Big data and privacy - a legal perspective and comparative study of the USA and India

Due to advancement of science and technology a new concept called big data has emerged. Its utility has attracted not only the private companies and organisations but also governmental authorities. But at the same time it has also raised certain ethical, moral and legal concerns. This paper looks at the threats to individuals privacy caused due to big data. This paper compares the US laws with Indian laws with respect to privacy and data protection and attempts to offer a solution to safeguard individuals' privacy against such threats. The research methodology used by the researchers is doctrinal method along with armchair, exploratory, analytical and comparative method. The authors argue that individuals' privacy can be safeguarded through a holistic approach wherein apt technology standards, management practices along with force of law are adopted. Companies and organisations should adopt self-regulating operating standards and practices too. The concept of privacy in this paper has been restricted to mean the individual privacy and does not include national security concerns or confidential data of corporations. The authors also suggest a framework for the protection of individual privacy and its implementation in India.