Tag: Data Privacy

India’s digital foundation stronger than other emerging economies, says Dell executive

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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With the push for financial inclusion, Aadhaar and mobile communication, India has put in place a foundation for digital transformation that is now stronger than that of any other emerging country, says a top executive of Dell EMC, part of Dell Technologies.

“So you now have a way to transact money digitally, you have a way to communicate with each other digitally and you have a way to be identified digitally. This is a very, very strong foundational layer,” Amit Midha, President, Asia Pacific and Japan Commercial, Dell EMC, told IANS in an interview.

“A combination of these three initiatives will continue to create positive results for the society for decades to come. I think this will yield results in many ways that we have not seen yet,” Midha said, adding that many of the advanced societies also do not have such a strong digital foundation as India has.

The challenge for India, according to Midha, is to reform the education system in the right way so that it can produce the right kind of talent needed for the country’s digital future.

“What we are most excited about is India’s role as a source of innovation. At the moment, the quality of talent here is fantastic. New problems of a global nature are getting solved by the talent pool in India,” he added.

In the largest technology merger in history, Dell and EMC joined forces in 2016 to become Dell Technologies that provides the essential infrastructure for organisations to build their digital future, transform IT and protect information.

In India, the company counts among its customers some of the country’s biggest organisations, including the State Bank of India.

“India is one of the top 10 countries for Dell Technologies. It is growing nicely. We expect this digitisation trend to continue and our revenue growth on the back of it to continue as well,” Midha said, without disclosing the contribution of India to its overall revenue which is slated to exceed $80 billion in the current fiscal.

For the second quarter of this fiscal, Dell Technologies reported revenues of $22.9 billion, registering a robust double-digit growth of 18 per cent from the prior period.

“Our PC business and client business grew at 13 per cent. Our server and networking business grew 34 per cent. Our storage business grew 13 per cent,” Midha said.

“Our double-digit growth across the board suggests that customers are investing on their digital future,” he said, adding that Dell Technologies too transformed over the years to stay relevant to the businesses that it wants to help transform.

“I think our turnaround started in 2013 when we went private. We started investing more in R&D; we invested in sales and services; and we increased the speed of decision-making,” he said.

Midha, who also serves as a member of the Board of Directors of the US-India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF), which aims to foster a deeper strategic and economic cooperation between the two countries, added that Dell Technologies was committed to the India market for the long term.

“I want to make sure our India business continues to gain share and grows faster than the market. We are focused on creating more digital leaders in the country,” he added.

On India’s current emphasis on data localisation — as evidenced from the draft national e-commerce policy and the Reserve Bank of India’s recommendation for all foreign payment firms — Midha said that Dell Technologies was ready to help the country achieve its digital transformation goals according to the policy decisions that the country takes for itself.

Data localisation refers to storage of data generated in the country in a device which is physically present within its borders.

“Many countries have their unique situations in which they decide their policies. We will support customers no matter how policies are made. If you need to localise data, we will help you localise,” Midha said, while emphasising on the importance of having in place a data protection regime in the country.

On reports of Dell Technologies planning to go public again, the business leader, without confirming or denying the plan, said that a financial exercise to recapitalise the company was on.

“Whether this transaction happens or not, it will not change how we run our business. We are recapitalising, but it does not change in any way what we are focused on, where we are focused on,” Midha said.

“Do you know what happens to the companies that don’t change over a long period of time? They just disappear,” he said.

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Government extends deadline for comment on data privacy framework to October 10

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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The government on Friday extended the deadline for public comments on the draft Personal Data Protection Bill, 2018 by 10 days to October 10.

An official statement said multiple quarters have requested for extending the deadline and therefore, it has been “decided that a final extension of time will be granted and that the deadline for submission of feedback on the Draft Personal Data Protection bill has been extended till midnight of 10th October 2018”.

The draft Personal Data Protection Bill was uploaded on the Ministry of Electronics and IT’s website on August 16 for feedback from the public. The last date for submission of feedback was fixed for September 10, which was then extended to September 30.

According to sources, the date has been extended following the recent judgement of the Supreme Court restricting the use of Aadhaar by private entities.

The bill is based on recommendations made by a panel headed by former Justice B N Srikrishna. The committee submitted its report to the government on July 27, suggesting steps for safeguarding personal information, defining obligations of data processors as also rights of individuals, and mooting penalties for violation.

The Justice Srikrishna panel on data protection has recommended that the Aadhaar Act be amended “significantly” to bolster privacy safeguards and mooted that only public authorities approved by the UIDAI or entities mandated by law be given the right to request for identity authentication.

The panel — whose views on Aadhaar are captured in its 213-page report, but are not part of the draft Personal Data Protection Bill, also submitted by it to the government — seeks greater autonomy, both functional and financial, for the Aadhaar-issuing body.

The panel asserted that the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) should not only be autonomous in its decision-making, functioning independently of the user agencies in the government, but also be vested with powers akin to a traditional regulator for enforcement actions.

