Emphasising on the Facebook data leak controversy, the Centre has sent a notice to data-mining firm Cambridge Analytica seeking immediate response on whether the company has been engaged in any assignment to utilise data of Indians.
Meanwhile, the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-IN) has issued an Advisory Note, CIAD-2018-0012, which lays down security best-practices to be followed by social-media users in order to safeguard personally identifiable information on social networking sites.
The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology issued the notice to Cambridge Analytica, which has been accused of serious breach of propriety information and misuse of data intended to profile and influence voting behaviour.
“Reference has also been made to several media acoounts reporting incidents of gross abuse of the social-media platform to influence the sanctity of the polling process. Note has also been taken of alleged claims whereby elections in India were sought to be influenced through questionable means,” MeitY said in a statement on Friday.
The government has asked Cambridge Analytica whether consent was taken from individuals; who are the entities that engaged the company; how did the firm come to be in possession of such data; how such data was used; and was there any profiling done on the basis of such data?
“The intermediaries cited above have been given time till March 31, 2018, to submit their responses on the above issues. The government is deeply concerned about such developments and is committed to ensuring the protection of the fundamental right of privacy, and safety and security of data for every citizen of India,” it said.
While the government is cognizant of the positive role played by social media in promoting awareness and acting as a tool for social cohesion and empowerment, breach of privacy cannot be tolerated, it said.
“In this regard, it is pertinent to observe that CEO of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, has apologised for the mistakes his company had made in handling data belonging to its users, and has promised tougher steps to restrict access to such information.”.