Cabinet gives nod to Data Protection Bill

Source: The post is based on the article “Cabinet gives nod to Data Protection Bill” published in The Hindu on 6th July 2023

What is the News?

The Union Cabinet has approved the Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Bill.

What is the Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Bill?

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The Bill allows laypersons to complain to a Data Protection Board, consisting of technical experts, constituted by the government. The complaint will be accepted if they have reason to believe that their personal data has been used without their consent (for example, mobile phone numbers or Aadhaar details).

The bill has a clause for offering voluntary undertaking in case an entity wants to admit that a breach has occurred and pay penalty as mitigation measure to avoid court litigation.

The Data Protection Board of India could fine firms which do not protect user data with fines for individual offenses ranging from ₹10,000 to ₹500 crore, which may apply in case of data breaches.

What are the changes made in the bill?

The bill could allow cross-border data flows to all international jurisdictions, except the countries placed in the “negative” or “official blacklist”.

A provision on “deemed consent” in the previous draft could also be reworded to make it stricter for private entities, while allowing government departments to assume consent while processing personal data on grounds of national security and public interest.

What are the concerns related to the bill?

Right to Information activists have raised concerns on an amendment to the RTI Act, 2005 in the DPDP Bill that would prohibit government departments from sharing personal information, arguing government departments may refuse to share information that could hold public officeholders accountable.

What are the data protection laws in other countries?

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