Centre for Internet and Society

Privacy Protection Bill (September 2013)

praskrishna — 2013-09-27T14:03:52Z

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/privacy-protection-bill-september-2013.pdf

Privacy Protection Bill

praskrishna — 2014-02-25T05:21:40Z

Latest version of the Privacy Protection Bill as in February 2014.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/privacy-protection-bill-february-2014.pdf

Privacy Policy Twitter

praskrishna — 2018-05-29T14:27:34Z

Privacy Policy Twitter

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/home-images/PrivacyPolicyTwitter.jpg

Privacy Policy

praskrishna — 2013-07-01T06:25:37Z

Preliminary

This Privacy Policy ("Policy") states the internal policy of the Centre for Internet & Society ("CIS") with regard to the collection, storage, security, processing and disclosure of personal data.
This Policy constitutes compliance with the Information Technology (Reasonable Security Practices and Procedures and Sensitive Personal Data or Information) Rules, 2011 that were notified by the Central Government in the Gazette of India vide Notification GSR 313(E) on 11 April 2011.

Collection of Personal Data

CIS will not collect any personal data that is not necessary for the achievement of a purpose that is connected to a stated CIS function.
CIS will not collect any personal data without obtaining the prior consent of the person to whom it pertains. CIS may obtain such consent in any manner, and through any medium, but will not employ threats, duress or coercion to obtain such consent.
Personal data collected in respect of a grant of consent by the person to whom it pertains will, if that consent is subsequently withdrawn for any reason, be destroyed or anonymised.

Storage of Personal Data

CIS will not store any personal data for a period longer than is necessary to achieve the purpose for which it was collected, or, if that purpose is achieved or ceases to exist for any reason, for any period following such achievement or cessation.
Any personal data collected in relation to the achievement of a purpose will, if that purpose is achieved or ceases to exist for any reason, be destroyed or anonymised.
CIS may store personal data for a period longer than is necessary to achieve the purpose for which it was collected, or, if that purpose has been achieved or ceases to exist for any reason, for any period following such achievement or cessation, if –
- the person to whom it pertains grants consent to such storage;
- it is required to be stored under the provisions of applicable law; or
- it is the subject of a pending legal proceeding.

Processing of Personal Data

CIS will not process any personal data that is not necessary for the achievement of the purpose for which it was collected unless the person to whom it pertains grants consent to such processing.

Security of Personal Data

CIS will not collect, store or process any personal data in the absence of measures, including, but not restricted to, technological, physical and administrative measures, adequate to secure the confidentiality, secrecy, sanctity and safety of the personal data, including from theft, loss, damage or destruction.
Any person who collects, stores or processes any personal data on behalf of CIS will be subject to a duty of confidentiality and secrecy in respect of it.
CIS will, if the confidentiality, secrecy, sanctity or safety of any personal data collected, stored or processed by CIS is violated by theft, loss, damage or destruction, or as a result of any disclosure contrary to the provisions of this Policy, notify, to the extent possible, the person to whom the personal data pertains.

Disclosure of Personal Data

CIS will not disclose to any person to whom any personal data does not pertain, or otherwise cause any such a person to receive, the content or nature of that personal data, including any other details in respect thereof, unless the person to whom it pertains grants consent to such disclosure. CIS may obtain such consent in any manner, and through any medium, but will not employ threats, duress or coercion to obtain such consent.
CIS may disclose personal data with a person to whom it does not pertain, whether located in India or otherwise, for the purpose only of processing it to achieve the purpose for which it was collected, if such a disclosure is pursuant to an agreement that binds the person receiving it to same or stronger measures in respect of its storage, processing and disclosure as are contained in this Policy.
If the disclosure of any personal data is necessary to –
- prevent a reasonable threat to national security, defence or public order; or
- prevent, investigate or prosecute a cognisable offence;
CIS may, upon receiving an order in writing from a judicial authority or law enforcement officer, disclose the personal data that is the subject of the order without seeking the consent of the person to whom it pertains.
CIS may, to the extent possible, notify the person to whom any personal data pertains of its disclosure and the identity of the person it was disclosed to, and any other details in respect thereof.

