Parliamentary Standing Committee on IT to discuss Privacy and Data Protection on April 4th 2018

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology is going to discuss Privacy and Data Protection on April 4th 2018, with representatives
of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology set to brief the committee on “Citizens’ data security and privacy”, according to a notice from the committee, and a tweet from Committee Chairman Anurag Thakur.

Parliamentary IT Commitee will examine the issue of citizens data security & privacy. We will begin the proceedings by hearing the views of @GoI_MeitY on 6th April at 9.30am.

— Anurag Thakur (@ianuragthakur) March 28, 2018

The Economic Times adds that the Committee might summon Facebook to depose before it, given the context of the Cambridge Analytica scandal, and the usage of Facebook data in political targeting, and the potential shaping of election results.

Note that two topics on the Committee’s agenda include: “(iv) Social Media – Norms and Regulations (v) Citizens’ data security and privacy”, and this potentially combines the two.

A few things to note:
1. There will probably not be any live streaming of the deposition, or even videos available. I’ve deposed before a few committees, and even transcripts of depositions are not available until the committee publishes a report. That said, other countries do broadcast/webcast their depositions, and videos are available. This video of a Facebook executive being told off in Singapore is going viral. The video:

Other parts of that deposition are here.

2. There may not be any report: We’re still awaiting the committee’s report on Net Neutrality, even though the regulations around Net Neutrality have been accepted, and the TRAI has made recommendations to the DoT of Net Neutrality.

3. The committee can request public submissions. It has been done before. We had submitted views to the Committee on IT on the issue of Paid News.

4. Facebook need not depose: While Facebook had deposed before the IT Committee on the issue of Net Neutrality, Google had opted out, despite being summoned. It’s possible that Facebook could choose not to depose.

5. Not every MP attends the Standing Committee meetings. Here’s the composition of the committee: