Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has shared concerns over the impact of Big Tech and the growing data usage in “making people vulnerable” by revealing “patterns, trends, and associations”, along with citizens’ growing digital footprints and the demand for computational power.
An internal presentation of MeitY on the theme of Digital Personal Data Protection Act was made to stakeholders in June. Over the last two years, the government has apprehended Big Tech for non-compliance with IT rules and blocking orders. It is planning to bring several regulations such as the draft digital competition bill, which is set to influence Big Tech such as Google, Amazon, Facebook, Alibaba, and Airbnb among others.
Sharing on social media, data collected through social connection, interests, and behavior along with data gathered through software services, cloud computing platforms, and app usage, are some of the data privacy concerns.
The Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act was passed in August 2023. The IT ministry is likely to release DPDP Rules for public opinion within 100 days. Additionally, the govt is likely to exclude educational institutions, health institutions, and government bodies from data restrictions under the DPDP Act.
Under the mandate of the DPDP rule, any private or government platform, processing the personal data of users, is to immediately notify the Data Protection Board (DPB) in case of data breach. Another draft bill, Digital Competition Bill, was released in February 2024, for the purpose of limiting anti-competitive actions of tech giants. The government may also bring rules for AI regulation.
