Amid the intense response from users regarding WhatsApp’s new privacy policy, Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said, whether WhatsApp, Facebook or any other digital platform. You are free to do business in India, but the rights of Indians should not be infringed. Everyone needs to maintain the integrity of private communication.
Prasad, Minister of Communications, Electronics and IT, said on Tuesday at the 15th India Digital Summit, his ministry is working on the WhatsApp issue and being the deciding authority on it, it would not be appropriate to comment at the moment. But I would like to say one thing clearly that no matter what the digital platform is, the privacy of Indian citizens cannot be compromised.
Asked about the involvement of Chinese companies in introducing products in India, Prasad said, “It would not be appropriate to name any country other than mentioning general policy initiatives.” Yes, we have banned some Chinese apps because it was a data privacy issue. This issue was related to national security and sovereignty. Every company will also be considered from the perspective of national security, whether it is private or government.
Consent required to collect data
Prasad said, data should be obtained with consent. It should be used for the same work for which it is collected. I want India to become a bigger center of the data economy in the future. When I talk of data economy, I mean data processing and innovation.
Data will be safe due to enactment of bill
The Data Protection Bill sets a ‘certain limit’ for data processing. This means that companies will only be able to use the user’s data for the purpose for which the user has given consent. If this bill becomes law then it will be difficult for companies like Facebook and WhatsApp to use the data of Indian users. At present, the Bill is in the initial stage of discussion before the Joint Select Committee.
Nidhi Malviya is fun loving girl. She writes at NoobFeeds about various topics related to Finance, Technology, Business etc.