Latest Updates on Privacy – September, 2021 – Part III

This is a rundown of last week’s news updates on Privacy:

Joint Parliamentary Committee on data protection bill to comb through over 100 drafting changes

The Joint Parliamentary Committee tasked with ironing out a number of issues with the personal data protection bill will now look at over a 100 legislative drafting and cosmetic changes to be made to the bill, with one of them being the change of name from the personal data protection bill to the data protection bill. One other proposed change has been to the proposed Section 49 to expand its ambit to include all data breaches, as compared to its previous scope of merely personal data breaches. The bill however is likely to face protracted deliberations owing to a number of members of the committee being substituted due to their predecessors’ appointments to the Cabinet.

IRDAI’s Insurance Information Bureau Rules not sitting well with privacy experts

The Insurance Regulatory Development Authority of India’s rules which establish an Insurance Information Bureau under the Andhra Pradesh Societies Registration Act has come under fire for creating a monopoly over insurance data, as the Rules stipulate that data of life and non-life insurance holders will be transferred to the Bureau. Experts also fear that such a move will clash with policyholders right to privacy. The Bureau is also not expected to provide any benefits for insurance holders similar to what credit rating agency CIBIL does with good credit scores.

Supreme Court to pass interim orders in Pegasus case

The Supreme Court has decided to pass interim orders in the Pegasus spyware case after the Government had refused to file a detailed affidavit relating to the use of the software on Indian journalists. The Government cited national security reasons stating that a public discourse would alert terrorists as to the use of such software. As a middle ground, the Government had suggested a committee of domain experts with no connection to the Government and which would report solely to the Supreme Court, to investigate into the allegations of spying on Indian journalists and citizens.

Delhi High Court issues notice to Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) over Google Pay privacy concerns

The Delhi High Court has issued notice to the UIDAI in a petition alleging that digital payment app Google Pay is skirting existing banking laws, and a possible breach of privacy over unauthorised access. The petition alleges that Google Pay’s terms and conditions stipulate that the app will be collecting and sharing either bank account details or the Aadhaar details of a user.
 
Authored by Rohan Joshua Jacob (Associate).


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