India's Digital Independence: What Government Can Do To Protect Residents Against Data Breaches

Personal data exploitation is a goldmine that has been exploited by big players in the digital world. Several leading companies have suffered data breaches and thereby exposed data subjects to unwarranted risks. Today, data brokers, advertisers, search engines, and social media networks are at the center of privacy breaches — they know everything about consumers, from their date of birth to marital status as well as from the food they like to the schools their kid goes to.

In the Indian context, this is more serious as the population is not well aware of data risks and has evolving levels of digital literacy.

As India steps into the 5G era with ambitious goals set to be achieved within 'Amrit Kaal' (2022-2047), it needs a robust digital independence strategy against global personal data exploitation — designed and executed by Indians — in order to maintain control over the Indian user's digital identity and privacy.