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Polity & Governance
Mahesh

07/07/23 06:35 AM IST

Data Protection Bill approved by Cabinet

In News
  • Nearly six years after the Supreme Court held privacy to be a fundamental right, the Centre has made a second attempt at framing legislation for protection of data.
Provisions of the bill
  • The bill includes provisions to penalize private and government entities up to ₹250 crore per instance for data breaches, which can be raised up to ₹500 crore by the Data Protection Board that will be constituted as an appellate body.
  • The penalties will be decided on a case-to-case basis, depending on the severity, extent of harm or loss, scale and number of people impacted by the breach, and the clauses that have been specified in the bill.
  • The bill is likely to be presented in the upcoming monsoon session of Parliament.
  • The board will comprise mainly of professionals, as many as possible. It will be an independent body, and its powers will be specified in the law.
  • It will recommend the penalties, which can go up to ₹250 crore.
  • If it recommends above that level up to ₹500 crore, the Cabinet has to be apprised and it has to be presented in Parliament, but for anything beyond ₹500 crore, the law will have to be amended.
  • It will not be an arithmetic calculation, and this is a field which is rapidly evolving," one of the two people said on condition of anonymity.
  • The bill will mention special circumstances, such as a pandemic, law enforcement requirements, protection of IP rights within employment, golden hour for medical treatment and natural disasters, under which deemed consent will not be sought from users by government agencies.
  • But in other cases, consent will be sought by apps and platforms, which will be explicit and elaborated in clear language.
  • Blanket consent will not be permitted; apps will have to make some changes.
  • Individuals will have the right to seek details about their data collection, storage, and processing once the law is implemented.
  • Citizens will have the right to claim compensation by approaching civil courts.
  • Government entities do not get a blanket exemption under the proposed law, and well-thought-out carve-outs have been made for the collection, storage, and processing of data since the government is an important data fiduciary.
  • The bill will specify the responsibilities of an organization or an app that collects, stores, processes and secures the data of people and also the rights of users that provide the data.
  • The bill also provides for an alternative dispute resolution mechanism as a platform for issues outside the judicial system to reduce litigation.
  • The voluntary undertaking has been provided for entities to own up to their violations of law by paying up penalties or fines, followed by implementation of mitigation measures.
  • However, the entities will not be absolved of their breaches fully and will be liable to investigations by the Data Protection Board.
Source- Indian Express

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