Data Localisation

Why in News?

• The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) has recently highlighted the importance of Data Localisation for economies to protect data during cross-border transfers.

Highlights

• Data Localisation is storing critical as well as non-critical data within the territorial boundaries of the country.
• The most important aspect of data localisation is having control over our own data which makes the country more resistant to issues around privacy, information leaks, identity thefts, security etc.
• It has also helped the countries develop their own startups, evolve locally and also thrive in their own language.
• The UNCTAD in its report found that businesses using the internet for global trade have a higher survival rate than those who do not.
• There is a need to have an integrated long-term strategy for policy creation for data localisation.
• Adequate attention needs to be given to the interests of India’s Information Technology enabled Services (ITeS) and Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) industries, which are thriving on cross-border data flow.
• Access to data by Indian law agencies, in case of a breach or threat, cannot be dependent on the whims and fancies, nor on lengthy legal processes of another nation that hosts data generated in India.
• According to the sources, lack of law enforcement is causing issues in the recent Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between India and UK.
• All the players involved, including banks, telecom companies, financial service providers, technology platforms, social media platforms, e-commerce companies and the government, need to play a responsible role in ensuring innocent citizens do not undergo the trauma of suffering losses.