Data must belong to sovereign nation to protect privacy of its people: Ravi Shankar Prasad

New Delhi [India], July 22 (ANI): Data must belong to sovereign nation concerned to protect privacy and digital concerns of its people, said Electronics and Information Technology Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Wednesday.
Addressing the G20 Digital Economy Ministerial Meeting through video conference, Prasad said that data is very important for the growth of digital economy and there is a need to balance different aspects such as innovation, enterprise and safety.
"We all need to acknowledge very importantly and significantly that digital economy must go hand in hand with data economy because data is the important component to accelerate the digital economy," he said.
"Yes, we understand the issue of data innovation, data crossflow but we also need to acknowledge the sovereignty over data. Who has sovereign right over data? We are very clear that data must belong to the sovereign nation concerned to protect the privacy and digital concerns of its people," Prasad added.
He said that it is time to acknowledge that digital platforms anywhere in the world have to be responsive and accountable towards the sovereign concerns of countries.
He said that digital platforms need to be responsive, accountable and sensitive to the concerns of sovereign nations as far as safety, defence and privacy is concerned.
Prasad's remarks came as India had recently banned 59 Chinese mobile applications including TikTok, WeChat and Helo.
The government said that the applications are engaged in activities "prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity of India, defence of India, security of state and public order".
Prasad also said that a trustworthy Artificial Intelligence can never emerge unless there is a trustworthy digital ecosystem. "Therefore, data safety and security and safe cyber environment are a very important issue," he said.
Prasad highlighted India has effectively used digital technologies in its fight against COVID-19. "Aarogya Setu mobile app, geofencing system, COVID Savdhan bulk messaging system etc. are some of the examples," he said. (ANI)