Accuracy of Personal Data

CIS will reasonably afford any person whose personal data is collected, stored or processed by CIS the opportunity to review it and, where necessary, rectify anything that is inaccurate or not up to date.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/about/policies/privacy-policy

Privacy Newsletter May - June 2017

praskrishna — 2017-07-20T14:11:11Z

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/files/privacy-newsletter-may-june-2017.pdf

Privacy Newsletter March 2017

praskrishna — 2017-07-20T14:08:00Z

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/files/privacy-newsletter-march-2017.pdf

Privacy Newsletter February 2017

praskrishna — 2017-07-20T14:00:13Z

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/files/privacy-newsletter-february-2017.pdf

Privacy Newsletter April 2017

praskrishna — 2017-07-20T14:03:37Z

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/files/privacy-newsletter-april-2017.pdf

Privacy Meeting: Brussels – Bangalore

praskrishna — 2013-09-12T07:56:53Z

The Centre for Internet and Society, Bangalore welcomes you to a talk on privacy by Gertjan Boulet and Dariusz Kloza on August 14, 2013, 5.00 p.m. to 8.00 p.m.

Slides from the talk can be accessed here.

Draft Agenda

Time	Detail
17.00 17.15	Brief presentation of the Research Group on Law, Science, Technology and Society (LSTS) at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), Belgium
17.15 18.15	Session on "new tools" to protect privacy and personal data. A case-study on (European) approach to privacy impact assessment This session will provide an overview to the main findings of the projects carried out by VUB-LSTS (predominantly) with regard to privacy impact assessments (PIA), starting with the EU co-funded PIAF (“A Privacy Impact Assessment Framework for data protection and privacy rights”; 2011-2012), which reviewed existing PIA frameworks worldwide, surveyed opinions of national data protection authorities (DPAs) on an optimal PIA policy and, finally, provided a set of recommendations for PIA policy-makers and practitioners. This session will be concluded by proposing adaptation of the so-called environmental democracy to the needs and reality of privacy. The points in this session will be contrasted with the experience of India.
18.15 18.45	Session on co-operation of data protection authorities "Improving Practical and Helpful cooperation between Data Protection Authorities", 2013-15. This session will provide a preliminary analysis of the (legal) factors that pose as obstacles to and/or encourage co-operation between DPAs worldwide in enforcing privacy and data protection laws. Such an analysis aims at creating a 'wish-list', i.e. at identifying what measures could be taken to reduce barriers and to further foster co-operation. This session will be concluded by discussing what DPAs' can learn about co-operation from European and international competition law. The points in this session will be contrasted with the experience of India.
18.45 19.00	Break
19.00 19.15	Small session on big data The focus of this session will be on the challenges posed to sovereignty by cross-border law enforcement access to big data. The Belgian Yahoo-case will be discussed as it is emblematic of a reality with broad national claims to access data in a trans-border context. Indian perspectives on this topic will be taken into account.
19.15 20.00	Open discussion

Materials

Wright, David, Kush Wadhwa, Paul De Hert, and Dariusz Kloza, A Privacy Impact Assessment Framework for Data Protection and Privacy Rights, 2011. http://piafproject.eu/ref/PIAF_D1_21_Sept2011Revlogo.pdf
Hosein, Gus, and Simon Davies, Empirical Research of Contextual Factors Affecting the Introduction of Privacy Impact Assessment Frameworks in the Member States of the European Union, 2012. http://piafproject.eu/ref/PIAF_deliverable_d2_final.pdf
De Hert, Paul, Dariusz Kloza, and David Wright, Recommendations for a Privacy Impact Assessment Framework for the European Union, 2012. http://piafproject.eu/ref/PIAF_D3_final.pdf
Kloza Dariusz, Moscibroda Anna, Boulet Gertjan, “Improving Co-operation Between Data Protection Authorities: First Lessons from Competition Law.” in Jusletter IT. Die Zeitschrift für IT und Recht, published by Weblaw AG. http://jusletter-it.weblaw.ch/issues/2013/20-Februar-2013/2128.html
Kloza Dariusz, “Public voice in privacy governance: lessons from environmental democracy”, in Erich Schweighofer (ed.), KnowRight 2012 conference proceedings [forthcoming].

Other resources

PHAEDRA project: http://www.phaedra-project.eu

PIAF project: http://piafproject.eu
PIAw@tch, the PIA observatory: http://piawatch.eu

The Speakers

Gertjan Boulet

Gertjan Boulet holds a joint LL.M/MPhil (2010) from Leuven University (Belgium) and Tilburg University (the Netherlands) where he successfully completed a Research Master of Laws programme focused on legal methods and interdisciplinary research. He started to work as a doctoral researcher at the Research Group on Law, Science, Technology and Society (LSTS) at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel in January 2013 for the EU-funded research project 'Improving Practical and Helpful cooperAtion bEtween Data PRotection Authorities' (PHAEDRA). Before, he was a freelance researcher at VUB, and became a member of the programming committee of the annual conference 'Computers, Privacy & Data Protection' (CPDP). Prior to joining the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Gertjan worked for the Brussels Airport Company (2010) and the law firm DLA Piper (2011). He also completed internships at the Belgian Public Prosecutor (2007), the Constitutional Court of Belgium (2012) and the Belgian Privacy Commission (2013).

