Data Protection Law In India Is Urgently Required

Indian government’s hunger for e-surveillance as well as the pressure from the industrial bodies for weak and ineffective cyber laws is costing Indians their privacy and data protection law. The truth is that privacy rights in India are at sale.

The e-surveillance projects include unique identification project of India (UID project) or Aadhar project of India. It is managed by Nandan Nilekani as the chairman of unique identification authority of India (UIDAI). Other projects include national intelligence grid (Natgrid), CCTNS, etc.

The ineffective and cyber criminal’s friendly laws include information technology act 2000. IT Act 2000 is the sole cyber law of India that has been made an instrumentality of e-surveillance by Indian government. Further, under pressure from industrial bodies, almost all the cyber crimes have been made bailable.

However, the gravest of all concerns is the high level of e-surveillance in India with no corresponding privacy laws, data protection laws and procedural safeguards. Even the IT Act 2000 is silent on the procedural safeguards against illegal and unconstitutional e-surveillance, internet censorship, etc.

In these circumstances, it is of paramount importance that suitable privacy laws and data protection laws must be enacted by Indian parliament as soon as possible.

Cyber Security In India Needs Rejuvenation

Cyber security in India needs good political, public and policy support. Issues like cyber law, cyber terrorism, cyber crimes, cyber espionage, cyber war, etc have been long neglected by India. This is detrimental to national security of India and internal security of India.

Strategic information plays a crucial role in launching an attack as well as preventing the same. Similarly, sensitive information in the hands of enemy, cyber terrorists, etc may also not be good for India.

Critical ICT infrastructure protection (CIIP) in India also necessitates that India must pay enough attention to cyber security issues. The Home Ministry, India is stressing too much upon issues like diluting encryption standards of Blackberry, a product of research in motion, e-surveillance of e-mails, telephone tapping capabilities, national intelligence grid (Natgrid), etc.

All these projects would prove to be landmines for India in the absence of proper laws and effective cyber security. Take the example of unique identification project of India (UID Project of India) or Aadhar project of India. It is managed by Nandan Nilekani as the chairman of unique identification authority of India (UIDAI). It would collect crucial biometric information and other details of Indians without any law that protects it from illegal data thefts, privacy breaches, etc. If such a crucial database is targeted by cyber criminals, much worst can happen.

According to Praveen Dalal, CEO of the exclusive techno legal cyber security research and training centre of India (CSRTCI) and managing partner of Perry4Law, India is not yet prepared for cyber threats. In fact, projects like Aadhar, Natgrid, CCTNS, etc are going to create more trouble than solution in the absence of proper laws and effective cyber security, says Dalal.

It seems India has misplaced its priorities and is engaging in unproductive and unconstitutional projects that are neither viable nor legal. Indian government must address these issues as soon as possible in the larger interest of India.

Unethical And Illegal SEO Activities Regarding UIDAI Are Happening And Google Seems To Be Indifferent

It has come to our knowledge that controversial topics regarding projects like Natgrid, CCTNS, etc in general and Aadhar project in particular have been systematically filtered at the Google news search. Surprisingly, all the topics pertaining to unique identification authority of India (UIDAI) and carrying the term UIDAI are dumped deep into the Google news search engine irrespective of their relevance and quality.

Since Google is aware of this issue and this cannot happen without its consent, we can safely presume that Google is also involved in this process. We would post more details very soon.

The latest article on breach of public trust by Indian government has been dumped once again.

Also see this CIO article.