Data Bill's hits and opportunities

Governance through trusts will help balance the concerns over data sovereignty and its economic potential

The right to privacy, fundamental in the relationship between the state and its citizens, has taken on a new form and urgency, given the pervasiveness of digital technology.

The Supreme Court, in the 2017 Puttuswamy judgement, recognised this. Justice Rohinton F Nariman specifically detailed the right of individuals over their personal information, stating: “Informational privacy does not deal with a person’s body but a person’s mind, and  therefore recognises that an individual may have  control over the dissemination of material that is  personal to him. Unauthorised use of such information leads to infringement of this right.”

Justice D Y Chandrachud