New Delhi: The Digital India Bill proposes to bring smart watches, spy camera glasses or any other wearable devices under stringent regulation. The Bill will replace the Information Technology Act (IT Act) 2000, and will mandate the consumers for these products to go through ‘strict KYC’ process.
The Bill also proposes ethical usage of artificial intelligence (AI)-based tools to protect the rights or choices of users. The government is also mulling to empower agencies like CERT-In for cyber resilience, strengthening the penalty framework for non-compliance, advisories on information and data security practices, etc.
“Privacy invasive devices such as spy camera glasses, and wearable tech should be mandated under stringent regulation before market entry with strict know your customer (KYC) requirements for retail sales with appropriate criminal law 19 strict KYC requirements for retail sales with criminal law sanctions,” said Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Minister of State at Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (Meity), while having public consultation on the Bill.
The proposed Bill will have separate rules for content monetisation for platform-generated and user-generated content. The minister held consultations with stakeholders and made a presentation on the objectives and goals of the Bill.
The government believes, the current IT Act 2000, has limited recognition of harms and new forms of cybercrimes, without any institutional mechanism for awareness creation.
