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Do you own a car? Do you have a driving licence?
Well, if you do, then there just might be some cause for concern.
The government will be selling your data without you even finding out.
Here's what happened.
The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has come up with “Bulk Data Sharing Policy and Procedure”. This has implications for our privacy and profiling.
So, what does this mean?
According to the Ministry’s VAHAN software system, over 25.5 crore or 255 million vehicle records have been digitised.
Well, 28 different types of info to be precise – this includes
So, why should this bother you? Let’s break the answer into 4 parts to get a holistic picture of how this policy can even harm us.
So, we do not own this data even though it pertains to us but at the same time it is our privacy that may be harmed? Exactly. Ye toh wahi baat ho gayi – khaya piya kuch nahi glass toda baarah aana.
So, how exactly can our privacy be harmed? Well, even though the 28 data points does not include our names but the ministry itself allows for names to be searched with license or registration numbers.
So, insurance companies, banks, credit companies, marketing agencies can analyse big data to find out a lot more about us such as our income level, spending patterns or personal preferences.
Oh wait, we do not have a data protection law yet.
This brings us to our third point.
As of now there is no clarity on it. The draft Data Protection Bill that is yet to be tabled in Parliament says nothing about data ownership.
So, in this scenario, do we own the data about our vehicle and our driving licence? Or does the government own it?
While we may not be defined as “owners” of data about our own selves, the draft Data Protection Bill specified that our consent is necessary for processing any data. Well, does the ministry seek our consent to share our data? NOPE.
The circular in fact says, this sale of OUR data will “benefit the country economy” and “support the transport and automobile industry”.
And for that if we must forgo our privacy and consent then so be it.
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)