Digital Privacy Awareness Among Young Adults In Urban India In The Post-DPDPA Era
- IJLLR Journal
- 4 days ago
- 2 min read
Ajwad Hussain. I, Christ (Deemed to be) University
ABSTRACT
This research paper will focus on how much young adults in urban India are aware of digital privacy and how much their attitudes towards digital privacy have changed since the Digital Personal Data Protection Act (DPDPA) of 2023 became law. The study is a vital gap bridging given the fact that despite the new all-inclusive data protection laws in India, the majority of young users do not know their privacy rights, as well as what they do when they venture into the online data habit. It is a mixed-methods study combining the doctrinal legal research of DPDP Act and comparative models (GDPR, CCPA) and empirical survey data of Indian university students and employed young individuals (ages 18-24) living in urban cities. The researches show that the awareness of DPDP Act and concepts like consent, right to data, and government exceptions remains extremely low even among this population of online individuals who are active in this sector. Although as many as 20-25% of respondents are aware of the DPDP Act, compare with 16% of the customers in a study conducted by PwC of Indian customers who were aware of the law. Most of the participants rely on the internet primarily to socialise and communicate (over 75% according to the past study) and very few of them read privacy statements and concepts of consent. The misuse of data (80%+) is of high concern, but it does not reflect on proactive privacy practise, which indicates a high degree of privacy paradox. Theoretical analysis indicates that the DPDP Act contains many legal loopholes: in comparison to the GDPR of the EU, the Indian law does not include the critical reasons of lawful processing (e.g. legitimate interest), offers an opportunity to escape all the governmental penalties (Section 17) without court intervention, and does not provide remedies against violators. Unlike the CCPA opt-out regime which is in effect in California, the DPDP Act remains consent-based but offers lesser consumer protection. The study finds the conclusion that until there is a coordinated policy and educational intervention, the potential of the Act cannot be realized. Among the recommendations is the national privacy literacy campaign, the introduction of data protection into education, restriction of statutory exemptions, and the development of the independent Data Protection Board. Such interventions aim at accomplishing the legal provisions of DPDP Act in actual practise and belief by young people who reside in the cities.
Keywords: Digital privacy; DPDP Act 2023; data protection; Indian youth; privacy awareness; GDPR; CCPA; informational privacy; legal framework.
