Aadhaar-Based Consent, Parental Verification for Kids' Online Usage: Govt's New Proposal Under Digital Data Act – News18

The upcoming Digital Personal Data Protection Act proposes to bring an Aadhaar-based consent system along with parental guard as part of the two-step verification measure for children’s online activities.

According to an Indian Express report, this key proposal in the highly-anticipated bill on data privacy and security challenges suggests using an Aadhaar-based system to verify kids’ ages for using online services and also to seek their parents’ consent before the use.

The proposal also highlights introducing a two-stage notification measure for tech companies to inform users about data breaches.

The Act states that companies will need to gather “verifiable parental consent”  before letting anyone a minor access their platform online.

However, the proposal has been a point of deadlock ever since the introduction of the data bill as the Act itself does not suggest ways in which platforms can perform age verification for children.

To address this concern, two recommendations are likely to be made- One is to use parents’ DigiLocker app, which is based on their Aadhaar details, and the other is for the industry to create an electronic token system only to be allowed after the government authorisation, the publication reported.

“This would be Aadhaar-based authentication. The internet platforms will not know the Aadhaar details of the users. It is a simple yes/no response from the Aadhaar database on a user’s age, as simple as that,” said a senior government official told the IE.

The Aadhaar-based consent is one of the 25 rules that have to be formulated to operationalise the Act and the government has also been empowered to enact rules for any provision that it deems fit.

What is the Digital Personal Data Protection Act?

The Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act, which was passed by the parliament in August, seeks to establish the rights of a user regarding the use of data and lays down the obligations of the company or government agency collecting and processing the data.

The government says that this legislature aims to make entities like internet companies, mobile apps, and business houses more accountable and answerable about the collection, storage and processing of the data of citizens as part of the Right to Privacy.