The Ministry of Home Affairs just released a draft policy on regulating geospatial data. We have several concerns regarding this bill and are drafting a response.
Here’s what you can do to contribute to the conversation.
- Read and comment on the policy here.
- Contribute to the conversation on the google group or
- contribute to the hackpad where we are gathering thoughts.
We have a month to respond. This bill could seriously restrict everyone’s access to mapping data and it even might restrict a individuals ability to keep any mapping data. It is an important conversation we need to have with the government.
This is a regressive step and against the spirit of “ease of doing business”. In the age where location information has become ubiquitous, instead of leveraging it for good, this bill is only going to deter its usage. Here is my analysis https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/girb-grab-charm-gis-aswani-kumar-akella?trk=pulse_spock-articles
Dear all,
At present there is no power vested with the government which it can use against terrorists to punish them for misusing the the location with the help of online maps for anti national activities. There is almost no possibility that the government would intend to use this tool for punishing law abiding citizens for its use during tourism or any other innocuous purpose.We can suggest the checks and balances to the government in its final draft. But it is indeed urgent need that there requires some regulation and deterrent for its use by terrorist elements.After all it is draft put up for suggestion by our countrymen so suggest as many points as you want but please do not shoot down it altogether.You can also ask the government why such draft has been put up and the reasons behind its compulsions at the governments’s end.