Parliamentary panel on data protection for tighter regulation of social media

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, December 16

The Parliamentary panel on protection of data, which submitted its report after two years of deliberation and acrimony, has suggested nearly two dozen changes in the proposed Act, including tighter curbs on social media, a two-year phased introduction of the legislation, flexible penalties and including NGOs as data fiduciaries.

“This report shows that if the chairman is cooperative, the government is accommodative, the opposition is responsive,” said Chairman of the Joint Committee on the Personal Data Protection Bill Jairam Ramesh while tabling the report.

Pointing out the impossibility of clear cut demarcation of personal and non-personal data, the panel wanted the Bill’s title to be changed to ‘The Data Protection Bill’ while omitting ‘Personal’.

Another major recommendation is for two-year phased introduction so that the data fiduciaries and processors get ample time to accordingly change their policies, infrastructure and processes.

It called for regulating social media platforms for their content and to be denied permission unless the parent company has an office in India. Further, a statutory media regulatory authority, on the lines of Press Council of India, should regulate the contents on these media platforms.

The panel also asked the government to bring back mirror copy of sensitive and critical data and localise it. It should also develop an indigenous financial system to SWIFT whose “privacy has been compromised widely”.

It also suggested mechanisms for dealing with children’s data, a single window system for complaints and penalties and a 72-hour deadline for suggesting a data breach. It was also against making heads of government departments directly responsible for data breach.