India is keen on the storage of key personal data within the country to prevent “data imperialism”, Law, Justice and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said at the Global Business Summit on Saturday.
He also said government would seek details of origins of only such messages that promote terrorism and radicalisation on social media platforms such as WhatsApp.
Prasad also indicated that the government may be mulling steps to check abuse on Twitter, saying he received numerous complaints after the Supreme Court scrapped Section 66A of the IT Act under which a person could be arrested for posting “offensive” content on websites.
“After the 66A judgment, people come to me (saying) ‘I am being trolled, what should I do?’ Adequate mechanism for addressing this is not available. We need to do something about this,” Prasad said.
On the question of storing personal data within India, Prasad said he understood the concerns of those backing a free flow of data across borders, but companies should not be allowed to colonise data.
“I understand that some degree of automatic movement of data is integral to the digital landscape. But should there be a new data imperialism is the larger question. And if some companies have a monopoly on global data and seek to unleash a new design of data imperialism, that will not be plainly accepted,” Prasad said.
He said there is also a need for pragmatic discussions on data anonymisation under the concept of sovereignty of information.
“For instance, I am entitled to have my medical record in a secure place, but let me give you a counter narrative. Suppose, in a particular area, a particular illness is developing. You want to know the reason for this. You need to have data, social, economic, for this but the data needs to be anonymised,” Prasad said.
The government-appointed Justice BN Srikrishna Committee submitted a draft of the data protection bill in July last year. After seeking stakeholder consultation on the draft, the Ministry of Electronics and IT is now in the process of finalising the draft which is expected to be presented in Parliament. But that would now be done by the next government, after the general elections expected in April-May.
Prasad said the government would take tough decisions to tackle the spread of rumours on platforms such as Facebook and WhatsApp which lead to “heinous” crimes.
He, however, conceded that India and WhatsApp are not on the same page in terms of ways to tackle this issue, especially the sticky issue of tracing the origin of such harmful rumours.
WhatsApp, which offers end-to-end encryption for users of its messaging app, has resisted demands by the Indian government to enable traceability of messages to curb rumours that fuel violent incidents like mob lynching and terrorism.
“They have a view; we have a view. They say our technology cannot permit that (breaking encryption). But if WhatsApp is abused for terror, radicalisation, promotion of corruption and creating havoc in the country, they owe an obligation to the land. This ‘can’t’ with a capital C I don’t appreciate and there is nothing impossible in technology,” Prasad said.
He added that India would never want sensitive information such as dialogue between journalist and source, between doctor and patient, between lawyer and client.
“But if certain WhatsApp messages being circulated and re-circulated have the potential to cause serious mishap, terrorist promotion, radical ideas’ promotion and the police ask you to find the origin of that, then you need to think about it,” said Prasad. He, however, appreciated the steps such as curbing forwards that WhatsApp had taken to check spread of such rumours. He also added that WhatsApp shouldn’t become a party to corporate rivalry.
On local manufacturing, Prasad called upon global companies to make India their manufacturing hub. “Given what is happening in China, India is giving you a big opportunity. Come to India, which has human resource, a proven record of governance.”
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