Gertjan Boulet

Dariusz Kloza

Dariusz (Darek) Kloza is a doctoral researcher at the Research Group on Law, Science, Technology, and Society (LSTS) and the Institute for European Studies (IES) at Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB). He holds both an LL.M. in Law and Technology (2010) from the Tilburg Institute for Law, Technology, and Society (TILT) at Tilburg University (with distinction) and a master degree in law from University of Białystok (2008). He was also an exchange student at University of Copenhagen (2007-2008). His research is focused on fundamental rights in the digital era (especially privacy and data protection), liability of intermediary service providers and private international law. His doctoral research focuses on positive procedural obligations for privacy and data protection from the European perspective.

He has been involved in researching privacy and data protection issues in a number of EU co-funded projects, such as PIAF (Privacy Impact Assessment Framework for data protection and privacy rights), PHAEDRA (Improving Practical and Helpful cooperAtion bEtween Data PRotection Authorities) and ADVISE (Advanced Video Surveillance archives search Engine for security applications). He has also contributed to the work of the European Commission’s Task Force for Smart Grids, aimed at ensuring high level of privacy and personal data protection in smart grids/metering.

Dariusz Kloza

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/events/privacy-meeting-brussels-bangalore

Privacy Meeting Brussels - Bangalore Slides

praskrishna — 2013-09-12T07:55:14Z

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/privacy-meeting-brussels-bangalore.pdf

Privacy Meet

praskrishna — 2013-11-20T05:13:57Z

Bhairav Acharya was invited by Yahoo's Director of International Privacy, Laura Juanes Micas, to a dinner meeting on privacy at the Oberoi in New Delhi.

The meeting was attended by Justice A.P. Shah, Dr. Gulshan Rai, Dr. Kamlesh Bajaj and others. At this event, Bhairav spoke about the need to develop laws to regulate surveillance and personal data in India. Bhairav further spoke about both the commercial benefits that will accrue from data protection law as well as the national benefit from surveillance regulation and security law. Bhairav also spoke of the need to create a procedure that is just, fair and reasonable and, he highlighted the point that these laws would have to survive constitutional scrutiny by the Supreme Court of India. He also pointed out that meaningful protections lay in creating procedural law that allowed individuals the protection of natural justice and identified magistrates to authorise data collections and interceptions. He further made it clear that India's distinct security situation, both internal and external, warranted a robust surveillance framework that enables law enforcement and strengthens the criminal justice system in manner consistent with the rule of law.

Timings	Agenda
19.00 19.25	Handshakes and Introduction
19.25 19.30	Welcome Remarks by Laura Juanes Micas, Director – International Privacy, Yahoo Inc
19.30 19.35	Address by Manoj Joshi, Joint Secretary, Deptt of Personnel and Training
19.35 19.40	Address by Dr. Gulshan Rai, Director General, CERT-IN
19.40 19.45	Address by Dr. Kamlesh Bajaj, CEO – Data Security Council of India (DSCI)
19.45 19.50	Address by Bhairav Acharya, Legal Adviser, Centre for Internet and Society (CIS)
19.50 19.55	Address by Rajan Mathews, Director General, Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI)
19.55 20.00	Address by Justice A P Shah, Former Chief Justice, Delhi High Court and Chairman, Group of Experts
20.00 20.05	Address by Pavan Duggal, Advocate, Supreme Court
20.05 20.10	Address by Chinmayi Arun, Research Director – Centre for Communication Governance, National Law University - Delhi
20.10 20.15	Address by Prasanth Sugathan, Counsel, Software Freedom Law Centre (SFLC.IN)
20.15 20.20	Address by Dr. Subho Ray, President, Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI)
20.20	Discussions (Along with Sit – Down Dinner)

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/news/privacy-meet-october-7-2013

Privacy Matters, Guwahati — Event Report

praskrishna — 2011-08-26T10:31:08Z

On June 23, a public seminar on “Privacy Matters” was held at the Don Bosco Institute in Karhulli, Guwahati. It was organised by IDRC, Society in Action Group, IDEA Chirang, an NGO initiative working with grassroots initiatives in Assam, Privacy India and CIS and was attended by RTI activists and grass roots NGO representatives from across the North Eastern region: Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh, Tripura, Nagaland, Assam and Sikkim. The event focused on the challenges and concerns of privacy in India.

