Chandrasekhar was speaking at the inauguration of Bennett University’s Centre for Law and Computing Technology on Saturday.
He said cyberspace is currently governed by the IT Act, which is a 22-year-old piece of legislation, and that there was a need for a more contemporary Act.
“In the internet domain, 22 years is almost four or five centuries,” Chandrasekhar said.
“There is a need for a new contemporaneous law that is global standard and is consistent with India’s ambition to be a preeminent nation in the coming decades, in all matters – technology and all aspects of the innovation and technology ecosystem,” he added.
The government is focused on creating enabling frameworks and policies through a process of public consultation, he said.
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The Data Protection Bill submitted by the Joint Committee of Parliament, has been studied by the ministry and the government, he added.
“We have just unveiled the national data governance framework and policy that is undergoing public consultation. We will shortly be rolling out cybersecurity policies and guidelines, and very shortly down the road, we’ll be working on a new Digital India Act which will be a renewed policy for the digital ecosystem and the cyberspace in India,” he said.
He also said that Big Tech platforms and all platforms that provide products and services online are accountable to citizens who are users.
“I think the challenges going forward in jurisprudence (and) on the regulation of cyberspace are considerable,” Chandrasekhar said. “They range from informational protection and privacy on one end to ethical use of technologies like AI on the other end of the spectrum, then you have challenges of openness and competition, vis a vis the big tech platforms, especially in the context of monopolies and duopolies is in app stores and search engines.”
He said that there are also other challenges about the increasing trend of weaponization of the internet, especially since a large part of the economy and economic activity will be resting on and connected to the internet.
The government is clear that the internet and technology should be defined by openness, safety, trust and accountability to those that use these platforms or use these services and products.
“We are working very clearly on evolving a jurisprudential policy framework that addresses the issue that the internet and tech space must remain open,” he said.
Following the Covid-19 pandemic, Chandrasekhar said there is an additional opportunity as the world is looking at India as a trusted partner in the digital electronics value chain as well as the digital services value chain.
“You can see from the performance of the last one year of the IT companies, which are now growing at an unprecedented 15-plus percent growth rate, that the world’s demand for digitalization is being met by Indian entrepreneurs, Indian startups and Indian companies,” Chandrasekhar said.
Bennett University is part of The Times of India Group which also publishes The Economic Times.
