New privacy bill may have redrafted clause on deemed consent
NEW DELHI: The ministry of electronics and information technology is discussing redrafting the concept of deemed consent that it has introduced in the proposed privacy law, including a possible plan to provide for more guardrails, a person aware of the matter said.
The proposed data protection law was floated for public consultation on November 18, and some changes are already under discussion as feedback pours in.
“The ministry is considering introducing guardrails around the clause,” an official familiar with the matter said, asking not to be named. “The issues of proportionality and public interest will be balanced in keeping with the recommendations and feedback the ministry receives.”
The official added that the mainstay principle of the Bill is to ensure protecting personal data from being misused.
The concept of deemed concept in the proposed law lays down that personal data can be processed for a host of purposes, including in the interest of public interest, for credit scoring and network security.
Activists and experts have said the wording and principle underpinning this concept appeared to defeat the purpose of a privacy law.
While privacy laws such as the European Union’s GDPR also provide for a concept similar to deemed consent, referred to as in legitimate or public interest, their powers are not as wide as the government’s new Digital Data Protection Bill, 2022.
The European law includes additional directives that require member countries to make sure such clauses are used while keeping in view that the context they are used in is “necessary” and “proportional” to the objectives for which the privacy protections are being reached around.
Union IT minister Ashwini Vaishnaw in an interview with HT earlier this week said any wording changes that need to be made to the Bill will be considered. “I think it is a wording issue. There are many counties that call it deemed consent, others call it legitimate interest. It’s a question of what language we are using right now. And I think people who understand this bill have said that this is well within the framework and provides proper protection to citizens data. But we can consider alternative formulations as well,” he said.
The minister added that the government was looking to introduce the final Bill in the budget session of Parliament next year.
The proposed privacy law is now in its fourth iteration. The new draft has attracted both praise and criticism, the first for its lighttouch and technology agnostic approach to regulating a dynamic space, and the second for the significant exemptions it grants to governments and government agencies when it comes to using the data of individuals.