In the present winter session of parliament a key proposal impacting our privacy may pass into law. The, DNA Technology (Use and Application) Regulation Bill, 2018 is up for consideration & passage and we need to oppose it.
This law allows law enforcement agencies to collect DNA samples, create “DNA profiles” and databanks for criminal investigations. All of this is happening without a credible privacy law in place. We ask, given that a process to make a privacy law is ongoing, what is the tearing hurry make a law to collect our DNA and put them in databanks?
There are several problems with this law which was not put up for public consultation and its final form was never published for stakeholder inputs. Its functionaries have little or no institutional independence or autonomy, it is created at a huge cost of 25 crores (initial outlay) and has no clear provisions for deletion of DNA entries. There are no provisions which inform people how their data will be shared and they will have little to no control over it.
Given the vast concerns to our privacy, we have prepared a legislative brief to inform our lawmakers the top legal and policy reasons to oppose it. We will be seeking opportunities to brief them and inform them about the dangers of this ill considered legislation.
Link to the Legislators Brief on the DNA Bill
Call to action
- If you work in a legislators office and want to reach out to us please do ping us on [email protected]. We can help provide context and brief lawmakers with expert knowledge on privacy and data protection.
- Call your MP on these legislations (find out who by using MyNeta and the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha websites). A phone call is incredibly effective in putting your view across to them as a voter.
- Donate generously to IFF which powers #SaveOurPrivacy. More money, means more resources in this long fight to win on privacy.