It was earlier known that American Deep state had access to data gathered by certain Big Tech Companies. Now it has been confirmed by Mr Mark Zuckerberg of Meta that the Big Tech Companies were actually partnering the American Deep State in their nefarious anti-democratic activities.
This development has created a new Risk Profile for the users of Technology when they handle their data through the proprietary software of the US Big Tech. It cannot be ruled out that the same companies are also big influencers of Indian Big Tech Companies and their industry associations.
We have discussed earlier the transformation of CIBIL as an Indian Company to TransUnion, an US Company and how it helped in billion’s of sensitive financial transactional data of Indians falling into the hands of foreign agencies. A similar situation has arisen in the IT industry where today Indian data in its totality is under the control of Microsoft, Google, Meta and may be with many more companies.
The MeitY has a close relationship with this US Big Tech Companies and the industry associations where they wield enormous influences. Just as the USAID funds have influenced political interests in India, the US Big Tech Companies have been influencing our Government decisions including the delaying of the notification of DPDPA 2023.
Naavi.org has repeatedly expressed that MeitY calling these Big Tech Companies for closed door discussions for framing DPDPA Rules when the same companies are in Courts opposing the Intermediary Guidelines and other notifications is strange. This practice must stop forthwith. The MeitY should stop calling the Big Tech as well as their proxies in India for confidential consultation meetings whenever critical laws and rules are made for the IT industry.
After the disclosures by Elon Musk and DOGE of USA, it is time for the Indian Government to also rejig their Government machinery and create a DOGE-India and expose commercial influencers who are lobbying the Government policies.
It is also time for the Indian Judiciary to come above suspicions of being supportive of anti-Government lobbying by Big Tech in cases involving ITA 2000 or in future the DPDPA 2023. The CJI should review why decisions are being endlessly delayed in the case of Intermediary Rules. Apart from the WhatsApp/Meta case which is with the Delhi High Court, the recent case on Credit Rating Agencies is another instance which requires a watch by the CJI.
It is time we in India learn a few tricks from Mr Donald Trump in how to control Corruption at high places and taking quick and bold actions.
Naavi
P.S: I was just listening to an interview of Sanjay Sanyal (an advisor in PMO?) with News 18 who was pointing out how the health data of Indians were being controlled by an organization (NFHS) funded entirely by USAID and was delinked some time back. The case of CIBIL-TransUnion and Equifax etc is also similar where the US companies are taking control of Indian Consumer Financial data. I hope this brought before the Delhi High Court hearing the case.
