170. When Private is Public

What is data? And why is it important that citizen have a right to privacy over their data? As it turns out, We are data.  Digital rights activist, journalist and founder of Medianama, Nikhil Pahwa in this conversation with financial journalist Mitali Mukherjee gives us a 101 on the concept of Data Privacy. Can one look at data from the perspective of it being a right and how is it  connected to the freedom of expression.  While understanding how and how much data can possibly be collected about one person is in itself mind boggling, this episode gives us an insight into the three important aspects of data within the indian context - Privacy, Security and Governance. With economic growth taking a central role and data being compared to oil as a national asset, Data protection rights and privacy is seen as an obstruction - therefore leaving us with the question - is privacy a fundamental right?