Are apps forcing you to part with personal info? Trai seeks answer
NEW DELHI: Telecom regulator Trai is studying the issue of protection of privacy and ownership when an individual needs to share personal information while downloading and using an app. You may often find it frustrating that to use a popular app, you are required to allow the app maker access to a host of personal data such as your location, contacts list and pictures. And if you decline an approval, then you are not able to use that app.
The regulator also wants to find out whether personal data that mobile subscribers share while using popular apps, is effectively protected and not exploited or monetized. It also wants to know whether individuals need to have ownership of their shared information and have a right to access it whenever they want to.
The regulator also wants to find out whether personal data that mobile subscribers share while using popular apps, is effectively protected and not exploited or monetized. It also wants to know whether individuals need to have ownership of their shared information and have a right to access it whenever they want to.
Trai wants to study this, and an array of other issues relating to usage of apps and the ownership and monetization of data that individuals create on a daily or minute-to-minute basis.
In a consultation paper, 'Privacy, Security and Ownership of the Data in the Telecom Sector', the regulator has raised a series of questions on how privacy of data should be protected and whether there should be a closer scrutiny of the manner in which data is exploited by companies and other agencies through monetization as well as segregation of user data.
"While recognizing the vast business and efficiency potential of data analytics, it is also vital to assess whether the data protection rights of individuals are being adequately protected in this changing environment. Data protection in this context can be broadly understood to mean the ability of individuals to understand and control the manner in which information pertaining to them can be accessed and used by others," the consultation paper says.
On ownership of the data being generated by individuals, it also seeks answers to a variety of questions.
"Should the user's consent be taken before sharing his her personal data for commercial purpose? What are the measures that should be considered in to empower users to own and take control of his/her personal data? In particular, what are the new capabilities that must be granted to consumers over the use of their personal data?" Trai has also sought comments on the manner in which app makers solicit personal information, especially when much of it may not have any direct co-relation with the service being offered by them. "The permission granted by the user to allow access to these various categories of information is often given under circumstances where the user does not fully understand the implication of granting the consent. Moreover, the one-sided nature of these arrangements with an uneven bargaining power between the provider and the user implies that the user often does not have an effective choice in the matter --the app may not available for use without authorising those permissions," the consultation paper added.
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