Sri Lanka online safety and personal data protection: Thoughts for our legislators towards bipartisan consensus

WHILE yet overseas, I was alerted to the parliamentary debate last week, in connection with amendments to our Personal Data Protection Act.

- BY Ranel T. Wijesinha, FCA, MBA

The call from legislators who I have known for over two decades, was also because of my two-part series on Cyberattacks, WhatsApp hacks, comparative analysis of the legal, regulatory and emergency response infrastructure in jurisdictions such as in the United Kingdom, India, Australia, New Zealand and Japan. This article which I might call the 3rd in the series, on online safety and personal data protection, is clearly connected and will be the last in the series.

My purpose

My purpose, in keeping with the philosophy of the Thought Leadership Forum is to enhance awareness among a wide cross section of stakeholders but in particular policy planners, the offices of the legal draftsman, ministry of justice, attorney generals department and our legislators on the need to address this issue, as a matter of compelling national importance.

Depth, balance, maturity and up-to-date thoroughness

Yes, it has to be addressed with a sense of urgency but with depth, balance, maturity, a multi stakeholder perspective, and an up-to-date thoroughness. Given the availability of global benchmarks, which do not require us to reinvent the wheel, and resources which are available from multilateral and bilateral development partners, this is not too much an “ask” within the context of our national focus on digitisation, its merits, risks and necessary safeguards. Thus this brief article from the perspective of a layman in this sector, is intended to urge domain experts to facilitate, bipartisan dialogue and consensus, leading to legislative refinement in the spirit of safeguarding digital rights and promoting responsible innovation in Sri Lanka. Thus let’s look at the challenges even developed jurisdictions have had to experience.

A global reckoning for big tech platforms