Unfortunately many of the scheduled invitees had to drop out owing to developments on the Lokpal issue at the Centre, and simultaneously Guwahati was witnessing unrest following an agitation over land rights that left three persons dead.

Welcoming the participants, Prashant Iyengar, lead researcher for Privacy India, gave an introduction to the objectives of Privacy India, and briefed the gathering about the thematic “Privacy Matters” consultations previously held across the country in Kolkata, Bangalore and Ahmedabad. Mr. Iyengar also gave a background to issues that India is facing in concern with privacy, explaining the many contexts that privacy can be found in, and raising questions such as: Why is privacy important? How can it be maintained with the way technology is encroaching upon our lives? And how can we make privacy laws functional?

"Privacy objectives are to raise awareness, spark civil action and promote democratic dialogue around privacy challenges and violations in India. One of Privacy India’s goals is to build consensus towards the promulgation of a comprehensive privacy legislation in India through consultation with the public, legislators and the legal and academic community."

Prashant Iyengar, Privacy India.

Event Sessions

The structure of the event was one of open discussion, with presentations made by those who wanted to share. Throughout the day, the conversation fell into three main topics including: privacy and the RTI, privacy and the UID, and privacy and surveillance in the context of North East India.

Privacy and the RTI

Prashant Iyengar opened the discussion on privacy and the RTI by highlighting the tension between the need for transparency of the State, and the need to protect the privacy of public figures. For many participants privacy and transparency was a new concept that they had just started thinking about. Participant Rakesh (HRLN, Manipur) spoke on the shortcomings that he saw in the RTI Act noting that though the RTI brings some transparency to society, many citizens still do not understand the extent of their Right to Information as it is protected under the Act. Furthermore, the RTI Act is still not applied equally across the country, and the transparency that the RTI tries to achieve is still in very nascent stages. Lowang, a participant from Aru nachal Pradesh, shared the importance of drawing a line between privacy and transparency when it comes to information related to education and health. Anjuman Azra Begum, a research scholar working on indigenous people rights, noted the irony of the RTI as it is meant to bring transparency to the state, yet all ministers and MLA’s take an oath of secrecy, not transparency. Anjuman also spoke on the fact that the RTI often fails to protect the privacy of sensitive issues, such as sexual balance. She echoed Rakesh’s comment on the inaccessibility of the RTI, sharing that for a common person to exercise his/her rights is a very daunting task. Anthony Debbarmun, a human rights activist from Tripura noted that he felt that the North Eastern states are by and large seen as resource (land) by the centre and has shown no concern for citizens and their well-being. Government is seen as a dictator in this region, hence the question — Transparency for whom?, Privacy for Whom? The distinction between the transparency brought about by the RTI and individual privacy was also made. It was pointed out that the RTI is concerned with transparency of the State, but individual privacy is separate from this concept.

Personal Experiences Shared

Anjuman Azra Begum shared her sister’s experience with the RTI. Her sister had applied for a job in 2008. Their family filed an RTI for details of the procedure, but was denied details by the RTI officer, who said that furnishing details would violate the privacy of other candidates. This example raises questions about when it is appropriate for RTI officers to withhold information in the name of privacy, and what mechanisms can be put in place to ensure that the RTI does not use privacy as a way to deny information. Lowang also shared his experience with the RTI. He had filed an RTI asking for answer sheets because he doubted the appointment of police personnel. He was told that the cost in total would be Rs.2000, when in reality each sheet costs Rs.2 — the misconstruing of facts was another example of how RTI officials restrict access information indirectly. From these examples the concern about RTI officials using privacy as an excuse to deny information was brought to the surface. To highlight the problems with the current implementation of the RTI and the lack of basic knowledge of how to use the RTI Mhao Lotha from the DICE Foundation shared a personal experience of his friend who had filed an RTI against the fishery department, and the RTI official simply shouted at her. L. Rima told a similar story as Mhao Lotha. In her experience the RTI is good in theory, but in practice it has become a commercial platform, where officers pay money to applicants for RTI cases to be taken off.

From the discussion and the shared experiences it was clear that the RTI, although a strong law on paper, still faces many challenges in implementation that a privacy law could also face, and that the fact that if more privacy is brought into the RTI, it will become yet another way for the State to avoid disclosing information.

