India’s proposed data protection act, explained

Indian parliament tabled the “Personal Data Protection Act, 2019” in December 2019. The bill is essentially a data governance framework that forces organizations dealing with people’s personal data to relook at data management, and regulates practices to protect individual privacy and personal data. It defines what they can and can’t do.In the story, I explain what the provisions of the proposed legislation mean for individuals, organisations, regulator and the government.

Key point: the bill in the current form is a step forward to protect an individual’s data from private corporations but two steps backwards in placing safeguards from government surveillance—fundamentally hurting the premise of citizens’ privacy protection. If the government wants to empower individuals, they need to cede some of their own powers.

Read the story in Mint