Government Holds First Public Consultation Meeting on Digital India Bill: Details

The government has held its first public consultation meeting with various industry and policy stakeholders regarding the Digital India Bill (DIA).

The government intends to replace the IT Act 2000, which was created at the very beginning of the Internet, with the new Digital India Act.

The Internet and information technology have empowered citizens, but they have also created challenges in the form of harm to users; security; safety of women and children; organized information wars, radicalization and the circulation of hate speech; misinformation and fake news; unfair trade practices.

According to a government presentation, the current law has limitations such as a lack of comprehensive provisions on user rights, trust and security; limited recognition of new forms of cybercrime; lack of regulatory approaches to harmful and illegal content; lack of adequate principles for data protection/privacy, among others.

In his presentation made in Bangalore, Union Minister of State for Information and Technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar said the new law is expected to evolve through rules that can be updated and address the principles of digital India – open internet, online security and trust, accountability, and quality of service, arbitration mechanism and new technologies.

“The first time in India’s history – a public consultant for a new law begins with a dialogue on the aims and design principles of #DigitalIndiaAct,” Chandrasekhar tweeted.

The minister explained all the principles of Digital India to the stakeholders during the presentation.

An open Internet, according to the presentation, should have choice; competition; online diversity, fair market access, ease of doing business and ease of compliance for startups.

Privacy intrusive devices such as spy camera glasses and wearable technology may be subject to strict regulation prior to market entry with stringent KYC requirements for retail sales with appropriate criminal penalties.

Content monetization rules for platform and user generated content are also mentioned in the overview.

Going forward, the government will conduct a comparative study of all relevant global internet and technology laws in other countries, before introducing the bill.