Users Own Data, Not Companies; Says TRAI

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has said that entities holding or possessing personal data do not have primary ownership over it and are merely custodians of the data, reports Mint. TRAI’s position is that users be given the right to choose information that can be shared and forgotten if they wish so.

TRAI has said that the existing framework for personal data protection of telecom users is insufficient and that a data protection framework for all entities processing user data be brought out.

A bulk of data is used over smartphones and thus, subject to analysis by operators, thus posing a risk of privacy. Over time, this data can be used to profile users.

Data from users forms the bulk of operations for many communication-based firms who use it for targeted advertising and serving the content they believe the user would prefer to see.

Last August, TRAI had brought out a consultation paper in an effort to identify what construes personal data and its control and ownership by telecom operators. The current recommendations will also function as inputs to the Justice B N Srikrishna committee that was set up by the Centre last July to identify data protection issues and address them.