It's the final countdown (kinda) on the Data Protection Bill #SaveOurPrivacy

Tl;dr

The important issue of our data and how it will be protected is right now pending in Parliament. In December it was refereed to a joint parliamentary committee that is now inviting views and comments from the public. To help you do this, we have prepared a summary of the Data Protection Bill, 2019 with our top 10 concerns that we will post out tomorrow. Today, we urge you to share this post that will inform your friends, family and social networks and help them get ready to participate in this democratic exercise!

UPDATE 10.02.2020 : The last date for submission is 25.02.2020 as per this press communique​.

The joint parliamentary committee

The Data Protection Bill has been a long time coming. We finally seem to moving towards the final stages of this much awaited legislation with the government draft being considered by the Joint Parliamentary Committee. When this committee was formed on December 11, 2019 we wrote to all of it's members asking for more public participation and we are glad it has been opened up to public comments. However, many of our requests including preparing local language translations of the Personal Data Protection Bill, 2019 and public depositions do not seem to have found favour. We promise to keep agitating these demands.

Please find below a link to a tweet from the Lok Sabha Secretariat spelling out the process.

• Last date of submission: Comments have to be sent from three weeks of the publication of the notice. While the notice was published on 24.01.2020, the date within the image notes 22.01.2020. Further this notice has till 5:00 PM on 24.01.2020 not been made available on the Lok Sabha website. We still urge participants to prepare and send their views within the inner timelines to provide adequate time to all members to study and deliberate their submissions.
• Contact: Submissions can be made only in English and Hindi and must be addressed to the Director, Lok Sabha Secretariat, Room No. 014, Ground Floor, Parliament House Annexe, New Delhi - 110001 or by email to [email protected]  and [email protected].

What does #SaveOurPrivacy plan to do ahead?

SaveOurPrivacy has worked since May, 2018 as a framework for civil society groups to put forward demands on data protection and surveillance reform. It presents a model law called the, “Indian Privacy Code”.  The campaign has close to 11,000 individual and 27 organisational supporters who have pledged support.The Indian Privacy Code has been filed twice as private members bills in Parliment.

We promise through these three weeks to help you out with explainers and public materials which help you formulate views and opinions and engage meaningfully with this process. This will start tomorrow! So watch this space for more!

Important documents

1. Representation to the Joint Parliamentary Committee dated 19.12.2019 (link)
2. Explainer on the Data Protection Bill dated 17.12.2019 (link)