India shares its approach to securing digital enablement in a safe and trustworthy manner, emphasizing the importance of design, legal obligations, and individual empowerment.
In a significant development at the BRICS Information and Communication Technology Track, delegates from member countries discussed the advancements made in digital connectivity and safety. Since 2016, the number of internet users across BRICS countries has grown by 1.3 billion, with 4G coverage expanding to nearly 99% of the combined population.
Beyond coverage expansion, India highlighted the need for ensuring safety and trust in ICT systems as digitalisation becomes more potent due to frontier technologies like AI. To address this issue, three key pillars were proposed: safe digital infrastructure by design, obligations under law for safe and trustworthy digital content delivery, and individual empowerment.
The first pillar was exemplified by Aadhaar, India's digital identity system, and the Unified Public Interface (UPI), its digital public infrastructure for real-time payments. The design ensures that biometrics are never shared with service providers, and details are not visible to the Aadhaar system. This separation of identity and service provision ensures safety by design.
The second pillar was illustrated by India's future-ready Information Technology Act and Digital Personal Data Protection Act. These laws require intermediaries to observe due diligence to prevent harmful content and provide mechanisms for individuals to seek resolution from social media platforms. The Digital Personal Data Protection Act also protects children's data and provides a digital adjudication mechanism for unresolved grievances.
The third pillar emphasizes individual empowerment, illustrated by born-digital mechanisms that allow affected persons to escalate unresolved online grievances to independent expert committees. The Digital Personal Data Protection Act also offers a similar digital adjudication mechanism.
India's model was highlighted as an example of a safe and trustworthy approach to digital enablement, which contributes not only to the security of its own people but also to the world due to the country's significant role in ICT specialists, population, GDP, digital public infrastructure, and AI inventions.
Source:
Press Information Bureau
