. The gov-
to my home to sell an insurance ernment, according to NITI Aayog CEO Am-
THE LAST policy the other day, was meet- itabh Kant, will soon introduce a bill in the
ing me for the first time. Thanks
Parliament on data protection. The earlier
WORD T to the Internet, particularly so- it is done, the better and safer for the com-
mon people of the country.
cial networking websites, he already had
ABDUL WASEY all my details. From my birthplace to my The proposed data protection frame-
present job along with designation; from work in India — work on which had begun
my date of birth to all the educational in- after the apex court had ruled that privacy
stitutions I had attended and offices I had is the fundamental right and asked the gov-
worked for in my life, he knew almost eve- ernment to draft rules for it — suggests, for
rything. Some of which even my closest example, a penalty based on per day viola-
friends or relatives may not be aware of. tion and linking the upper limit to global
For a moment I was glad that the guy had revenue of the entity controlling data but
done his homework properly before visit- has not specified any amount or percentage.
ing his client. But at the second thought, I Such laws may help tame big private
realised how vulnerable we have become companies and institutions such as Google,
in this cyber age. The right to privacy has Apple, Facebook, Amazon, Uber, Ola, etc
been severely compromised.
Even our minor life details are An explicit consent of
out in the open and are being
turned into data to achieve so- an individual should
cial, political and commercial
goals by various entities across at least be made
the world. must for processing
With 500 million people us-
ing internet across India, there sensitive personal
is a data glut. Every digital foot- information into data
print offers diverse kind of data
when put in different permuta-
tions and combinations. If they from misusing the details of individuals to
fall into wrong hands, they may keep an edge over their competitors. But
be more damaging than the there should also be clauses that could hin-
misuse of nuclear weapons. der political parties from manipulating the
Utilising these statistics as a tool data to create social rift to gain or remain in
for surveillance, monitoring, demonising power. To begin with, an explicit consent of
and alienating an individual, community an individual should at least be made must
or society is just one minor example of its for processing sensitive personal informa-
misapplication. tion like religious or political beliefs, sexual
The country needs a strong data pro- orientation and biometric details.
tection and localisation laws to curb data Few decades ago, we used to pity the
abuse. A set of rules regarding mining, own- helplessness of people living on footpaths
ing, sharing, and processing of data is need and in slums as their privacy was heavily
of the hour. It will help regulate this incred- compromised. Now the life of almost each
ible resource, putting it to better use while one of us has become an open book, which
protecting the privacy of citizens. is up for sale for a price. Gentleman, any in-
The good news is that the concerned au- surance policy to ensure privacy?
thorities are studying how it can customise
data protection principles followed world LETTERS@TEHELKA.COM

TEHELKA / 30 NOVEMBER 2018 66 WWW.TEHELKA.COM
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