Questions to Consider

Can a privacy law be made to be functional in the same way that the RTI is functional?
In terms of the RTI who should have more privacy? Who should be more transparent? Can NGOs be held accountable under the RTI?
What mechanism should be established to enforce the balance between privacy and transparency?

Privacy and Security/Law Enforcement in the North East of India

Another important discussion held during the conference was the practices of law enforcement in the North East, security, and privacy. Because the North East is in a state of armed conflict several laws such as the Armed Forces Special Powers Act, Sedition Act and provisions in the IPC give immunity to security forces. This has led to gross violation of citizens’ privacy by law enforcement agencies — as the acts give large amounts

of power to law enforcement agencies with little or no accountability, and the acts are often misused. Furthermore, the security laws that exist in the North East explicitly prohibit access to individual personal information. For example, in the Assam Police Manual, which is followed by police in the North East — no papers can be given out to the public except to the investigation officer — this includes personal information such as medical records and post-mortem reports. Anjuman shared an example of how this rule violates individual privacy. In her example, a victim was not allowed access her own medical report, but her medical records were being circulated among police, doctors, and media. This example highlights how privacy and the right to information can go hand in hand as it was the victim’s right to access her own medical file, and at the same time getting access to her own medical file is an act of personal privacy protection.

Personal Experiences Shared

Participants shared how individual privacy is often violated by the army, as it is allowed to enter and search any space without warrant, if there is any type of “suspicion”. They also shared how phone tapping and random monitoring is a common practice by both the army and civil police. For example, one day the police recorded a conversation by Director of the Police, Wireless who was giving a lecture on how to lead an effective agitation. The transcript was handed to the high court and the director punished. Other examples include policemen frisking women in public, newspapers publishing police frisking women in public, and law enforcement agencies compelling pregnant women to give birth in open in front of people. The discussion surrounding privacy and security/law enforcement highlighted an important way in which privacy is violated in the North East. The unregulated action of law enforcement acts as a very real and dangerous way in which individual privacy is violated on a daily basis.

Questions to Consider

Can privacy legislation regulate the acts of law enforcement agencies?
Will privacy legislation be implemented differently in the North East because of the armed conflict?
Will a privacy law supersede other laws such as the AFSPA?

Privacy and the UID

During the conference the discussion also briefly focused on the UID and privacy. It was shared that there had yet to be UID consultations in the North East of India. The only information individuals had about the UID was that it was going to allow individuals to access BPL benefits more easily.

Questions around the UID included: why is the UID needed for citizens living within their own country? How will the UID impact and help families who send their children to gather rations from the ration shops? What is the connection between the UID and the expected privacy law? What is the connection between the UID and intelligence agencies? What would UID mean to people living in border areas?

Conclusion

Privacy as a Fundamental Right

In the closing discussion Prashant Iyengar shared different examples of privacy in Indian case law, and the various ways in which the Supreme Court has defined privacy as a right that is implicit in the right to life. The participants discussed what privacy means to them, and what they thought a right to privacy should entail. Among the points raised, it was brought up that privacy should be a right that is legally protected for sovereign individuals. The law should also include parameters and limitations in order to protect an individual’s autonomy. Furthermore, privacy should be understood and linked to the concept of human rights and individual rights. From the closing session, and the above sessions many themes and questions pertaining to privacy came out that will need to be addressed when considering the way forward for a privacy legislation including:

Property rights and privacy
Privacy rights of minorities
Privacy and the UID
Privacy and law enforcement agencies
Privacy as a fundamental right
The interplay of privacy law and traditional law

Download the Event Report here [PDF, 178 kb]

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/privacy/privacy-guwahati-report

Privacy Matters — Conference Report

praskrishna — 2011-01-27T10:22:55Z

A one-day conference on Privacy Matters was held on Sunday, 23 January 2011 at the National University of Juridical Sciences (NUJS) Law School in Kolkata. This was the first of a series of eleven conferences on ‘privacy’ that Privacy India is scheduled to host in different Indian cities from January to June this year. Members of Parliament, Sri Manoj Bhattacharya from the Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) and Sri Nilotpal Basu from the Communist Party of India (Marxist) CPI (M) spoke in the conference. Students, the civil society and lawyers also participated in it.

Introduction

The conference was held to discuss elements of the privacy legislation that has been proposed to the Parliament of India, and the UID Bill and project. The conference focused on the tensions between privacy and society that exist in India today, and acted as a space for opinion sharing and discussion. Privacy India which was formed under the auspices of Privacy International, a UK based organization that works to protect the right of privacy around the world, the Centre for Internet and Society (CIS), an NGO based in Bangalore, and Society in Action Group (SAG), an NGO based in Delhi joined hands to host this event.

