Store data responsibly, not necessarily locally

Homo sapiens is a mobile species, since its evolution from proto-primates, coming to inhabit practically every part of the Earth’s surface, from polar ice caps to arid deserts, mountain ranges, From high altitudes to hidden valleys, from landlocked enclaves to coastal fringes of sea routes, from dense suburbs to remote jungles. After the development of settled agriculture, there was a time when only a few adventurers traveled extensively. In the modern world, humans live a globalized existence – and not only through physical travel but also through financial and commercial transactions with counterparties in external jurisdictions, and nodes of networks accessing, virtually, resources located far from land. To reach .

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People leave their digital footprints on servers around the world. It is neither possible nor desirable to bring all this digital data in the area of ​​their domicile. It may be pointed out that proponents of data localization may be concerned about an important type of digital data, not just any digital data.

Of course, it is imperative that Indian citizens’ data is stored securely, wherever it is stored, and that India’s law enforcement and regulators must have immediate access to critical digital data. But it does not seek mandatory storage of citizen data on servers located within the country. In its 2022 version of the Data Protection Bill, the government proposes to allow citizen data to be stored in certain jurisdictions where the government is satisfied that the data will be secure and will facilitate ready data access when legally required.

Minister of State for Information Technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar’s statement to Mint published on Monday makes it abundantly clear. The government will create a white list of countries where digital data of Indians can be stored, setting up what it has called a digital corridor of trust with the country, including mutual guarantees of data security and access. The gist of such trust is that “my rights as an Indian citizen today under the Digital Personal Data Protection Law should remain intact, whether you store it in country X or not. This means that if it is breached there If so, you are still liable,” in the words of the minister.

In any case, the first version of the Data Protection Bill required that all critical data of Indian citizens be stored in India and was too restrictive to be practical only in India. India has a thriving business process/knowledge process outsourcing industry, which processes personal data of citizens of many foreign countries. If they choose to respond with a restriction imposed by Indian law on the data of Indian citizens, it would make life very difficult for India’s outsourcing industry.

It makes far more sense for India to comply with the EU requirement regarding the location of citizen data. European data protection law allows digital data of citizens of EU member states to be stored in jurisdictions that meet EU data protection standards. Through Section 17 of the proposed Digital Data Protection Bill 2022, this is what the government is likely to want to do: the Central Government may, after assessing such factors as it considers necessary, notify such countries or territories outside India, To whom a data fiduciary may transfer personal data in accordance with specified terms and conditions.

Jurisdictions that have data protection provisions that are at least as stringent as India and are willing to enter into reciprocity agreements on data protection and data access with respect to citizen data stored in their territories to safeguard data on Indian citizens Must be safe.

It is possible that proponents of data localization are also concerned about the commercial opportunity involved in the proposal. Storing the vast data on India’s 1.38 billion strong, and growing citizenry will require a lot of server capacity. Why doesn’t India have this capability?

If India builds infrastructure – affordable, plentiful, reliable, preferably renewable energy and a physically secure built-up area of ​​sufficient size, insulated from floods and earthquakes, sudden strikes, random vandalism and terrorist attacks – there is no reason why India cannot Why not house those server farms that have to be built to store not only the vast data generated by more data-hungry Indians, but also the millions of machines that will power other networks on 5G networks in India and around the world? Will chat for machines.

However, instead of mandating the need to store data locally, it takes itself to build the infrastructure that demands it.

Globalization benefits Indian business, and it must learn to play by its own rules rather than self-serving carve-outs.

Elsewhere in Mint

In opinion, Manu Joseph says Terrible arguments given against demonetisation, Kaushik Basu argues that India should propose G minor in G20, diva jain says news of the demise of industrial policy was highly exaggerated. Long story short, Minister of State for IT Rajeev Chandrashekhar dispelled misconceptions Around several important digital legislation.