The government of India is considering significant data regulation measures, likened by some to Europe’s GDPR.
New rules, which will be debated in Parliament over the coming weeks, would require that technology companies seek permission before storing citizens’ information.
Controversially, they would also require any “data fiduciary or data processor” to, when requested, pass “anonymized non-personal data” to the state.
Udbhav Tiwari, a public policy advisor at Mozilla, said implementation would: “represent new, significant threats to Indians’ privacy.
He added: “If Indians are to be truly protected, it is urgent that the Parliament reviews and addresses these dangerous provisions before they become law.”
WhatsApp has also spoken out against the proposals, noting that following a government request they would be required to break encryption.
One section of the legislation includes demands for more user verification on sites like Twitter and Facebook.
Each social site would have to give users the option of confirming their identity and displaying this on-screen.
This week, dating platform OkCupid published its month-by-month breakdown of dating trends in India. It dubbed August the ‘Month to #FindMyKind’, encouraging users to seek out partners for themselves rather go down the traditional route of arranged marriage.
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