In brief

SA Mathieson

India establishes data protection watchdog

India’s IT trade association is establishing an independent data privacy organisation, following a series of data breaches. The president of the National Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom), Kiran Karnik, told The Hindu Business Line on 10 June that the organisation is likely to be called the Data Security Council of India (article).

Nasscom earlier said that the self-regulatory organisation will be chaired by Shyamel Ghosh, who said it will “help the industry to demonstrate globally that it is capable of adopting the best practices for data protection and facilitate further growth” (press release). Despite its strength in outsourcing, India does not have personal data protection legislation comparable to that in force within European Union countries.

Eden Project loses payroll laptop

The Eden Project in Cornwall has become the latest organisation to suffer from the theft of a laptop holding employees’ personal information. The computer was stolen on 1 June from the car of an employee of Moorepay, which provides the environmentally-focused visitor attraction with payroll services. It held data on 500 Eden Project staff, including addresses, pay rates and national insurance numbers.

Other recent victims of this kind of employee data loss include retailer Marks and Spencer, which in May suffered from the theft of a laptop with 26 000 employee records, and the Eden Project’s near-neighbour, the Truro-based Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS trust. In the case of the latter organisation, Devon and Cornwall Police recovered the laptop – holding about 10 000 employee records – on 10 May, and charged one person with theft.