The final set of rules of the Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act are likely to be out within the next six to eight weeks, said S Krishnan, Ministry of Electronics and IT Secretary, on April 7.
The rules, according to him, will play a key role in the prevention of personal data leaks. The government is already exploring local storage of AI models to mitigate any risk associated with them and prevent the flow of data outside the country.
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“We have received the comments, detailed comments on the rules. We are examining them rule by rule. We are examining what the comments are and if any changes are required. We may have to complete another process of internal consultation after that is completed. I would estimate it will take about six to eight weeks,” the Minister said during an event. MeitY released DPDP rules for public consultation from January 3 till March 5.
He also mentioned that the personal data leaks will be checked once the DPDP Act is brought into force.
Upon being asked about the government’s decisions on Chinese AI platforms and the risk associated with them, Krishnan said that the government is watching LLMs (large language models) in terms of their usage and impact.
He shared, “The true problem lies when data gets shared on a portal or on a mobile app because then the data may go out of the country and may sort of feed the way that a particular model is trained, and a lot of the data may go out. On the private side, if the model itself is hosted in India, then the risks of data going out are far more mitigated. All of these factors will be considered before any final decision is taken.”
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In terms of cyber security, the Minister mentioned that traditionally, in India, people are warned not to report many of such breaches. “So, it is a good thing that reporting is happening so that we understand what is the extent of the problem and where the problems are coming up,” he added.