Draft rules suggest DPDP Act is a work in progress

THE DPDP ACT WAS MADE INTO A SIMPLE BAREBONES DRAFT WITH PROMISE OF EASE OF IMPLEMENTATION AND CLARITY THROUGH RULES, WHICH WERE TO SPELL OUT THE PRIVACY PROTECTIONS AND LAY DOWN MODALITIES FOR AVAILING THE SAME

- NS Nappinai

The new year indeed brought good tidings with the draft Digital Personal Data Protection Rules, 2025 being unveiled. The rules augur the possible implementation of the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 (DPDP Act) shortly. Privacy was and continues to be our fundamental right, but we needed the instrumentality of law to ensure its effective enforcement. That which the Justice Puttaswamy privacy judgment of 2017 mandated, was finally enacted under the DPDP Act in 2023 but the same could not be implemented for want of rules to enumerate modalities. Now the DPDP Rules have been opened for public consultation in January 2025, a year and four months since the DPDP Act was passed. The hope is that the DPDP Act will become effective without further delay.

With technology permeating every second of our lives, there is deep and constant surveillance of our actions on digital platforms, which results in individuals being targeted and profiled. An enactment that regulates personal data is, therefore, required to protect the fundamental right of privacy of individuals, against government and corporate surveillance, whilst enabling businesses to use the personal data they collect without infringing such privacy rights. The test of a sound personal data law, therefore, lies in the balance it brings to protecting our privacy, ease of implementation and the scope of its application.