The Localisation Gambit: Unpacking policy moves for the sovereign control of data in India

[This paper, co-authored with Arindrajit Basu and Elonnai Hickok, was originally published by the Centre for Internet and Society and the CyberBRICS project on March 26, 2019]

This White Paper explores the issue of Data Sovereignty, mapping the current Indian policy measures for data localization and reflecting on the goals, challenges and implications of such measures.

The vision of a borderless internet that functions as an open distributed network is slowly ceding ground to a space that is greatly political, and at risk of fragmentation due to cultural, economic, and geo-political differences. A variety of measures for asserting sovereign control over data within national territories is a manifestation of this trend.

Over the past year, the Indian government has drafted and introduced multiple policy instruments which dictate that certain types of data must be stored in servers located physically within the territory of India. These localization gambits have triggered virulent debate among corporations, civil society actors, foreign stakeholders, business guilds, politicians, and governments. This White Paper seeks to serve as a resource for stakeholders attempting to intervene in this debate and arrive at a workable solution where the objectives of data localisation are met through measures that have the least negative impact on India’s economic, political, and legal interests.

The full report is available here.