While large amounts of data are generated in developing and under-developed countries, only developed countries are putting emphasis on processing this data, Electronics and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said on Wednesday. He said any attempt of “data imperialism” would not be accepted.
Mr. Prasad was speaking at a meeting of Commonwealth Law Ministers in Colombo.
Renewed debate
The comments come at a time when there is a renewed debate on data protection and privacy following recent intrusion of WhatsApp, which also affected users in India. The instant messaging platform has alleged that a spyware, Pegasus, made by Israeli firm NSO Group, was used to snoop on about 1,400 of its users globally.
Mr. Prasad said India acknowledged the importance of data economy, however, any attempt to create monopoly on data by a few companies and countries would not be accepted. He said data sovereignty of all countries, big or small, must be respected, an official release said.
“In India, we view privacy seriously and informational privacy is also integral to that. It means a person must have control over his data and its commercial usage,” the Minister said. He emphasised that any data protection law must be technology agnostic, based on element of free consent, requisite data protection authorities and a fair mechanism for data processing.
Published - November 06, 2019 09:52 pm IST
