Being below strain from the US authorities, TikTok has performed its final card and offered a $1.5 billion plan ‘Project Texas’ to keep away from a ban. This shall be achieved in coordination with the US firm Oracle and can make it possible for America’s information is saved on US soil.
However, in India, the upcoming Digital Personal Data Protection Bill, 2022, which shall be tabled in Parliament within the Monsoon Session, might permit international information flows to all jurisdictions by default, excluding an outlined detrimental listing of nations the place such transfers could be prohibited.
According to clause 17 of the draft invoice, it’s stated that by way of cross-transfer of knowledge exterior India, the Centre would notify nations or territories the place the private information of Indians might be transferred.
There is a motive why information is named a goldmine and its falling within the fingers of overseas entities or cybercriminals could go away folks in a weak state of affairs within the digital world for nearly their whole life and likewise set off nationwide safety points.
It’s precisely due to this motive that huge tech corporations within the US have been below strain to make it possible for they preserve customers’ information protected and safe although they’re American corporations which are dominating the entire world.
But in India, the draft invoice permits customers’ information to transcend the Indian borders, which is a debatable matter amongst those that perceive why localisation of knowledge is required. Even the idea of sending information to some “trusted” countries sounds concerning.
For example, the US, which grilled TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew for over five hours about data collection practices and possible unauthorised foreign access, was making headlines just a few years ago for allegedly spying on its own people.
Even Edward Snowden, who revealed the mass surveillance programmes by US agencies, said during an interview that all these big companies keep a permanent record of each and everything a person did online and if the government wanted to look at it, it would get access.
Even though India has maintained a good relationship with almost all countries, including the US, it does not mean that they can be trusted with the data of Indians — especially at a time when the country is competing on the global level. We all know when friends turn into enemies, they are the most dangerous.
Also, most Indians usually don’t bother about what they are sharing on a platform. They don’t even ask where their data went, or what happened after a massive data breach and some don’t pay attention to data collection and privacy policies which every user has to agree to before using the service.
But this is “India’s Techade” and it is just a matter of time earlier than the bulk shall be cyber conscious sufficient to ask important questions if anybody does any wrongdoing with their private information.
The government will penalise those who misuse people’s data, imposing billions of dollars in fines, just like the US Federal Trade Commission did after Facebook’s infamous Cambridge Analytica scandal.
But once your personal, financial and health information is out, those who will have access to your likes and dislikes, your favourite political leader or what type of videos you watch, can use all these to fulfil their agenda. From manipulating someone to causing targeted cybercrimes, anything can happen.
That is why some still believe that cross-border transfer of personal data may not be the best option because it may ultimately damage India’s security, sovereignty and integrity.
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