DATA Protection

The internet has removed geographical boundaries to a number of our activities, necessitating a change to traditional principles of sovereignty and jurisdiction while enacting and enforcing a law. Laws such as Section 75 of India’s Information Technology Act and Section 4 of the Indian Penal Code, thus enable the exercise of long-arm jurisdiction in cyberspace. For example, any cybercrime which is committed using a computer in India is within the scope of the IT Act, regardless of where the cybercriminal is physically located. In the world of data processing, there are a number of different entities, often located in multiple countries, which access personal data. Determining jurisdiction, therefore, is another crucial issue in determining the scope of a data protection law in India.

Representational Image

Data processing involves multiple foreign entities

In cyberspace, it is very much possible for an entity to conduct business within India, say via a website or an app, without actually having a physical presence in India. This makes factors like, for example, the accessibility of the website in India, or the ability to enter into a commercial transaction with that entity from India, a more relevant factor to determining jurisdiction than the physical location of the entity. Cyberspace will, in fact, in future necessitate a change to most laws applicable to businesses to a more global form, instead of the current geographic forms.

Such activities lead to the collection, use, and sharing of data with entities in different, and even numerous jurisdictions. Consider websites like Facebook, Google, and YouTube, which have their parent corporations outside India, and thus often involve the sharing of data like your personal conversations, your photographs, or details of your online searches overseas. The BPO industry is another example of this, where data of individuals, such as personal information like name and address and financial information like account details, are transferred to another part of the world.