25/06/2019 - Science and Technology

KEY POINTS

India’s stand on domestic policy

·        India’s recent drafts and statements have strong signals for data localisation, which means that data of Indians (even if collected by a foreign company) must be stored and processed in India.

·        These laws, broadly speaking, could require Facebook, Google, and Amazon to store and process in India information such as an Indian’s messages, searches, and purchases.

·        In some cases, they restrict what type of data these companies can collect.

·        In others, it requires only a copy of the data to be in the country.

·        China has developed similar laws, which proponents say allow for a flourishing domestic economy of data centres and data processing by blocking foreign players out.

·        So Indian companies, like Reliance and PayTM, usually support data localisation.

·        The other argument from the Indian government is that localisation will help law enforcement access the data.

·        Currently, India has to use “mutual legal assistance treaties” (MLAT) with the US to get the data of Indians that are controlled by American companies.

·        By requiring a copy of the data to be stored in India (data mirroring), the government hopes to have more direct control over these companies, including the option to levy more taxes on them.

·        The government also argues for data localisation on the ground of national security, to prevent foreign surveillance and attacks.

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