It has prescribed that UIDAI should be granted powers to impose civil penalties on various errant entities and be armed with power to give directions, issue cease and desist orders to state and private contractors in cases involving statutory violations or non-compliance, and for actual or impending privacy breach.

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KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Cybersecurity, data privacy biggest concerns for Indian businesses, says Dell survey

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Most business leaders in India regard data privacy and cybersecurity concerns as the biggest barrier to their digital transformation, a new report from Dell Technologies said on Tuesday.

According to the research, 93 percent of Indian businesses are facing major impediments to digital transformation today.

Almost half of Indian business leaders believe they will struggle to meet changing customer demands within five years, according to the report tilted “Digital Transformation Index” (DT Index).

Offering insights into the areas where Indian businesses are considering investment to drive their digital transformation, the research showed that regulation or legislative changes and lack of the right in-house skill sets and expertise are the other top concerns for Indian businesses.

The research also indicates that businesses are taking steps to overcome their barriers, along with the threat of being outmanuevered from more nimble, innovative players.

Close to 75 percent of Indian businesses — 19 percent more than in China — intend to invest in cybersecurity in the next one to three years, according to the report.

Conducted in collaboration with Intel Corp, the research showed that 67 percent of Indian businesses intend to invest in IoT (Internet of Things) technologies – 11 percent more than that of Chinese companies.

While 62 per cent of Indian businesses intend to invest in multi-Cloud (7 percent more than Chinese firms), 61 percent of Indian businesses intend to invest in Artificial Intelligence (only one per cent more than companies in China), the findings showed.

For this study, independent research firm Vanson Bourne surveyed 200 business leaders in India from mid to large-size companies to gauge their organisations’ place on the Dell Technologies Digital Transformation Index.

The global results of the report, based on 4,600 respondents from 42 countries, will be released in early 2019, Dell Technologies said.

The report said that 37 percent of Indian businesses plan to invest in Blockchain, 31 percent in quantum computing and 42 percent in augmented reality/virtual reality (AR/VR) technologies in the next one to three years.

“The next digital era has arrived and it’s reshaping the way we live, work and conduct business. Which means that time is of the essence. Genuine transformation needs to happen now, and it needs to be radical,” Alok Ohrie, President and Managing Director – India Commercial, Dell EMC, said in a statement.

The findings showed that just 12 percent of Indian businesses are “Digital Leaders” – companies that are digitally advanced – up from 8 percent in 2016 when the previous edition of the report was published.

The share of “Digital Adopters” — companies that have a mature digital plan, investments and innovations in place — went up to 34 percent this year, from 29 percent in 2016.

The share of “Digital Evaluators”, companies that are cautiously and gradually embracing digital transformation has grown to 40 percent, from 37 percent in 2016.

The percentage of “Digital Followers” (a digitally immature group) has also dropped, from 21 percent in 2016, to 14 percent in 2018, according to the survey.

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KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Indian businesses worried over data privacy and cyber security, reveals survey

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Terming data privacy and cyber security concerns as biggest barriers to digital transformation, almost half of Indian businesses say they will struggle to meet changing customer demands within five years, a survey by Dell Technologies revealed on Tuesday.

The other half of Indian businesses believe they will disrupt rather than be disrupted, said Dell Technologies’ “Digital Transformation Index” completed in collaboration with Intel.

“It’s an exciting time to be in business. However, only technology-centred organisations will reap the rewards offered by a digital business model, including the ability to monetise the data, identify actionable insights, move quickly and automate everything to delight customers,” said Rajesh Janey, President and MD – India Enterprise, Dell EMC.

Nearly 12 per cent of Indian businesses are digital leaders — 5 per cent more than the percentage of digital leaders in China, said the survey.

“A quarter (25 percent) of Indian businesses fear their organisation will get left behind within five years while 38 percent of business leaders are worried they’ll be left behind,” it added.

According to the research, 93 percent of Indian businesses are facing major impediments to digital transformation.

The top five barriers to digital transformation are: data privacy and cybersecurity concerns, regulation or legislative changes, lack of the right in-house skill sets and expertise, information overload and weak digital governance and structure.

Dell Technologies and Intel surveyed business leaders from 42 countries and benchmarked 4,600 businesses for the survey.

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Paytm says Google Pay’s privacy policy potentially risking India’s security: report

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Paytm has written to the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) saying that Google Pay’s privacy policy has scope of violating user privacy and potentially risking the security of the country, The Times of India reported.

In a letter to NPCI’s head Dilip Bose, Paytm wrote “Google Pay shares user data within group companies and third party platforms in India and abroad, which can be risky given that Google Pay is an unregulated payments platform and stores data outside the country,” the TOI reported.

Google Pay, which uses United Payments Interface (UPI) platform, recently completed one year of operations and has claimed that it does not use any individual transaction data for monetisation purpose such as advertisements and operates within the law of the land, the report said.

Previously, Paytm had complained against WhatsApp’s payments platform, saying that WhatsApp was given an unfair advantage on the peer-to-peer payments platform, the report said.

