PM Modi calls for striking fine balance between privacy and national security

Modi urged the ministers of more than 120 countries to share information and an enhanced coordination to fight the threat of digital space, which is becoming a ‘playground’ of terrorism.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi speaks during the inauguration of the fifth edition of the Global Conference on Cyber Space in New Delhi on Thursday.(PTI)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi speaks during the inauguration of the fifth edition of the Global Conference on Cyber Space in New Delhi on Thursday.(PTI)

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged the ministers of more than 120 countries to share information and an enhanced coordination to fight the threat of digital space, which is becoming a ‘playground’ of terrorism and radicalisation. He also called for striking a fine balance between privacy and national security. Modi emphasised the need for thrust in training well-equipped professionals to counter cyber threats.

Inaugurating the fifth edition of the Global Conference on Cyber Space 2017, Modi highlighted that India has a huge talent pool in the IT sector. He called for converting them into employment opportunities in cyber security. “We need to ensure that cyber protection becomes an attractive and viable career option for the youth,” he noted.

He also invited companies to invest in start-ups in the cyber space in India. “We shall be happy to share our experiences and success stories with the global community,” he said. Modi noted that digital technology provides the less-privileged sections of society a more level-playing field and on a macro-scale has contributed to emergence of a flat world, where a developing nation can compete on a level-footing with developed nations.

Earlier, IT and law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said in this new world order, collaboration and cooperation among nation states is entering into a new phase. There is already recognition for such cooperation in areas like cyber defence and cyber security. However, rules of engagement related to international concerns, including cyber warfare, cyber espionage and cyber crime need to be evolved, he said.

He reiterated that the government is planning to make six crore people in rural areas digitally literate under the Prime Minister’s digital literacy programme.

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