Our concept of data privacy has moved little from the Indian Copyright Act, 1957. The IT Act, to aid the revolution in digital transactions, is even now beset with a plethora of amendments. The Privacy (Protection) Bill, 2013 to safeguard sensitive data, was aimed more against social media posts. We are yet unclear on critical core areas of concern on data privacy in this exploding digital age.
Recall that the NDA was utterly dismissive of Aadhaar during the UPA regime, yet three months in office, it was quick to sing paeans about it and now eager to wield it as a master key. The issue of the right to individual privacy, for instance Aadhaar, now has the attention of the Supreme Court. One must hope that the case is thoroughly sifted for both the pros and cons and not be allowed to be overridden citing administrative exigencies.
R. Narayanan,
Navi Mumbai
