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Data protection matters more than location
For Rula Savira, 22, the terms and conditions she has to read prior to using an app are just too complicated and even look Greek to her
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For Rula Savira, 22, the terms and conditions she has to read prior to using an app are just too complicated and even look Greek to her.
The public university student understands the risks for her data that come with using the apps —the information she shares can be used for promotions and her activities on the apps can be analyzed by artificial intelligence to predict her future behavior and interests for advertisements. However, she believes the need for apps outweighs the risks.
“I have never read the terms and conditions of [online] applications despite my knowledge that the platform may be using it for their interests,” said Rula, who has fallen victim to a cybersecurity breach.
“Just last year, I used my credit card for shopping on an international website but the day after I realized my credit card was being used in Sydney [Australia] for Uber transactions, but luckily the bank returned my money,” Rula told The Jakarta Post. However, the experience did not prompt her to carefully read through the terms and conditions, so long as she really needs to use the online platforms.
It is for the many internet users like Rula that the government needs to better protect Indonesian consumers’ data through regulations, observers have said, with the government soon to issue a revised Government Regulation (PP) No. 82/2012.
The regulation will require public institutions to store data onshore while private companies can have their data stored overseas with requirements to register with the Communications and Information Ministry, which will subject them to stipulations on pro-consumer data protection and negative content moderation, said the ministry’s Apps and Information Director General Semuel Abrijani Pangerapan.
Indonesian Ombudsman commissioner Alvin Lie said in the digitalization era, it did not matter where the data was stored, the most important thing was to ensure consumer data protection, accessibility for authorities and the correct utilization of users’ data.
“An up-to-date security system should be ensured by the government [in the PP revision],” Alvin told the Post, urging the government to also issue the much-awaited law on personal data protection, which is currently being finalized by the Communications and Information Ministry to be deliberated by the House of Representatives.
The draft revision of PP No. 82/2012 stipulates that strategic data managed by private sector actors will also be required to be connected to the National Data Center run by the National Cyber and Encryption Agency. In the event of a national security breach, companies managing the data will need to grant access to the government.
The draft revision will also require certain content moderation and right to be forgotten procedures to be adopted by electronic system providers, so data owners can ask for the erasure of data from a system and the delisting of data from search engines.
Indonesian ICT Business Association (APTIKNAS) chairman Soegiharto Santoso said the regulation should regulate online platforms to better provide simplified terms and conditions and to educate users to better understand the risks surrounding their data.
“The public should read the terms and conditions first before signing up for online applications to prevent their data from being used for certain interests,” said Soegiharto, adding that the public’s reluctance to understand terms and conditions was extremely harmful to themselves.
The Indonesian Cloud Computing Association said the use of cloud services was much cheaper than establishing costly data centers for digital platforms, but that local cloud providers continued to struggle to meet international standards and hence many local and foreign companies operating in Indonesia used offshore data centers instead. (asp/awa)
