Justice Srikrishna: Data protection law would have held govt to account

The government would have been as answerable as any private entity for the alleged breach of privacy of individuals by Israeli company NSO Group’s Pegasus spyware, had there been a data privacy law in place in India, former Supreme Court judge Justice B N Srikrishna told The Indian Express. The data protection law would also have allowed those who have had their phones targeted, by the surveillance malware, to seek legal redressal, he said.

“The law that was proposed applied to private companies as well as the government. A government department would be answerable if there was a data breach. The only way the government can access the data is by bringing a Parliamentary legislation,