My Data My Rules?

Data localization refers to storing all data of Indian citizens in India. This is done mainly, to secure the privacy of Indian citizens. This data can be stored in data centers and transferred across borders when needed. Only India should control storing, transferring and developing the data.

With regards to data localization, following is the stance that India holds currently:

 Personal data protection bill states that data of Indian citizens, if not the original then a copy, should be stored in India.

 As per RBI all abroad payment related data must be brought back to India within 24 hours of the transaction and erased from foreign databases. However, if the transaction is cross-border (between domestic and foreign party) then a copy of that data may be maintained abroad.

This is a much needed move towards protecting privacy protection of our citizens. This information can be used to predict behavior of citizens which can later be used to manipulate. With technologies such alexa, siri and ok google, it has become even easier to divulge information about oneself.

Complete control over data may not be feasible due to increased effort to build redundant data centers and to build feature to track if the data has been deleted. Therefore, RBI has asked for deletion of payment related data only. India will need to establish surveillance laws and protection laws to safeguard privacy of its citizens.

The real challenge, however, is to get US to approve this proposal. US worries that this will hinder processing of data by foreign firms and hinder development of their global services. Since, Facebook, Amazon and Google are biggest data-holders for most of Indian folks, it is important to build capability to transfer the data back to India within 24 hours of transaction and delete it in their databases. Since data abroad will come under laws of its country’s jurisdiction, regulating them will be a challenge. Therefore, international agreement will need to be signed explaining what sort of data can be stored where and who should own the different sets of data.

Besides security, data localization will help enhance data infrastructure in India since we will have to build capabilities to store and refine data. Repository of data will help better decision-making in governance and rigorous innovation by domestic start-ups.

In conclusion, data localization an important step for India and she needs to instill a robust framework to use data, access it, process it and have judiciary provisions in case of conflicts.