News
Personal Data Protection Bill passed with amendments
09 Mar, 2022
The Personal Data Protection Bill was passed in Parliament today, with amendments.
The Samagi Jana Balawegaya opposed the Bill while some others in the opposition also refused to support it.
The Bill aims to regulate the processing of personal data by identifying and strengthening the rights of data subjects ? persons whose data is held by a processor or controller.
However, Transparency International Sri Lanka (TISL) had said earlier that it remains deeply concerned about three key areas in the Bill including the impact on certain rights and freedoms, if enacted in its current form.
The creation of a legal framework on personal data protection can be viewed as an important step in safeguarding human rights, especially at a time when information has become both a tool to be used by the people and against them.
However, TISL said the Bill does not recognize ?Journalistic Purpose? or data processing in the exercise of freedom of the press or freedom of expression as a condition for processing data.
This means that media, including broadcast media, will be restricted from using personal data when reporting, as they become data controllers and processors in the use of personal information of others for journalistic activities.
TISL recommended that ?journalistic purpose? should be identified as a legitimate condition to process data, in order to ensure that access and publication of information for journalistic purposes is not unduly restricted.? (Colombo Gazette)
Recommended For You
