“To Set The Record Straight”: Amazon Explains Parliament No-Show

New Delhi:

Hours after sources informed NDTV that Amazon had refused to look earlier than a joint parliamentary committee wanting into the Private Knowledge Safety (PDP) Invoice – and will, due to this fact, face “coercive motion” and a “breach of privilege” discover – the net retail large mentioned its place “might have been misconstrued” and that it might work with the committee to “set the report straight”.

“The shortcoming of our consultants to journey from abroad on account of journey restriction and depose earlier than the joint parliamentary committee (JPC) in the course of the ongoing pandemic might have been misconstrued and led to a misunderstanding,” the corporate mentioned in a press release launched Friday evening.

In line with sources Amazon had requested to not seem earlier than the committee on October 28 as a result of its “subject material consultants” had been abroad and unable to journey to India due to dangers related to the coronavirus pandemic.

“We’ll work with the JPC to set the report straight,” the corporate mentioned, including, “We now have the utmost respect and regard for the vital work being completed by the joint parliamentary committee (JPC) on the PDP invoice and have already provided written submissions for consideration of this august committee. We’ll proceed to have interaction in any means the JPC considers match.”

The committee, which is headed by BJP MP Meenakshi Lekhi, is wanting into the PDP invoice, following issues expressed by the opposition Congress. All stakeholders, together with Fb and Twitter, had been summoned to offer an summary.

Fb India officers, led by coverage head Ankhi Das, appeared earlier than the JPC right now and had been questioned for practically two hours, sources mentioned.

Ms Das, whose identify got here up in a current controversy over alleged bias by the social networking large in coping with hate speeches, was quizzed on knowledge safety. The social media large was previous it couldn’t use private knowledge for “inferential” functions in promoting or enterprise or elections.

Twitter is to look on October 28.

Whereas introducing the draft invoice in parliament final yr, Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad mentioned it empowers the federal government to ask corporations like Fb and Google for nameless private and non-personal knowledge.

The Congress flagged worries on the misuse of knowledge in some instances, particularly the place nationwide safety is concerned. A bit of authorized consultants mentioned the proposed legislation might additionally give the federal government unaccounted entry to the private knowledge of customers.

The matter was subsequently referred to the JPC headed by Ms Lekhi.  

“Whosoever is required, a person or an entity, will probably be requested to depose earlier than the panel on the difficulty of safety of knowledge and its privateness and their respective social media platforms will probably be totally examined by the panel,” she was quoted as saying by information company PTI.

With enter from PTI