Non Personal Data is in News !

In the internet era hiding a personal identity is a big challenge. A person who is using the internet can be identified by the behavior of his surfing on the internet. There are many algorithms that can predict the age, gender, location, interest, and many more by continuously monitoring the logs through cookies. So being an internet user one should take care of their individual identity and understand the difference between personal and Non-personal data.

This article is all about knowing Personal Data.

Basically, Non-personal data is any set of information that will not disclose your identity, such data includes your name, age, gender, relationship, bio-metrics, genetic details, your contact number, address, etc. 

First, we understand how our personal information were reached to IT Companies. 
Let us understand this by an example of how personal data were taken by a company which we have to take care about. Suppose we order food online, in the beginning, the company will give huge discount offer through which they can save our information like name, age, gender, contact information, location etc. 
Once the personal information/identity disclosed then it will not remain personal. it becomes non-personal.

So, why is Non-Personal Data in the News?

Recently, a government committee headed by Infosys Co-Founder Kris Gopalakrishnan has suggested that non-personal data generated in India be allowed to be used by various domestic companies and entities.

The committee has also suggested a separate authority and separate national legislation to oversee non-personal data.
It also recommended mandatory sharing of non-personal data, as it may be useful for Indian entrepreneurs to develop new and innovative services or products to benefit citizens.

The committee has defined three categories of Non-Personal Data:

• • Public Non-Personal Data
  • Community Non-Personal Data
  • Private Non-Personal Data
• Public non-personal data: This data includes data collected by the government and its agencies during execution of all publicly funded works like census.
• Community non-personal data: It includes any data identifiers about a set of people who have either the same geographic location, religion, job, or other common social interests. Like The data is collected by telecom companies, ride-hailing apps,  and electricity distribution companies.
• Private non-personal data: Data fetched from applications of proprietary software or knowledge. Such as data generated by companies like Google, Amazon etc.

What role does this non-personal data play?

This non-personal data helps us to understand the behaviour and interest of people which will be helpful in providing targeted services and also helpful in research and innovation in the public interest domain. It will also unlock the doors of economic values which propagate more jobs. 

Hope you read something new. Please share your opinion or tips that you have in the comments.