The Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act 2023 is expected to be released in the second or third week of August for public consultation after the government finalised the rules proposed under the act.
“We will have extensive consultation for rules. Our approach has been very measured and we have kept the text (of the rules) very simple. The idea is not to disrupt anything,” said a senior government official, reported Economic Times.
The final DPDP Act rules “will stay within the wall as passed by the parliament” and that the government wants to protect the privacy of its citizens by creating a robust mechanism with a “good set of responsibilities will be imposed on how a person makes a complaint,” the official said.
Advertisement
The rules for the act will be notified after the conclusion of the current parliament session.
The issue of age and parental consent verification still remains. “We had a meeting with experts and industry stakeholders about a fortnight ago. Some of them have sent their solutions to us. We are looking at all the options right now,” another government official was quoted as saying by the Economic Times.
The act designates users below the age of 18 as children and they need parental consent while using social media or other third party platforms by intermediaries.
The IT Ministry on July 19 reportedly had an extensive meeting with the representatives of several social media intermediaries and internet companies over the age-gating and age verification of children.
Advertisement
The ministry had also told the companies that verification through Aadhar, Digi-Locker, or a one-time electronic would be unfeasible when it comes to verifying the age and establishing the relationship between the guardian.
With the emergence of fast-paced technologies, tools such as Digi-Locker or one-time verification tools will not work well for age verification on social media and other personal communication platforms, the Ministry said in the meeting.
