The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Communications and Information Technology (2021-22) called the representatives of Twitter India on Friday to hear their views on ‘Citizens’ Data Security and Privacy’ issues related to digital platforms.
It will also hear “the views of individuals/stakeholders/experts on issues related to digital platforms, technology and Gig economy relating to the subject ‘Citizens’ data security and privacy,” the Lok Sabha Secretariat said in a notice.
On the same day, the panel also called top officials of IRCTC, and is likely to question them about a tender floated by it to hire a consultant to monetise its passenger and freight customer data. There will also be a briefing by the representatives of IRCTC on this subject.
The Shashi Tharoor-led panel has been holding meetings with various stakeholders including tech companies, social media firms, ministries and other regulators on this issue.
The Centre had on August 3 withdrew the long-awaited Personal Data Protection (PDP) Bill, 2019, to replace it with a new bill with a ‘comprehensive framework’ and ‘contemporary digital privacy laws’, which would be ready by the Budget session.
According to sources, the panel will widely discuss on the citizen’s privacy concerns so that it can refer the same to the new PDP Bill.
Twitter’s tussle with Indian govt
Microblogging site Twitter has been in the limelight over the last one year for not complying with the new IT Rules. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) had also directed the micro-blogging company, to comply with the rules made by India.
The government has sent most of the requests to Twitter under section 69A of the IT Act. Under the Act, the Centre or its authorised officer can seek to block access to information in the interest of sovereignty and integrity, defence of India, security of the State, friendly relations with foreign States or public order or for preventing incitement to the commission of any cognisable offence.
Meanwhile, the former head of security for Twitter, Peiter Zatko, has alleged that the Indian government forced Twitter to hire agents who would have access to vast amounts of sensitive Twitter data at a time of intense protests in the country.
Zatko’s allegations regarding the state of Twitter’s operations in India were a part of a wider whistleblower report against the microblogging site’s negligence of cybersecurity of its users.