Shashi Tharoor-led Parliamentary panel summons Twitter, IRCTC over data privacy

New Delhi, August 25

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Congress MP Shashi Tharoor-led Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology has summoned micro-blogging site Twitter and IRCTC before it on Friday to discuss “citizens’ data security and privacy”.

The panel is likely to question them about a tender floated by it to hire a consultant to monetise its passenger and freight customer data, sources said.

IRCTC has more than 10 crore users for which it has hired a consultant through attender to monetise Passenger data. Why is this being done is what the panel is likely to seek answers for.

Sources also said the panel will be questioning Twitter on its management and composition and whether it has been done to extend favours to a particular political party.

On August 3, 2022, the Centre led by Information and Technology Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw announced its decision to withdraw the Personal Data Protection (PDP) Bill, 2019. This long-awaited legislation will be replaced with a comprehensive Bill for contemporary digital privacy laws.

The Tharoor-led panel has been holding meetings with various stakeholders including tech companies, social media firms, ministries and other regulators and is likely to finalise its report before the term of the committee ends on August 30, 2022.