The Justice B.N. Srikrishna committee on data protection has identified key principles on which India's data protection framework should be based. According to the committee, the law must be technology agnostic. It must be flexible to take into account the changing technologies and standards of compliance.
While there has been a loud clamour for data protection in the private sector, the committee believes that the new law should have holistic application. "The law must apply to both private sector entities and government. Differential obligations may be carved out in the law for certain legitimate state aims," said the report.
The committee's stand assumes significance, especially in case of Aaadhar where there have been allegations that the state is intruding into the privacy of its citizens by mandating Aadhaar linkage to almost all state services.
The other important aspect outlined by the report is informed consent. While supporters of Aadhaar say that consent is built in and for any usage one has to first get the person to agree.
Meaningful consent, however, is something that has been missing in India. In most cases, individuals do not know what they are getting into. Given the low literacy rates of the country, there is a high chance that the poor and gullible would not even know how their data is going to be used. Consent is mostly misinterpreted in India.
The committee's proposals, however, offer some hope. "Consent is an expression of human autonomy. For such expression to be genuine, it must be informed and meaningful. The law must ensure that consent meets the aforementioned criteria,” the report says.
The committee further believes that a data protection law should also be based on data minimisation, controller accountability, structured enforcement and deterrent penalties.
The 10-member panel, formed under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, had been holding regular meetings since August this year after the constitution bench of the Supreme Court referred to the importance of the pending framework in its landmark right to privacy verdict.
