Fine balance must for data availability, innovation and privacy: Prasad

Information and technology minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said India is making all out efforts to strengthen cyber laws and data protection framework.

The new data protection law will be finalised soon, information and technology minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said on Thursday, asserting that India must strike a fine balance between data availability, innovation and privacy issues.

The country is making all out efforts to strengthen cyber laws and data protection framework, he said at the Mindmine Summit while outlining India’s aspiration to become a big centre for data analysis,

“We are erecting the architecture... cyber laws are being improved... cyber training and cyber forensics are being taken care of,” he said.

Noting that a high level committee under Justice BN Srikrishna (former Judge of Supreme Court) is crafting a data protection framework, Prasad said, “very soon we will have a robust data protection law”.

He added: “We must have a fine balance between data availability, data innovation, data anonymity and data privacy. We need data to improve business but the data must be anonymous, objective, and taken with consent.”

Prasad’s comments come at a time when data privacy has taken centrestage in global digital narrative.

Over the last few weeks, the US social networking giant Facebook has drawn intense criticism from users and governments globally over the data leak scandal that hit millions of users.

Information of over 80 million Facebook users was allegedly harvested by data analytics and political consulting firm, Cambridge Analytica, leading to a global backlash against the company.

The Indian government too is questioning the two companies on data breach issue.

Noting India’s growing clout in the global arena, Prasad said the country is setting the world agenda on sustainable development, climate justice, fighting terrorism, fight against black money and other important issues.

“Today India’s size is increasingly matching India’s clout. India weight is increasingly being appreciated globally,” he said.

Seeking to allay apprehensions that advent of new technology may displace jobs, he pointed out that Artificial Intelligence and other emerging areas may require new skilling but they will create hundreds and thousands of new jobs.