Our nationalist government has come up with a
new way of
securing its citizens along with protecting the
"sovereignty and
integrity" of India: by regulating the geospatial
information of India
along with topographic information and
international boundaries. I have
more than a few criticisms of the
bill which I will send to jsis@nic.in
as well. You should send your
comments too.
This bill makes the "Security Vetting
Authority" as the arbiter of truth,
by making "wrong or false"
information a punishable offence [^2 Page 4].
This makes any debate
about topological information and map boundaries
impossible as at
least one side has to be wrong. This clause should be
removed from
the bill.
The bill must justify how it adds up to the
security of the country,
otherwise the entire bill must not exist.
All clauses of the bill must
put the burden of proof on the
"Security Vetting Authority" that
possessing geospatial information
was against the interests of the
country.
The
scope of geospatial information: The bill does not even attempt to
narrow down the definition of geospatial information. It includes
"digital data" ... "depicting natural or man-made physical features of
the earth" ... "terrestrial photos referenced to a co-ordinate system"
[2
(Page 2)]. According to my understanding the definition is too
broad to
include drawing drawn by a kid in digital format
especially if it depicts
"natural physical features of the earth".
It makes an attempt to narrow
down the sources by which geospatial
images can be captured but then adds
"or any other means
whatsover."
The definition of geospatial information should be
narrowed down by
defining the aspect of information and the scale
of information. At a
smaller scale the information must not be
regulated.
The bill adds the burden of proof on the
possessor of the information by
announcing that whoever has
geospatial information must get a license to
possess such
information. The bill must introduce a report and warning
system.
For example, if the "Security Vetting Authority" finds an
instance
of such information, it must send a warning to the possessor of
information to take it down or face action and then if it does not
comply
action may be taken.
Overall the bill must
not get converted into a law because it does not
justify its
purpose of existence, attacks freedom of speech and makes
doing
business harder as in case of Google and Uber.