Privacy in the digital Wild West

The arguments against a personal data privacy law are spurious. India needs robust data protection laws to enable growth without breaches of privacy

At a recent panel discussion on the future of digital, a couple of interesting arguments came up in the context of personal data protection. As readers may know, India doesn’t have a personal data protection law.

A nine-member bench of the Supreme Court unanimously judged personal data privacy was a fundamental right in the case of Puttaswamy vs Union of India in 2017. The Court recommended legislation be drafted to protect personal data.

A committee was formed under retired Justice B N Srikrishna to canvass opinion and draft appropriate legislation, and it submitted a draft Bill in July 2018. The government has