Privacy Week Series: Status Of Children's Data Under The Indian Privacy Regime

On the 4th day of Privacy Week, we examine the status of children's data under the Indian privacy regime. Ensuring a child's privacy is the joint responsibility of their parents/guardians and stakeholders handling their data. As of now, Indian privacy law requirements for children's data are straightforward, i.e., the law requires data controllers to, inter alia, obtain the consent of the data subject prior to collection; personal data of minors is not separately regulated. However, certain other Indian laws have a knock-on effect on data collection practices. Indian contract laws do not recognize minors, i.e., persons under the age of 18, as competent persons to contract with. Therefore, obtaining a child's consent has no legal validity, thereby making it necessary to obtain the consent of a parent/guardian to collect a child's data. Consequently, entities implement varying mechanisms to obtain parent/guardian consent.