India's lower house of parliament passed a bill on August 7 that aims to relax data compliance regulations for large technology companies, as reported by Bloomberg News. The Digital Personal Data Protection Act 2023 will modify storage, processing, and transmission standards for major global tech firms like Google, Meta, Microsoft, and local companies seeking international expansion.
The legislation permits companies to export data from India, except to countries where such actions are prohibited by the government. Currently, the bill requires government consent for major tech companies to collect personal data and prevents them from selling data for undisclosed purpose s. This means that personal data used for artificial intelligence (AI) training cannot be anonymized. These amendments to the bill will ease compliance requirements for companies, but it must still pass through the House of Lords.
India, being the world's most populous country with billions of internet users, holds significant growth potential, making these regulatory changes particularly relevant. In the rapidly evolving tech landscape, concerns about data misuse, particularly by big tech firms, have gained increased attention from regulators worldwide. The swift proliferation of artificial intelligence as a publicly available tool has raised apprehensions about the ways in which these products gather and utilize user data.
Reportedly, India is collaborating with the administration of US President Joe Biden to establish an international framework for artificial intelligence. In a related development involving data privacy, the launch of the decentralized digital identity verification protocol called Worldcoin has spark ed concerns about data harvesting. has introduced 1,500 iris-scanning spheres across various countries. India is among the nations hosting these devices, with installations in Delhi and Bangalore, according to Worldcoin.