Rajan Gandhi, founder of SAG opened the conference with an explanation of the mandate of Privacy India, the objective of which is of raising awareness, sparking civil action and promoting democratic dialogue around privacy challenges and violations in India. One of Privacy India's goals is to build consensus towards the promulgation of comprehensive privacy legislation in India through consultations with the public, legislators and the legal and academic community.

Keynote

The keynote speech was delivered by Dr. Sudhir Krishnaswamy professor of law and governance. Dr. Krishnaswamy began by outlining the present situation of privacy in India. The right to privacy has been read into Sections 19 and 21 of the Constitution of India through case law, which has defined privacy — among other things — as the right to personal autonomy, the right against unreasonable search and seizure, and as a fundamental right that is critical to the person, but does not supersede public or national interest. Dr. Krishnaswamy also raised many intriguing questions including: what does privacy mean to India — is it linked to a person’s dignity and their honour? Or is it purely concerned with misappropriation of information, and further is privacy in India an issue of the individual or an issue of the family and the community? He also described the philosophical groundings of privacy as being in the right to dignity, the right to autonomy, and the misappropriation of information.

Privacy Challenges

The conference was spread into three sessions. In the first session Prashant Iyengar, head researcher of the project at Privacy India, spoke about the challenges that India specifically is facing in shaping a privacy legislation including: the need to balance the right to information/transparency and privacy, the need to create a definition of privacy that does not exclude lower classes and is not a negative right, but instead a positive right, and the problem of ubiquitous surveillance that is happening in society today. Elonnai Hickok, policy analyst at Privacy India, spoke specifically on wire tapping, and the Nira Radia tapes. In her presentation she first outlined other countries definitions of privacy which include: the right to be left alone, the protection from unauthorized searches, and the right to control information about oneself through consent. Using the case study of Nira Radia and Ratan Tata she spoke about the rising concern of wire tapping in the country as being indicative of a social change and relationship of the state and government. Elonnai also raised questions concerning whether privacy should be made inversely proportional to public figures, and if public interest will always supersede the private right of individuals.

UID and Privacy

The second session of the conference focused on the UID Bill and privacy. Presentations from NUJS student Amba Kak and Sai Vinod raised concerns about the UID project and privacy. Their presentation also compared and contrasted identity schemes of other countries with the UID. A few similarities that they found amongst all scheme were: the collection of data, the processing of data, and the storing of data. Deva Prasad from the National Law School of Bangalore presented on constitutional elements of the UID scheme ranging from loopholes in the Bill to connections that can be made when the UID Bill is placed in the larger picture. Sri Manoj Bhattacharya (MP) from RSP voiced his concerns of the UID, and emphasized that by giving an individual a number which acts as their fundamental identity which they use to function in society, the government in fact is eroding an individual’s actual identity, and that is an invasion of privacy. Sri Nilotpal Basu (MP) from CPI (M) spoke out strongly against the UID, voicing that his greatest concern with the UID is that it will be a way for corporate bodies to target individuals as consumers, and that privacy legislation could be used as a way for corporate bodies to hide from the public eye.

Conclusion

In the concluding session the floor was opened up to the public for questions and opinion sharing. Many participants shared what they believed needed to be included in privacy legislation, and what issues a privacy legislation needs to address. A few of these include: privacy rights and the media, privacy and the right to information, the privacy rights of minorities, and the privacy rights of the government. Also types of regulatory models for privacy were discussed. For instance, should privacy in India be represented and protected through a data protection law, or should privacy be seen as a fundamental right to privacy? Should privacy be represented through a broad framework, or through sector specific statutes? What should the redressal and enforcement mechanisms look like?

As seen from the presentations and the comments at the conference one thing which is clear is that privacy is an issue that concerns every person in India. Over the next six months Privacy India will be conducting ten more conferences in different Indian cities to engage the public in dialogues of privacy and raise awareness around the issues of privacy. The next workshop will be held on 5 February 2011 in Bangalore.

Download the conference summary here

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/privacy/privacy-nujsconference-summary

Privacy Matters in Chennai

praskrishna — 2011-08-11T12:36:04Z

Privacy and Basic Needs/Rights in a Gender Perspective

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/privacy-chennai

Privacy Matters Hyderabad Conference

praskrishna — 2011-05-06T11:39:09Z

conference in hyderabad

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/publications/privacy.pdf