The sudden withdrawal last week of the Private Data Information Bill five years after it was introduced in Parliament has shocked lawmakers as well as advocates of privacy.
The Internet Freedom Foundation has been one of those organisations which has been pushing for more privacy of citizens’ data which is now in the hands of private organisations, tech giants and the government. The government says it will introduce a new bill soon.
Apar Gupta, executive director of the IFF, is not convinced. “Why should we trust the government on this nebulous statement?” he asks in this podcast discussion with Sidharth Bhatia. He feels in its drive to create more unicorns, the government wants the “wild west” of lack of data protection to continue. But, he says, there is a real need for a genuine data protection authority.
