After years of going back and forth on its contents, India finally has a data protection law, i.e., the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023. While small steps forward may be better than inertia or taking giant and hasty leaps, figuring out how far this law will take us requires that we understand how it protects our privacy in everyday situations and routinely touches our lives. In the search for an answer to this question, we need to look at two basic features of any data protection law: the use of personal data with consent and without it.
Standard situations and the issues
The classic problem in data protection is the standard for consent. When your data is being used, do you have a choice in the matter? For example, your Internet activity can be used to study you. An app could find out your religion from what you eat, your health status from your physical activity, or your sexuality from your movie preferences. Maybe you have given your phone number to a business while making a purchase, but do not want to be bombarded with marketing calls.
