This Bill if implemented will erase the privacy concern as raised by many over the misuse of data as obtained from UID. UID needed some good channel to cover the mass of people who still need to be enrolled.
There is some good news for those who are worried about the impact of UID on privacy.A senior bureaucrat in the department of personnel and training told ET that the draft bill on privacy,currently being drafted by the DoPT,makes it clear that no institution can share a persons data with a third party without the individuals consent.
This is one of the big concerns arising out of the UIDAI project that the UID would make it possible for several organisations,such as hospitals and insurance firms,to compare their databases to better profile their customers.The official told ET that,as per the draft bill,while the government can aggregate information about individuals whenever required in national interest,this data cannot be used for any purpose other than the one for which it is being collected.Take for instance,the Radia transcripts.While the government will still be able to intercept such conversations,releasing the transcripts to the press would be illegal.Before putting the bill in the public domain to get feedback,DoPT will have to resolve a dispute regarding the scope of the bill.
When work began in June last year,it was originally conceptualised as a bill to ensure data protection.However,after the leak of the Radia Tapes,its ambit was expanded to cover personal privacy too protection against surveillance,unsolicited phone calls,data protection and interception of communications.At present,these additions are regulated by multiple acts.For instance,telephone intercepts are regulated by the Telegraph Act,the Wireless Act,the Information Technology Act,etc.Accordingly,the DoPT originally decided to create an umbrella legislation laying down broad principles,partly derived from the OECD privacy principles,that these laws would have to conform to.However,in the middle of this year,the DoPT was told to incorporate provisions on the hows of surveillance,interception,etc.This proposal has run into opposition from the ministries like home,revenue and telecom.
