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Business News/ News / India/  JPC quizzes Uber, Ola over data, investments
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JPC quizzes Uber, Ola over data, investments

Panel seeks answers from cab-hailers about steps taken to secure privacy

App-based cab aggregators often ask for sensitive personal data, such as the customer’s Aadhaar number (Mint)Premium
App-based cab aggregators often ask for sensitive personal data, such as the customer’s Aadhaar number (Mint)

NEW DELHI : The joint parliamentary committee (JPC) on data protection bill met on Thursday and questioned app-based cab hiring services – Ola and Uber - about their investment pattern in the companies and transfer of critical data.

In one round of meeting each with representatives of both Ola and Uber, parliamentarians part of the committee questioned the two companies over data mining and security of data. Members of the committee pointed out that there were instances when data was hacked and the company was fined in the past.

"Both the companies agree about data localisation but they also wanted clarification on critical sensitive data transfer and mining of data," said a person in the know of development.

Members of the committee further said that both the companies have been asked about their investment pattern and have been asked to give a written reply on the issue. "Members also wanted to know about the possibility of an incident of data hacking. The reply would be sent in writing by the representatives of the two companies," said those in the know of development.

Parliamentarians from the committee also asked that sometimes such companies that provide App based cab hiring services also ask for Aadhaar number details of clients or riders and so they were questioned how safe the data in such cases was.

The JPC on personal data protection bill, has been engaging with a number of digital and social media companies. Over the last fortnight, the committee has engaged with representatives of Google, Paytm, Twitter, Facebook, Amazon and Jio to discuss not just various facets of the Personal Data Protection Bill, 2019 but also to understand their provisions on data safety, privacy and investment patterns among other issues.

According to another person aware of developments, parliamentarians in the committee meeting on Thursday also questioned the two cab hiring companies about storage of data in their systems and what was the provision over deleting such personal data.

“They gave a presentation related to different aspects of data protection. The question of storage of data and data localization came up in the meeting. They were asked to give written clarification on where they store their data and what happens about deletion of short-term data," another person aware of developments added.

Queries sent to Ola and Uber from Mint over the parliamentary committee meeting on Thursday remained unanswered. The parliamentary committee has called another round of meetings on Friday, third day this week, to seek views of representatives of telecom company Bharti Airtel Ltd and caller identification app, Truecaller on issues related the bill.

The Personal Data Protection (PDP) Bill, 2019 was introduced in Lok Sabha in December last year and seeks to establish a Data Protection Authority. Amid concerns from lawmakers over citizens’ right to privacy, it was sent to the joint parliamentary committee.

Shreya Nandi contributed to the story.

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Published: 05 Nov 2020, 08:25 PM IST
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