The government is looking to make the online world more accountable for published items through the proposed new version of the Data Protection Bill and the amendment to the IT Act 2000, known as the Digital India Act, Union minister in the electronics and information technology Ashwini Vaishnaw said on September 5.
Vaishnaw, who was addressing the launch of the 2nd batch of Cytrain Setu said, “We will be coming up with a new version of the Data Protection Bill, and the Digital India Act is also in the works. What we are looking at is making the online world more accountable for what is being published there.”
Cytrain Setu is a PGD Prog in Cyberlaw, Cyber Crime Investigation and Digital Forensics offered by National e-Governance Division in collaboration with National Law Institute University, Bhopal.
Last month, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) withdrew the Personal Data Protection Bill 2019 because, firstly it would have made compliance hard for startups, and also because many provisions of the Bill, such as data localisation, hardware authenticity clauses, and so on, went beyond ambit of data protection.
The IT minister said that the idea to make technology providers more accountable for content being published is part of the global consensus.
“Whether it is the G20 group, there is a clear consensus that we have to make sure that technology providers are also more accountable for what they are providing,” he added.
Vaishnaw said that the government was looking at a ‘complete overhaul’ of cyber laws in the country, and in that context, he made a mention of the upcoming new telecom bill.
“Very soon, we will be coming up with a telecom bill. I am sure all of you are aware that the role of telecom in the digital world is very important – practically everything is consumed through mobile phones,” he said.
Vaishnaw, who also holds the Communications ministry portfolio, requested participants during the event, which includes key police officials, judicial officers and others, to take a look at the bill and provide their suggestions.
That apart, while this meeting was underway on August 5, the IT ministry summoned Wikipedia executives to explain how cricketer Arshdeep Singh’s Wikipedia page was vandalised.
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