The importance of data privacy day explained

New Delhi, Jan 28: Every year the Data Privacy Day that is an international event is celebrated on January 28. The purpose of this day is to sensitize individuals and disseminate privacy practices and principles.

Presently, this day is observed in the United States, Canada, Israel and 47 European countries.

The onus of safeguarding privacy lies on every shoulder, from a privacy professional to an internet user.

What is Data privacy in information technology?

Data privacy, also called information privacy, it is the aspect of information technology (IT) that deals with the ability whether as an organization or individual to determine what data in a computer system or social media can be shared with the third parties.

According to the Information privacy law or data protection laws, the disclosure or misuse of information about private individuals is prohibited.

The Privacy Act provides protections to individuals in these following primary ways. The right to request their records, subject to Privacy Act exemptions; the right to request a change to their records that are not accurate, relevant, timely or complete.

Know why Data privacy is so important.

Data privacy first helps individuals maintain their autonomy and individuality. American privacy allows our many cultures and subcultures to define for themselves how personal information moves in the economy and society. A second reason that privacy is important is because of its functional benefits.

It is a fundamental human right recognized in the UN Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and in many other international and regional treaties.

A revised Personal Data Protection Bill, 2019 (Draft Bill), was cleared by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), Government of India (GoI), on December 4, 2019. India has proposed this groundbreaking rules, that is akin to Europe's GDPR, under which the technology companies would require to garner consent from citizens before collecting and processing their personal data.

However, the new rule also stated at the same time, the companies would have to hand over non-personal data of its users to the government.