Data protection law will bring clarity, help research: Kris Gopalakrishnan

Infosys co-founder was heading a committee on non-personal data protection bill, which had submitted its report to govt a few months back

Kris Gopalakrishnan, co-founder Infosys and head, expert committee on non-personal data governance framework said that the data protection laws will be beneficial for research going ahead.

“One reason why we need a data protection law is to make data available for research. Typically, the data that's available for research is anonymous data and population level data. To make the data available in a reliable format, in a format that is useful for research, is where the data protection laws in fact, I believe, will help,” he said during a media interaction post the announcement of Infosys Science Awards 2021.

He further explained that having a data protection bill will help clarify and bring a process for making this data available. “If you look at the non-personal data protection recommendation framework that we have created, it talks about making data sets available for research as a shared infrastructure. So I believe that the Data Protection Laws will make this data available for research in a manner in which that's predictable, that protects the privacy of the people,” he said.

Gopalakrishnan was heading a committee on the non-personal data protection bill, which had submitted its report to the government a few months back. One of the recommendations made by the committee was the need to have an authority to look into data protection. Media reports had also said that whether there will be a single authority that will manage non-personal and personal data is something that the government will have to decide.

The Joint Committee of Parliament is yet to table the personal data bill in the ongoing winter session of the Parliament. PTI report said that the JPC examining the bill has been given time until the last week of the ongoing winter session to submit its report.