The age of privacy

This is,some say,a post-privacy age. There are reams of data available on all of us: our phone conversations,our SMSes,our bank statements,our railway or airline tickets. The simple truth is that there is little reason to suppose that this could not be intercepted or collated and used without our consent. In recent months,intercepted telephone conversations in particular have featured in the headlines extensively. In response,the government is now drafting a bill which guarantees a right to privacy,with severe punishments for those who break data protection laws.

The technical use of data can change our lives for the better. Moreover,there is no way of stopping it,now that technology allows it to happen. The unique identification number is an idea whose time has come,helping us ensure that Indias poor,so many of who fall between the cracks in any welfare scheme,will be included at last. National security will require us to occasionally have access to the records of those who use high technology to hide themselves while they do us harm. But in each case,we need to be certain that there are strong,independent authorities overseeing the use of our data,and protecting us even from our protectors.

The new draft legislation,as reported in The Sunday Express,goes some distance towards answering questions as to how the states interception of our private data will be governed. As more and more of our data becomes available,and susceptible to interception by the state or by malicious private parties,a supervisory institution will become ever more important. The legislation will need wide consultation at the committee stage to make it stronger,as will the privacy aspects of the UID bill before it is passed. This is an opportunity to bring on board all those who worry about the potentials of high-tech snooping and yet accept that we cannot go back to a non-digital past.