My Data Weekly Digest – 2 April 2021

For the Global Technology Governance Summit, on 6-7 April 2021 six experts were asked: What is the key issue in data policy that is top of mind for you right now?

The Modi government submitted before the Supreme Court that right to life of millions of poor in the country through food, shelter and welfare measures was far more important than privacy concerns raised by the elite class.

Data is a powerful weapon in the fight against poverty—one that can potentially transform the lives of poor people. But it’s also a double-edged sword. New rules of the road are called for—a social contract for data—to get more value out of data while protecting people against harm and ensuring access and representation.

Andy Slavitt (Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services) said during a White House COVID-19 briefing: “[…] the government here is not viewing its role as the place to create a passport, nor a place to hold the data of citizens. We view this as something that the private sector is doing and will do. What’s important to us, and we’re leading an interagency process right now to go through these details, are that some important criteria be met with these credentials.”