Personal Data

Yesterday  Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) made an interesting observations, that the ownership of data generated by telecom consumers should rest with the owners and not with internet giant and mobile device makers. It also said that existing framework for data protection  is not sufficient to protect consumers.

TRAI’s recommendations on this matter of Data protection are unequivocal with regards to the right of users. Their recommendation is ” In respect of the ownership of personal data–the individual must be the primary right holder of his/her data. While the right to privacy should not be treated solely as a property right, it must be recognised that controllers of personal data are mere custodians without any primary rights over the same.” Presently consumer has to agree with one sided user agreements by mobile device and app makers, which are complicated and difficult to understand. If you want to install certain app on your mobile device then you have to agree to their terms and condition otherwise you can not install and use the same app. TRAI wants to bring apps and mobile devices under data privacy laws that govern telecom companies. Each user owns his/her personal information/data collected by/stored with entities in the digital system. Ownership rights of the user over personal data are supreme.

The rapid growth in the number of apps in the individual mobile phone or any mobile devices, implies that a large portion of data created would be consisting of  personal details of the user,such as purchases made, places visited, health information, financial transactions, education details and work profiles etc etc. All these apps are technological advance systems and are beneficial to the consumer in general, also have a disadvantage as they can lead to loss of privacy of the individuals, who may not even be aware that they can be tracked or observed.

While telecom companies are presently covered  by data privacy law, but this law does not apply to fast growing system of apps as well as the mobile  device makers. TRAI contention is that the consumer should not be confused or misled by confusing one side user agreements.Generally user is served at the time of availing any services, are one sided, complex, lengthy, full of legal terms and in a language that user may not understand. The user has no other option other than to accept all the terms to avail the use of apps. TRAI further added that “Notice, Choice and Consent” are the most important rights that need to be given to consumer. Such notices should include disclosures on what personal information is being collected, the purpose for which is collected and where it is going to be used, whether this information will be disclosed to 3rd parties,notifications in the instance of data leaks etc. Similarly, choice and consent imply that a data controller shall give individuals choices  of (opt in / opt out) with regard to providing the personal information and take consent from individual only after providing notice of information practices. Consent may be considered to be a powerful means of protecting individual’s personal information.

These are recommendations of TRAI and they means a lot, these recommendations proposed by TRAI are steps towards right direction, mobile device makers  and apps service providers are not covered under the Privacy Law. There have been various case of data breach, including the recent one involving million of face book users. These TRAI recommendations if become law can impact the business of so many big corporations like Amazon, Apple, Google, Samsung, Nokia, Facebook etc etc.

So it becomes imperative that Govt  bring  apps and mobile device makers under data privacy laws that govern the telecom companies, till that time the fate of  the privacy of individual will always be under threat of getting misused.

In the end what you say my friends.

Waiting for your comments/views/feed backs.