NEW DELHI: Executives of companies found to have engaged - knowingly or "recklessly" - in knowledge robbery and illegal processing of 'delicate private' data may face legal proceedings and be jailed up to five years.
This is one of the proposals of the draft bill on knowledge protection submitted by the BN Srikrishna committee to the Centre on Friday.
The committee has proposed that violations of the information protection regulation must be treated as a cognisable and non-bailable offence, and the investigation must be carried out by an officer not beneath the rank of an inspector.
Questions despatched to spokespersons for Google, Facebook and Twitter at the implications of the proposal remained unanswered on Saturday. Social media and web giants access and process massive amounts of consumer knowledge.
All individuals of Srikrishna committee were not in settlement with the proposal. "The inclusion of criminal offences along with the fines and compensation is excessive and would impact the enforcement mechanism greatly," Rama Vedashree, CEO of Data Security Council of India and a member of Srikrishna committee, said.
The draft says that someone found guilty of leaking delicate private data of an individual will attract a prison time period of 5 years and/or a high quality of Rs Three lakh.
The delicate data comprises an individual's passwords, sexual personal tastes, caste, religion, aadhaar and tax details. Nikhil Pahwa, an impartial expert who runs Medianama, said that clause seems to be excessive. "This is certainly harsh," he said.
In case of tampering and sale of personal knowledge of individuals (as different from delicate private knowledge), the maximum punishment beneficial is Three-year prison terms and/or a penalty of Rs 2 lakh.
The bill covers offences by the central or state governments. It says "where the offence of the Act has been committed by any government department, the head of the department or authority shall be deemed to be guilty of the offence and shall be liable to be punished." The panel has also beneficial civil penalties for companies which can be found to have breached the private and delicate knowledge of individuals. This might prolong up to Rs 15 crore, or 4% of world turnover of the preceding financial year, whichever is higher.
This is one of the proposals of the draft bill on knowledge protection submitted by the BN Srikrishna committee to the Centre on Friday.
The committee has proposed that violations of the information protection regulation must be treated as a cognisable and non-bailable offence, and the investigation must be carried out by an officer not beneath the rank of an inspector.
Questions despatched to spokespersons for Google, Facebook and Twitter at the implications of the proposal remained unanswered on Saturday. Social media and web giants access and process massive amounts of consumer knowledge.
All individuals of Srikrishna committee were not in settlement with the proposal. "The inclusion of criminal offences along with the fines and compensation is excessive and would impact the enforcement mechanism greatly," Rama Vedashree, CEO of Data Security Council of India and a member of Srikrishna committee, said.
The draft says that someone found guilty of leaking delicate private data of an individual will attract a prison time period of 5 years and/or a high quality of Rs Three lakh.
The delicate data comprises an individual's passwords, sexual personal tastes, caste, religion, aadhaar and tax details. Nikhil Pahwa, an impartial expert who runs Medianama, said that clause seems to be excessive. "This is certainly harsh," he said.
In case of tampering and sale of personal knowledge of individuals (as different from delicate private knowledge), the maximum punishment beneficial is Three-year prison terms and/or a penalty of Rs 2 lakh.
The bill covers offences by the central or state governments. It says "where the offence of the Act has been committed by any government department, the head of the department or authority shall be deemed to be guilty of the offence and shall be liable to be punished." The panel has also beneficial civil penalties for companies which can be found to have breached the private and delicate knowledge of individuals. This might prolong up to Rs 15 crore, or 4% of world turnover of the preceding financial year, whichever is higher.
Executives of companies found stealing data could be jailed for 5 years
![Executives of companies found stealing data could be jailed for 5 years]()
Reviewed by Kailash
on
July 29, 2018
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