Page 303 - DMGT308_CUSTOMER_RELATIONSHIP_MANAGEMENT

Customer Relationship Management

Notes placed on the website of the Department of Personnel and Training for seeking public views on
the subject. Government collect personal data, this information is stored in silos with each
agency of the government maintaining information using different fields and formats.
Government databases do not talk to each other and given how differently they are organized,
the information collected by different departments cannot be aggregated or unified.
Data privacy and the need to protect personal information is almost never a concern when data
is stored in a decentralized manner. Data that is maintained in silos is largely useless outside
that silo and consequently has a low likelihood of causing any damage. However, all this is
likely to change with the implementation of the UID Project. One of the inevitable consequences
of the UID Project will be that the UID Number will unify multiple databases. As more and more
agencies of the government sign on to the UID Project, the UID Number will become the
common thread that links all those databases together. Over time, private enterprise could also
adopt the UID Number as an identifier for the purposes of the delivery of their services or even
for enrolment as a customer. Once this happens, the separation of data that currently exists
between multiple databases will vanish.

Did u know? Such a vast interlinked public information database is unprecedented in India.
It is imperative that appropriate steps be taken to protect personal data before the vast
government storehouses of private data are linked up and the threat of data security
breach becomes real.
Similarly, the private sector entities such as banks, telecom companies, hospitals etc are collecting
vast amount of private or personal information about individuals. There is tremendous scope
for both commercial exploitation of this information without the consent/knowledge of the
individual consent and also for embarrassing an individual whose personal particulars can be
made public by any of these private entities. The IT Act does provide some safeguards against
disclosure of data/information stored electronically, but there is no legislation for protecting
the privacy of individuals for all information that may be available with private entities.
In view of the above, privacy of individual is to be protected both with reference to the actions
of Government as well as private sector entities.
For a long time now privacy was kept but reasons were never so clear and understood but
significant. Among the major criticisms are:
“Privacy Protects Anti-social Behaviour.” In this view, privacy is a smoke-screen used to hide
activities that should be discouraged. This may be true at times; yet it is also the price of personal
freedom. Authoritarian or backward societies do not value a private sphere since they do not

tend to respect individuality and subordinate it to the demands of rulers or societal groups. The
recognition of a private sphere is hence one of the touch-stones of a civilized and free society.
“Privacy is Costly to the Economy.” Privacy protection raises the cost of an information search.
For example, potential employers and buyers have to spend more effort (and money) to find out
who they are dealing with if access to personal information is restricted. Deception becomes
easier and transaction costs rise.

But there are economic arguments on the other side. Privacy affects the ability of companies and
organizations to hold on to their trade secrets and details of their operations, and to protect
themselves from leaks of insider information and against governmental intrusion. Information
has value, and where it has no protection through property rights it must be protected through
confidentiality or secrecy. To permit its easy breach would lead to a lesser production of such

information.

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