Editorial analysis: Protect privacy while data theft unravels

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Here, The Raisina Hills analyses editorials of a maximum of five newspapers published from India

The unconditional love for Aadhar on the parts of the government has made all citizens stand naked to data thieves.

The Economic Times and The Times of India on Monday have run editorials on data protection, sounding alarm bells while arguing the case for a strong law.

The Personal Data Protection Bill remains under the scrutiny of the Parliament while it has escaped the hurricane legislative intent of the government.

The ET has taken the China route to raise alarms, arguing that ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok, which was banned by the Centre along with 58 other Chinese Apps, by speaking to the Hiranandani group for localising the data at its sever farms is worrisome for the extent of surveillance done by Beijing through its private firms.

The ET takes benign views on the use of personal data for profit by the US firms, Meta and Alphabet. This argument is worth contesting, as the ET bases its case by making distinction between national security implications while suggesting that the people can be guinea pigs for profiteering social media giants. The line of argument must be condemned as too weak.

Its sister publication the ToI has drawn attention to the mass data theft, highlighting a Hyderabad incident wherein one person was in possession of 2,000 fingerprints, used to procure SIM cards, open bank accounts and indulge in financial frauds. It also cites the growing wider usage of features such as fingerprints, facial recognitions and so on in private spaces.

It needs to be known that the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) recently warned against sharing of the Aadhar copies, suggesting that only the last four digits be shared. This was waking up too late in the day when the house has already been burgled.

Under the watch of the government, the stolen data has become a business model in the country to gain quick access to the unicorn status, USD one billion worth tag. The private lobbyists are keen that the Personal Data Protection Bill is delayed for eternity.

In ‘Pursuit of Justice’ editorial, The Indian Express has welcomed the chargesheeting of 30 Indian Army personnel in the killings of six civilians during a botched security operation in the Mon district in December last year.

The ToI too has run an editorial ‘Justice & Piece’ on the Nagaland issue, saying that the onus is on the Centre and Army for disciplinary actions. It links up the subsequent mob violence to the subsequent Central government’s decision to cut down the areas under the draconian Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA).

Both the editorials build a case for the government to expeditiously work for lasting peace with binding political agreement to herald constitutional freedom and economic opportunities for people in Nagaland and Manipur.

But both the editorials fail to critique the Central government for the snail’s pace on Naga peace talks while the long term interlocuter R N Ravi was shifted to Tamil Nadu with the gubernatorial job.

Deccan Herald has run a lead editorial on the Rajya Sabha elections, calling it a mixed bag since the Bharatiya Janata Party made gains in Karnataka, Maharashtra and Haryana while the Congress had consolation from Rajasthan. The editorial lacks in substance while being a news analysis and also short on commentary, repeating that the BJP outsmarted the Congress while Ashok Gehlot held his fort.

Additionally, the Indian Express and the ET have delved into the prevailing economic downturns amid galloping inflation worldwide.

In ‘Home Truths’, the IE while analysing -4.1 per cent annual growth in the FMCG goods throws out terms such as ‘shrinkflation’, ‘downtrading’, ‘titrating, and ‘grammage reductions’ to build the case that while the consumers facing income stress have cut down on spending the manufacturers have become smart to reduce the weight/volume to pass on the additional costs to the people. It concludes rightly that the constraints of the government’s and people’s finances remain major challenge for the economy.

The ET, writing on cooperative banks, flags 11.7 per cent non-performing assets (NPA), calling for more professionally run cooperative banks in the country.