THE HINDU Editorial Vocabulary - July 31, 2018 - Topic 1

A good beginning: on draft data protection bill

Given the vast amounts of personal data being collected by private companies and state agencies, and their flow across national jurisdictions, the absence of a data protection legal framework in India has been a cause for deep concern. This is even more so because in many cases individuals whose data have been used and processed by agencies, both private firms and state entities, are oblivious to the purpose for which they are being harnessed. The need for legislation was also underlined last year with the landmark judgment in Justice K.S Puttaswamy v. Union of India that held the right to privacy to be a fundamental right. 

Against this backdrop, the draft legislation on data protection submitted by a committee of experts chaired by Justice B.N. Srikrishna to the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology after year-long public consultations provides a sound foundation on which to speedily build India’s legal framework. It seeks to codify the relationship between individuals and firms/state institutions as one between “data principals” (whose information is collected) and “data fiduciaries” (those processing the data) so that privacy is safeguarded by design. This is akin to a contractual relationship that places obligations on the entities entrusted with data and who are obligated to seek the consent of the “principal” for the use of personal information. The draft legislation puts the onus on the “data fiduciary” to seek clear, informed, specific and free consent, with the possibility of withdrawal of data of the “principal” to allow for the use and processing of “sensitive personal data”.

In many ways, the draft legislation mirrors the General Data ProtectionRegulation, the framework on data protection implemented in the European Union this May, in providing for “data principals” the rights to confirmation, correction of data, portability and “to be forgotten”, subject to procedure. It envisages the creation of a regulatory Data Protection Authority of India to protect the interests of “principals” and to monitor the implementation of the provisions of the enabling data protection legislation. Taken together, the draft bill and the report mark a welcome step forward, but there are some grey areas. The exemptions granted to state institutions from acquiring informed consent from principals or processing personal data in many cases appear to be too blanket, such as those pertaining to the “security of the state”. These are hold-all phrases, and checks are vital. The report recommends a law to provide for “parliamentary oversight and judicial approval of non-consensual access to personal data”. Without such an enabling law, the exemptions provided in the bill will fall short of securing accountability from the state for activities such as dragnet surveillance. The grey areas must spark public and parliamentary debate before a final legislation comes to fruition.

Vocabulary

Vast: very great extent or quantity; immense.

Example: A vast plain of buffalo grass

Synonyms: huge, extensive, expansive, broad, wide, sweeping, boundless

Oblivious: not aware of or not concerned about what is happening around one.

Example: She became absorbed, oblivious to the passage of time

Synonyms: unaware of, unconscious of, heedless of, unmindful of, insensible

Harness: put a harness on a horse or other draft animal

Example: Two horses were harnessed to a small cart that rattled along near the back of the single-file.

Synonyms: hitch up, put in harness, yoke, couple

Consultation: the action or process of formally consulting or discussing.

Example: They improved standards in consultation with consumer representatives

Synonyms: discussion, dialogue, discourse, debate, negotiation, deliberation

Akin: similar character.

Example: Something akin to gratitude overwhelmed her

Synonyms: similar, related, close, near, corresponding, comparable, equivalent

Entrust: assign the responsibility for doing something to (someone).

Example: I've been entrusted with the task of getting him safely back

Synonyms: charge, invest, endow, burden, encumber, saddle; assign to

Fiduciary: involving trust, especially with regard to the relationship between a trustee and a beneficiary.

Example: The company has a fiduciary duty to shareholders

Provision: the action of providing or supplying something for use.

Example: New contracts for the provision of services

Synonyms: supplying, supply, providing, giving, presentation, donation

Acquire: buy or obtain an object or asset for oneself.

Example: Instead, tax will become payable automatically 30 days after the date that the purchaser acquires the property or land.

Synonyms: obtain, come by, get, receive, gain, earn, win, come into, be given, buy

Accountability: the fact or condition of being accountable; responsibility.

Example: Their lack of accountability has corroded public respect

Synonyms: responsibility, liability, answerability

Fruition: the point at which a plan or project is realized.

Example: The plans have come to fruition sooner than expected

Dragnet: a net drawn through a river or across ground to trap fish or game.

Example: The city fishermen use the shore seine, a huge dragnet attached to a three-kilometre long rope to catch species like the small stolephorus fish.

Surveillance: close observation, especially of a suspected spy or criminal.

Example: He found himself put under surveillance by military intelligence

Synonyms: observation, scrutiny, watch, view, inspection, supervision, spying