Time to replace old IT Act with new digital law
Any new law should not be rigid and too focused on the present. Rather, it should be flexible and open to wide interpretation, given the evolving nature of the technology space
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Bengaluru: India requires a new digital law as the two-decade old Information Technology Act is now out of sync of current realities, Union Minister of State for Electronics & IT, Rajeev Chandrasekhar said.
Speaking at Nasscom's annual event India Leadership Forum 2022 on Wednesday, Chandrasekhar said the citizens are now waking up to the importance of privacy over just choosing convenience.
He also added that it would be essential to ensure that the world sees Indian cyberspace as safe and that there is predictability in jurisprudence. "[With] what we are proposing with the new digital law We will set the bar in terms of what jurisprudence around the internet should be like," the Minister said.
He, however, cautioned that any new law should not be rigid and too focused on the present. Rather, it should be flexible and open to wide interpretation, given the evolving nature of the technology space. "It is important to get the next bit of legislation very right in terms of its ability to be flexible and evolvable," he said.
Emphasising on the importance of digital economy, Chandrasekhar said India must be a part of the digital- economy but the data privacy of Indian consumers should be protected.
"There is no such thing as being an island of safety and harmony and tranquillity in cyberspace," he said. "That just does not exist. India must take the lead (in terms of formulating laws). We are the largest connected market in the world. And even if you want to include China, we are still one of the largest markets and one of the largest connected democracies in the world. We have a lot to teach the world in terms of how we manage digitisation, increase digital adoption, inclusion and access to all, and at the same time ensure that the internet is safe, trusted, open and accountable," he added.
India is currently considering various provisions of the Personal Data Protection Bill to provide safeguard to consumers data apart from protecting data privacy of individual user.