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Internet group backs modernizing data privacy rules in the US

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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A group representing major internet companies including Facebook Inc, Amazon.com Inc and Alphabet Inc said on Tuesday it backed modernizing U.S. data privacy rules but wants a national approach that would preempt California’s new regulations that take effect in 2020.

The Internet Association, a group representing more than 40 major internet and technology firms including Netflix Inc, Microsoft Corp and Twitter Inc, said “internet companies support an economy-wide, national approach to regulation that protects the privacy of all Americans.”

The group said it backed principles that would ensure consumers should have “meaningful controls over how personal information they provide” is used and should be able to know who it is being shared with.

Consumers should also be able to seek deletion of data or request corrections or take personal information to another company that provides similar services and have reasonable access to the personal information they provide, it said.

The group also told policymakers they should give companies flexibility in notifying individuals, set a “performance standard” on privacy and data security protections that avoids a prescriptive approach and set national data breach notification rules.

Michael Beckerman, president and chief executive officer of the Internet Association, said in an interview the proposals were “very forward looking and very aggressive” and would push to ensure the new rules apply “economy wide.”

He said the group “would be very active working with both the administration and Congress on putting pen to paper.”

The Internet Association wants new rules to be technology and sector neutral, which would mean any new privacy protections would cover anything from how grocery stores or other physical retailers use consumer data to car rental, airlines or credit card firms as well as internet service providers.

The White House said in July it was working to develop consumer data privacy policies and officials had been meeting major firms as it looked to eventually seeing the policies enshrined in legislation.

Data privacy has become an increasingly important issue, fueled by massive breaches that have compromised the personal information of millions of U.S. internet and social media users.

California Governor Jerry Brown signed data privacy legislation in June aimed at giving consumers more control over how companies collect and manage their personal information, although it was not as stringent as Europe’s new rules.

Beckerman said “we definitely want to get this in place prior to California because California got it wrong.”

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce also unveiled privacy principles last week that aim to reverse California’s new rules.

Under the law, large companies would be required from 2020 to let consumers view the data they have collected on them, request deletion of data, and opt out of having the data sold to third parties.

Many privacy advocates have called for robust new U.S. data protections.

Laura Moy, deputy director at Georgetown Law’s

Center on Privacy & Technology, told Congress in July that lawmakers should not overturn new state privacy rules and federal agencies “must be given more powerful regulatory tools and stronger enforcement authority” and more resources.

The European Union General Data Protection Regulation took effect in May, replacing the bloc’s patchwork of rules dating back to 1995.

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KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Sebi considering to set up data privacy policy, says report

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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The Securities and Exchanges Board of India (Sebi) is looking to frame a policy to ensure that the investors’ data is secured, Business Standard reported.

The regulator is working on standard procedures for sharing and storing of investor data among market intermediaries and third parties, sources told BS.

The policy aims to set strict protocols for sharing investors’ data and addresses the concerns raised by overseas investors, the sources added.

Last year, the market regulator had made a submission of Aadhaar details along with fingerprints mandatory for the investors.

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

WhatsApp rejects government demand of tracing message origins; Says cannot undermine privacy

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Whatsapp has said it cannot build software to trace the origin of a message on its platform, turning down a demand from the Indian government that wanted such a solution to track down fake or false information that has led to crimes like mob-lynching. The company continues to hold its stance that it cannot trace the origin of messages because of end-to-end encryption.

When contacted, a WhatsApp spokesperson said “Building traceability would undermine end-to-end encryption and the private nature of WhatsApp, creating the potential for serious misuse. WhatsApp will not weaken the privacy protections we provide”.

He added that people rely on WhatsApp for all kinds of “sensitive conversations”, including with their doctors, banks and families.

“Our focus remains working closer with others in India to educate people about misinformation and help keep people safe,” the spokesperson said.

Over the past few months, WhatsApp has drawn flak over its use in spreading fake news through its platform that have even incited incidents of mob-lynching in various parts of the country.

WhatsApp Head Chris Daniels had met IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad earlier this week. After the meeting, Prasad told reporters that the government has asked WhatsApp to set up a local corporate entity and find a technology solution to trace the origin of fake messages circulated through its platform as well as appoint a grievance officer.

He acknowledged the role played by the Facebook-owned company in India’s digital story, but was stern that WhatsApp could face abetment charges if it did not take action to tackle the issue of fake news being circulated on its platform.

Daniels had declined to comment on the proceedings after the meeting.

With general elections slated to be held next year in India, the government is taking a stern view of use of social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp for spread of misinformation.

India is the largest market for WhatsApp with a base of over 200 million users of the over 1.5 billion global user base.

The Indian government has served two notices to WhatsApp seeking details of actions it has taken to curb the menace. In its response, WhatsApp had informed that it is building a local team, including having an India head, and has introduced new features to let its users identify forwarded messages.

WhatsApp has also restricted the number of forwards that can be done at a time.

Besides, the company is also running advocacy and education programme to help people spot fake news.

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KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow