Recent amendments in the Competition Act, such as the proposals to enforce copyright laws more stringently in digital markets, and introduction of deal value thresholds for merger notifications or the move to impose fines against anti-competitive behaviour based on definite fining guidelines, with total global turnover as starting point of penalty calculation, are steps in the right direction. This article, however, takes exception to the type of blanket ex-ante regulations propounded by the Standing Committee on Finance (SCF) in its report on "Anti-competitive practices by Big Tech Companies".
The paper argues for considering the following with respect to the ensuing endeavour for the proposed Data Protection Law: (1) It must factor in India’s political economy and social context (2) It must enshrine a set of foundational principles, applicable equally to all, including government entities and body corporates (3) Instead of burdening the individual with elaborate consent framework, data fiduciaries must comply with threshold privacy norms (4) Unrestricted reuse of data internally should be permitted even as sharing it with others must necessitate fresh consent (5) Exemptions for government agencies must be narrowly carved out, be case-specific and subject to judicial or legislative oversight.
Our findings suggest an immediate adverse effect on start-up activity: (a) The issue of purpose limitation and seeking fresh consent from the users is the most vexing for start-ups with almost 70% start-ups agreeing that seeking fresh consent will adversely impact their business operations (b) The inclusion of NPD and data-portability may increase the access of start-ups to data. At 60%, a majority of start-ups consider this to be a positive move. However, the implementation of both these provisions needs to maintain the incentives to generate data, which is easier said than done.
The Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) on Data protection presented its report and the amended version of the Data protection bill to the Indian Parliament in late 2021. In this paper, we analyse the bill against its stated objective of protecting users' privacy while helping grow a healthy digital economy in India.
The purpose of this paper is to lay out the basic economic principles that govern the sharing of data, held by a private entity, with another private or government entity. The fundamental points being made in this brief are three-fold: (a) whenever private entities can generate value for themselves by sharing data, they will do so (b) there are instances where sharing data among competitors can improve value for all and, hence, no affirmative policy is required; there are other instances where it decreases value for consumers and needs to be restricted, not encouraged and (c) a mandatory data sharing policy runs the risk of discouraging efficient data capture and reduces innovations in the digital economy.
India has made digital health the focal point of its public health strategy. Health data is universally acknowledged to be critical, sensitive and personal. The draft PDP (Personal Data Protection) Bill classifies health data as “sensitive personal data” with attendant restrictions on its collection, processing, storage and usage. The Draft Health Data Management Policy, released by NHA, accords very high priority to individual consent pertaining to the collection and usage of data. Having said the above, the use of quality data made available in a timely fashion is crucial not only for an individual’s health but also for public health. This paper explores these nuances.
The impact of COVID-19 on the economy is far from fully understood and perhaps the ravage that the pandemic is causing is not over yet. It has impacted both the supply side and the demand side of the value chain, worldwide. As a result, GDP growth rates have declined for a number of countries worldwide - not only for the developing ones, but also the developed economies. For India, given the large share of the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), in both GDP and employment, and the vast informality in the sector, the situation is perhaps graver. Why? Perhaps, because our understanding of this sector, in the absence of systematic data availability is limited.
COVID-19 has also encouraged thought processes – on what is deficient and how it should be resolved using (cost-) effective solutions. If we apply this rationale to the job market, it is to be noted that there emerged not only a need for matching and linking job seekers and job providers, but also a dire demand for reskilling and upskilling. A key challenge people and businesses participating in the labour market is availability of information – information on where and what are the jobs on one hand, and information on where the workers on the other.Data and technology can help alleviate this problem. But how? What is the promise and what are the challenges?
Over the last year, COVID-19 has caused huge disruptions in the education of millions of students: low ownership of computers or smartphones in households in India; problems with internet connectivity and challenges with power availability in large parts of the country; ability of our teachers to teach online. Problems of access to technology and internet also apply to teachers. At the same time, it is important to note that the role of technology in education is not limited to just the use of communication technology in education, or ‘online education’. This Round Table was an attempt to think and reflect upon how to use technology as an aid in the Indian education ecosystem to achieve the objective of quality education for all.
