There are certain areas where India is definitely
not ready. For instance, India
is not yet ready for cloud computing. Many have
openly expressed their concerns that India
must not use cloud computing till proper policy and legal
framework is at place. Being a profitable segment many cloud
computing service providers in India are lobbying hard to get the
same used at governmental platforms and for governmental services.
Indian government also seems to be in a hurry to use
cloud computing for public delivery of services without analysing its
pros and cons. For instance, India has no dedicated privacy laws,
data protection laws and data security laws. Even leading techno
legal expert of India and managing partner of ICT law firm Perry4Law
Praveen Dalal believes that India
should not use Software as a Service (SaaS) and cloud computing for
crucial governmental services in the present circumstance
and without any policy and legal framework.
India is opposing the concept of human
rights in cyberspace. While on the one hand India is
maintaining that it is not against civil liberties in cyberspace like
speech and expression yet on the other hand India has opposed the
United Nation’s resolution
The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) this
week officially declared free expression on the Internet a basic
human right. India opposed this resolution clearly and it indicates
its intentions to curb online rights of its netizens.
India has been pushing e-surveillance projects like
Aadhar/UID project, national intelligence grid (Natgrid), crime and
criminals tracking and networks systems (CCTNS), central monitoring
system (CMS), etc that also without any judicial scrutiny and
parliamentary oversight.
In these circumstances, use of cloud computing in India is a landmine for privacy violations and civil liberty violations. Indian government is imposing various projects without any legal framework and civil liberty safeguards. Any person or institution can take the sensitive and personal data of others and can use it for commercial purposes.
If Indian government wishes to use cloud computing in India, the same must be supported by adequate civil liberty protections and safeguards, suggests Praveen Dalal. Without these essentials, use of cloud computing is nothing more but a method of e-surveillance alone.
