Dear all, India's first data protection bill is about to be tabled in the Parliament. While it's a step forward in many ways, the bill urgently needs edits to effectively uphold our privacy. Now that the bill will move to the Parliament, it could pass without these changes in a matter of days. We need to directly petition the Parliament to ensure that the Bill is worked upon to address our concerns.
On analysing this bill, it is clear that changes must be made for the bill to have any real teeth: 1. *Government use of data & surveillance*: Even though the Bill has strong requirements on private companies, it has weaker protections when it comes to government's use of data and surveillance agencies. 2. *Missing rights*: The Bill is missing the key right to object to processing of data which is especially concerning since the government isn't required to ask for consent. The bill also allows users to be charged a fee for changing or correcting their data. 3. *Independence of regulator*: This bill creates an authority to investigate and fine companies and the government if they put our data and privacy at risk. However, this body has not been made sufficiently independent from the government. This needs to change for the law to effectively regulate government agencies. 4. *Blanket data localization*: This bill requires a copy of all personal data to be stored on servers in India. This would be bad for users, security, and businesses, and could be a way to enable easier surveillance. Take action now — sign the petition(link below) to ask that a Parliamentary Standing Committee review the bill and address our concerns. https://foundation.mozilla.org/en/campaigns/india-privacy-law/sign-petition/ For more information please visit https://foundation.mozilla.org/en/campaigns/india-privacy-law/ The initiative is taken by Mozilla Foundation. -- Thanks Ankur Kothiwal IRC: knownymous_ _______________________________________________ Users mailing list Users@lists.dgplug.org http://lists.dgplug.org/listinfo.cgi/users-dgplug.org