For almost a year now, the pandemic has dominated headlines in India and around the world. The initial focus was on incidents, transmissions, virulence, fatality rate and so on. In more recent times, the focus has shifted to the development of vaccines, safety, efficacy et cetera. The country has also shifted focus to the role of data in managing the vaccination phase of this pandemic - how data is collated, analysed and extrapolated, as well as data incompleteness, inaccuracies, privacy and standardization. India has begun, with its vaccination program, the arduous journey of digitization of health care provision. This Round Table was organized on the very important subject: Vaccine development, procurement, distribution and deployment - The role of data.
The Standing Committee on Finance, under Chairperson Sh. Jayant Sinha presented its report on "Anti-competitive Practices by Big Tech Companies" to both houses of parliament on December 22, 2022. This report intends to lay the groundwork for a regulatory framework that can foster competitive, efficient digital markets in India and safeguard consumer welfare.
Digitalizing the health sector can improve vastly the working of the sector in India, bring in innovation, investment, growth and employment along with an improvement of the health status of all Indians. At the same time, the health sector is prone to market failure and hence requires specific policy measures and, often, government’s own participation in either financing, or provisioning, or both.
The basic approach taken by the Committee is that non-personal data available with an entity must be made accessible to all entities in a form determined by policy. Moreover, if an entity holds personal data, it must ‘convert’ it into non-personal data by a suitable process of anonymisation that is irreversible by anyone who accesses this data. The report also suggests that even if there are no immediate takers of the data, it has to be submitted to the government, in case some entity finds a use for it in the future. Finally, the government is willing to cover the cost, or fix a price, of converting the data in the possession of an entity in a format that can be used by others.
It is important to keep in mind the roles of the government and business in a market-driven economy where the objective is to improve the welfare of those in society. The two fundamental principles governing such societies are: (a) business know best how to generate value from commercial activities and (b) regulators are best suited to continually monitor businesses to ensure that businesses do not appropriate, at the expense of others, the value generated through commerce. To achieve this, governments create a rule-based market environment with free entry, free exit and a dynamic innovation ecosystem.
The issue regarding extraction of value from data generated by Indians should not be mixed up with discussions on who owns, accesses or controls such data or, with issues regarding privacy, or security. Ownership of an asset is not a pre-requisite for value extraction though it is often a pre-requisite for value creation. With ownership comes control regarding how and where the data can be used to create value. For that, one needs specific expertise and specific knowledge and this is what businesses do. Businesses create value by organizing production and sales with the help of suppliers, workers and consumers.
The consultation paper on IDEA is very detailed, and comprehensively frames the value that can be derived from agriculture data and ploughed back to the stakeholders of the ecosystem for increasing efficiency, productivity and thereby bringing significant economic benefits to all the stakeholders, especially those directly involved in agriculture and the startup ecosystem in the country. Out of the seven questions, according to the CDF, three are critical to launch the project in the envisioned manner. These are: (1) Although socially and ideologically much needed, can the project be justified on sound economic principles? (2) What should be the involvement of the government [Centre as well as states]? (3) How to involve private enterprises in the project? Accordingly, CDF is responding to these three questions, in addition to its views on the proposal for regulatory sandbox.
The last few months have seen significant and rapid developments in the digital competition law landscape. On December 22, 2022, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance (SCF) placed a report titled “Anti-competitive practices by Big Tech Companies” before the parliament. The report suggested the drafting of a separate set of rules for ensuring competition in the digital economy. On February 6, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) formed a Committee on Digital Competition Law (CDCL) to “examine the need for a separate law on competition in digital markets”.
On August 3, the Union IT minister, Ashwini Vaishnaw, announced in parliament that the government was withdrawing the Data Protection (DP) bill from the Lok Sabha. The Bill was introduced in 2019 and had been referred to a joint committee of the parliament (JCP). The JCP proposed 81 amendments and 12 recommendations were made toward a comprehensive legal framework for the digital ecosystem. Reconsidering the Bill is a good step. In its current avatar, the bill will do little to provide users any real protection online but may well stymie the growth of an indigenous digital economy.
The human voice is powerful, and can do wonders; see how it can be seamlessly woven with education!
https://indiadidac.org/2021/04/the-human-voice-is-powerful-and-can-do-wonders/
