In our other reports on the Consent panel at the #NAMAprivacy conference in Delhi, we look at whether we need a data protection and privacy regulator in India, and ways of making consent work. * A large part of the discussion today, when it comes to regulation, is around the idea of consent. At the #NAMAprivacy conference, we debated the premise that consent is broken and looked into whether it should be done away with entirely. A clear case in point, as Renuka Sané, Associate Professor at NIPFP, pointed out is when it comes to the finance sector and disclosure norms: "When you buy a financial product, there are many things written on a page, and you agree to the terms and conditions", and you find out later that it was mis-sold." Another case in point is app downloads: most users aren't aware, or even read the provisions before clicking "I agree" to terms and conditions, or even downloading apps. Sumant Srivathsan of the Publicis Groupe said that a part of his problems with the consent infrastructure in place today is that "it's obfuscating language, and when the language is designed to either confuse or obfuscate the person from whom consent is being acquired, that's bad faith." It's like boring a guy into saying yes, he added. In response to a question from APCO Worldwide's Shruti Rao, about whether it might be better to make companies mandate that the terms of agreement should be simple and explanatory, Chinmayi Arun, Chinmayi Arun, Executive Director of…
