Mint Quick Edit | India's data protection rules have finally been notified but much damage is already done

1 month ago 3

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Rules under the Digital Personal Data Protection Act of 2023 were notified last week.

Summary

India’s personal data protection rules are being enforced eight years after privacy was ruled a fundamental right. AI already seems to know too much about us, but we can still shield younger generations—if this right is upheld properly.

A stable door being bolted after the horses have fled? This view of India’s privacy law may seem justified, given that rules under the Digital Personal Data Protection Act of 2023 were notified only last week, more than eight years after the Supreme Court deemed privacy a fundamental right under the Indian Constitution.

The right’s online enforcement will take some time, as data gatherers must comply with its nitty-gritty over 18 months. By now, AI seems to have scraped enough of our thumb trails (and perhaps even voice cues) off the internet to display a spooky level of intimacy with us. Technology ran ahead of regulation while we stuck to our handy apps at the risk of being spied upon. To rephrase Intel’s Andy Grove, only the paranoid protested.

Still, this is a historic moment: a chance to shield future generations. Rules for children, thus, matter most. Here, innovations such as verified age tokens that anonymize other Aadhaar ID details could help online India adapt to the new data regime.

Broadly speaking, though, to uphold the right to privacy in both letter and spirit, we must ensure that the conditional access to data that state agencies have never falls prey to misuse.

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