Many governments around the world have placed strict limits on what can be done with personal data that relates to individuals. This follows from the nearly universal recognition that the privacy rights of the individual must be protected. Thus, personal data must be protected from abuse in a manner that can cause harm to the individual or to the group. Non-personal data (NPD), loosely defined as data that does not identify specific individuals, is a more complex matter. While there are privacy and security issues, there is increasing recognition that there is a potential public good that can be achieved by making certain kinds of NPD available to the public and to industry. However, the devil is in the detail and myriad issues emerge that relate to public policy, economics, business models, technology, law, regulation, governance, etc. There have been several efforts around the world to explore these issues. Clearly, these issues depend on the history and culture, and also the state of technological development of each society, and hence require country-specific solutions. This is more so in a large and diverse country like India.
With this backdrop, IISc, IIT-B and NLSIU will jointly host a series of web panels over the rest of 2020 to explore issues related to NPD. Each panel will consist of short presentations by leading experts and practitioners in the field, followed by a moderated panel discussion. Two recent initiatives in India will provide some context for these panels - the recently released report on policy and governance models for NPD, sponsored by Ministry of Electronics and IT (MEITY); the various initiatives on data sharing and data exchange platforms India Urban Data Exchange (IUDX) from Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, National Data Highway from MEITY, National Data Sharing and Accessibility Policy from NITI Aayog, etc.
The panels will explore key issues related to NPD described above and also examine the use of NPD in various verticals such as health-care and mobility. Each moderated panel will be a 90-minute discussion among experts and stakeholders. Moderator-led set of questions to each panelist will serve as the opening remarks; a broader Q&A with the audience and a summary presentation by the moderators will follow.
Organizing team:
● Dr. Inder Gopal, CEO of IUDX Program Unit, IISc, Bangalore.
● Prof D. Manjunath, IIT Bombay.
● Srijoni Sen, National Law School, Bangalore.
