Company Executives to face 5 years of jail if found stealing data
According to the BN Srikrishna committee draft bill on data protection, executives in companies should take extra care of protecting internal organisation-related data. If the company executives are found to have engaged in stealing or processing sensitive data, the person can be jailed for five years. While this seems to be a wake-up call for such executives, it is a much-needed measure.
The draft proposal suggests that violations of the data protection law should be treated as a criminal and non-bailable offence, adding that such investigations must be conducted by an official with the rank of an officer or above.
Considering the amount of data processed by companies such as Google, Facebook and Twitter, it remains to be seen if such a policy would come into effect. All the members of the committee have not agreed with the idea as they feel it is “excessive” and will have negative impact.
It is also mentioned that if a company executive is found guilty of leaking large amounts of sensitive personal information of an individual, he/she will be jailed for five years and/or a fine of Rs 3 lakh. The information can range from personal details such as passwords, sexual preferences, caste, religion, and Aadhaar number or tax details. Many experts on data protection also suggested that the proposed move is a tad too hard on company executives. If a company executive has been found leaking or tampering personal data of individuals working under him, the punishment recommended is three years in jail and a penalty of Rs two lakh.
The bill also considers offences by central or state governments. This means that the head of the department of any concerned authority will be held guilty if any such tampering is found. Other than that, the panel also suggests civil penalties for companies that have been found breaching data and personal information of individuals.
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