Shashi Tharoor Summons Twitter & IRCTC Over Data Security

In this day and age when we have become totally dependent on social media platforms, it is only natural that we will entrust all the relevant data to all the electronic devices with a strong operating system that stores all that data.

However, even the best laid plans of mice and men tend to go wrong especially in the software and IT field as more and more such devices are becoming vulnerable to cyber criminals with each passing day.

Shashi Tharoor, Congress MP from Kerala, who also leads the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology, has issued summons to Twitter and Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) to appear before the committee on August 26, 2022.

It is regarding an issue that concerns data privacy and security of the citizens due to which the committee wants to take no chances and this summon is mere days after the Modi-led central government revoked the Personal Data Protection (PDP) Bill, 2019, which will be replaced with a new bill.

In Brief

Twitter has been summoned for questioning by the Parliamentary panel of which Tharoor is the head for its management and composition as the panel strongly feels that it is extremely biased for a particular political party and will have to clarify regarding the same.

IRCTC has more than 10 crore users throughout India due to which it has hired a consultant service that will monetize passenger data along with other things, which is why the panel has summoned the corporation to enquire about the reason for hiring such a service along with the tender floated to hire consultants.

The speculations are ripe that the panel has also been holding meetings with many other stakeholders regarding data privacy and security that include ministries, social media portals, regulators, and several tech companies.

Also Read Here: In a whistleblower complaint, a former employee accuses Twitter of major security flaws.