Digital drive: Government seeks say in how data is evaluated

The ambitious expansion of Digital India programmes has seen India launch an audacious bid to wrest a prominent seat in global discussions to frame protocols that could change the way data is evaluated and how commerce and security are regulated in cyberspace.

The recently concluded global conference on cyberspace provided India a platform to gain allies and set out an agenda that goes beyond discussions on platforms like US-based internet corporation for assigned names and numbers (ICAAN) and seeks to look afresh at equity and access on the net.

Though India’s share of internet traffic is modest, it is growing and moreover, Modi government’s initiatives like Aadhaar, MyGov, Bhim-UPI, Aadhaar Pay, direct benefit transfer ( DBT), e-sign, GeM (government e-market) and common services centres (CSC) have generated a strong global buzz.

The programmes have attracted the interest of organisations such as World Bank, academics, financial and software experts, foreign governments and several investors, providing a leverage that has eluded India and could now open the doors to the high table on cyberspace governance.

“Access is critical to the discussion on cyberspace and Digital India is showing that access and low costs can go hand in hand. At one point in time the late Rajiv Gandhi said 15 paise of a rupee reached beneficiaries. Programmes like DBT and other Aadhaar-linked payments can deliver cent percent every single transaction,” said IT and law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad.

A key area for action as far as India is concerned and where it sought to use the GCCS platform is to prevent near monopolies like Google, Facebook and Amazon dictate cyberspace commerce in a way that impairs options for India that is a large market but has little say in use of data it generates. The possibility of data being valued is being discussed and this challenges the US concept that individuals willingly sacrifice privacy of data for use by service providers in exchange of free services.

This is not too different from retailers working on client preferences except the scale of operations is enormous and Indian laws may not govern the actions of these international firms.

Large internet-based firms paying for data they use may not be round the corner, but it is an useful argument when it comes to seeking more parity in a situation where there is no management structure for content. India will also be interested in principles that guide rulemaking for storage and transfer of data and penalties for breach of commercial and security interests.