MeitY to seek fresh consultations on data norms

Bengaluru | New Delhi: The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology will seek a fresh round of inter-ministerial consultations on its data anonymisation guidelines before releasing the draft for public consultations, people in the know of the development told ET.

In the new round of consultations, MeitY will look for inputs on global standards as far as data anonymisation is concerned and will also consult other government departments on the impact that the new guidelines could have on the internal data security of citizens, the sources added.

"It is a complex issue and needs wider consultation with other government departments and ministries as well. We will talk to experts again, look at global examples and examine them, and then put up the draft for public consultation in a few days," said a senior IT ministry official on the condition of anonymity.


The draft of the guidelines on data anonymisation had been put up for public consultation on August 30 by the IT ministry and was pulled down after a few days. ET had, on September 2 reported that MeitY had invited public comments on the draft guidelines.

Data anonymisation is one of many privacy-enhancing techniques that removes or minimises the identifiability of individuals in large data sets of personal information. -