Network resilience, local data storage important as Internet grows: IT Secretary

The Union IT Minister emphasises the need for reliable internet infrastructure in India at the India Internet Governance Forum 2024 on Monday (December 9, 2024).
| Photo Credit: X/@indiaigf_

Union Secretary for Electronics and Information Technology (IT) S. Krishnan said on Monday (December 9, 2024) that as India’s Internet grows further, investments in reliability would be required. “Yesterday, I was walking through Old Delhi, and if you look up and see the kind of cables carried along the sides of the roads, along the streetlights and lampposts, you wonder, is this what we are relying on?” he said, adding, “It’s worse than a spaghetti bowl of cables.” 

Mr. Krishnan said the Internet infrastructure in the country would have to be “resilient, safe, secure, (and) withstand disruptions”. He was speaking at the India Internet Governance Forum (IIGF) 2024, the Indian prelude to the United Nations’ Internet Governance Forum, due to be held this month in Saudi Arabia.

Similarly, he said, the Indian Internet needed to be safeguarded from undersea cable cuts, by locating more critical data within India itself. “Are we stable within the country that all services within this country can be offered even in the event of a disruption?” he said.

“I don’t mind Instagram photos being stored elsewhere,” he jokingly clarified to a Meta executive onstage with him.

The IIGF’s subcommittees deliberate on key Internet governance issues and provide their suggestions to the IT Ministry. The World Summit on the Information Society, held by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), will happen next year in Geneva, and “India needs to take its rightful position there,” Mr. Krishnan said, alluding to the country’s scant participation in global Internet policymaking in the past.

Data protection

Mr. Krishnan said draft rules under the Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act, 2023 would be released “soon”, though he refrained from providing an estimate on when that would be.

In the absence of the rules, the DPDP Act’s key provisions, including the establishment of the Data Protection Authority of India, could not begin in earnest. Fines for offending firms could not be levied until the rules are notified.

On Artificial Intelligence, Mr. Krishnan said India already had broad laws against impersonation that would be adequate to tackle issues, including deepfakes.