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Data Protection Law and Contemporary Issues

Dr. Usha Ramanathan, who works on the jurisprudence of law, poverty and rights gave a talk on Data Protection Law and Contemporary Issues on 26 July. Data is the new fuel. The principles set out in the Data Protection Act help businesses ensure the details of their staff, clients and customers are properly protected. There is an urgency for all Indian citizens to be aware how our data is being used for scams and malpractices.

The Data Protection Act contains a set of principles that organisations, government and businesses have to adhere to in order to keep someone’s data accurate, safe, secure and lawful.

Dr. Ramanathan is a regular speaker at various universities like MIT, Yale in the US, York, Osborne, Ottawa and Queens in Canada, SOAS.  She was a member of a committee (2013-14) set up in the Department of Biotechnology to review the Draft Human DNA Profiling Bill 2012. She was a member of the Committee set up by the Prime Minister’s Office (2013-14) to study the socio-economic status of tribal communities which submitted its report to the government in 2014. She has been on a series of committees on revising the vagrancy law. She has been tracking, and engaging with, the UID project and has written, and debated extensively, on the subject.