India does not has a dedicate privacy law and data protection law. There is also no data security in India. This is the main reason why Praveen Dalal, the leading techno legal and cyber law specialist of India, suggested that India is not ready for cloud computing and SaaS services. Even the outsourcing services to India are also at grave risk in the absence of privacy law and data protection laws in India.In India, privacy violation is rampant. Telemarketing woes are well known and there is no system at place to curb the same. Any new database of information of Indian residents is a gold mine for telemarketing companies and marketing companies. With no deterrent law at place, these companies have an absolute and unfettered business model.
To make the matter worst, the cyber law of India has been made a mode and instrumentality of e-surveillance in India. According to Praveen Dalal, the amended Information Technology Amendment Act 2008 (IT Act 2008) provides vast, unregulated, unaccountable and unconstitutional E-Surveillance and Internet Censorship powers in the hands of Indian Government and its Agencies. With this amendment, only the “Outlaws” can have Privacy Rights and Human Rights in Indian Cyberspace, says Praveen Dalal.
In this background, we must see the need and effectiveness of Aadhar project or UID project of India, Natgrid, CCTNS, etc. Unique identification project of India is managed by Nandan Nilekani as the head of unique identification authority of India (UIDAI). Both Aadhar project and UIDAI are unconstitutional. Further, both Aadhar project and UIDAI are also undemocratic as they go against the spirit and requirements of Indian constitution.
With the intended/possible use of collected biometric and other data of Indian residents with projects like Natgrid, CCTNS, national census, etc, a very dangerous, unaccountable and unconstitutional e-surveillance model has been established by Indian government, warns Praveen Dalal. The absolute reluctance to enact suitable privacy laws and data protection laws proves this point.
The Indian government does not want to provide adequate safeguards against privacy violations and all it is offering is sale of privacy rights of Indians to commercial entities and law enforcement/intelligence agencies.
