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Jakarta Post

Rules prepared to protect consumers’ online data

News Desk (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Thu, July 7, 2016

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Rules prepared to protect consumers’ online data A consumer uses a mobile Baidu Map recently. Communications and Information Minister Rudiantara is preparing a regulation to protect consumers' online data. (Shutterstock/-)

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ommunication and Information Minister Rudiantara is preparing a ministerial decree to ensure protection of consumers’ data on the internet, where much personal information is contained in online applications.

The regulation will stipulate the ministry’s authority to monitor what happens to data sent outside of the country by content providers or application makers, Rudiantara said without elaborating on the new rule.

When consumers download an application or use a service provided by over-the-top (OTT) companies like Apple, Facebook and Google they are obliged to accept an agreement that gives providers access to their personal information, from email addresses to their global positioning system (GPS) coordinates.

 “The government has to know that the data will not be misused,” Rudiantara said during an open-house event at his official residence in Kuningan, South Jakarta, on Wednesday.

Apart from the ministerial decree, Rudiantara said the ministry was also drafting a customer privacy bill. “We will propose the bill to be included in the 2017 national legislation program. In absence of a higher regulation, the ministerial decree on customer privacy will serve as a legal umbrella.”

The ministry will issue the new regulation in August and Rudiantara claimed that it would comply with other draft ministerial decrees stipulating legal and fiscal obligations for foreign OTT content providers.

On the same day, the minister said OTT companies would be advised to partner with local telecommunications operators to address three issues: customer service, consumer data protection and the need for a level playing field. They will not be forced to establish local entities or engage in joint ventures with local firms to be able to operate here, as initially planned. (mos/est)

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