Why India needs to be a data democracy: 

Why India needs to be a data democracy: 

Context

To avoid data colonization and allow for genuine empowerment, people must control the data they generate. Introduction:

• Between 2000 and 2010, data was used largely for monetization. Many companies started realizing the economic value of data.
• Google started monetizing it, tailoring ads based on search queries.
• Over the last five years, the new thing has been the use of data in Artificial Intelligence (AI).
• Artificial Intelligence has been around as an idea for the past four decades but the availability of data, a lot of it, changed its contours.

Data in the 21st century:

• To look at how data can disrupt, one need look no further than the digital advertising business in the US and the payments business in China.
• In the US, Google and Facebook have a 71% share of total digital advertising spending.
• In 2015-16, they captured 89% of all incremental digital advertising.
• China’s mobile payments are a staggering $5.5 trillion.
• The Chinese have done good job of using QR codes for payments.
• Data combined with Artificial Intelligence creates scale and speed

Sources of data:

• Out of 5.5 billion people in the world over the age of 14, 2.5 billion have a Smartphone.
• By 2020, every person will have four personal digital devices.
• The Internet of Things will soon bring 50 billion devices online. Smart companies like Apple, Google, Siemens, Amazon etc all are moving from products and pipes to platforms.

Risks involved: There are multiple risks from data domination like:

• Violation of privacy
• Data colonization

Solutions:

• Data must be used only with the consent of owner.
• Individuals should be in control of their own data.
• It should be used to empower the individual, not the state, or the companies.
• There is need to have data protection laws.
• Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) that allow consent collection, storage and audits is the need of the hour.
• Users have the right to pull out their data. They can choose what they want to be part of, and what they don’t
• Prevention of data colonization
• This tilts the privacy debate in favour of the user.
• Data is empowering in the hands of people. Inventing it allows freedom and choice. This is called data democracy.
• Security of personal data must be ensured and any breach must be duly notified immediately through robust grievance mechanisms.
• If a person requires removal, alteration and correction of data, the same should be allowed.
• Any contravention by entities (Government or Private) must be duly punished with imprisonment or hefty fines.

Conclusion: Given the rising internet penetration and growing emphasis on Digital India, it is imperative to protect the sanctity of data generated by citizens. A legislative framework to address the growing concerns around data protection and privacy is the need of present day. India needs more in effective data protection laws, along with strong independent watchdog institutions to ensure that the organisation handling our data do not go astray. As India is increasingly becoming a prominent part of the global economy with ever burgeoning foreign investment, there is unprecedented thrust now to upgrade the data privacy and data protection standards in the country.