Hyderabad: The data relating to the residents of Telangana continues to be present in Andhra Pradesh databases and there is no nodal agency to check the compliance of deletion of data by either state. When the state was bifurcated, the websites of the two state governments were created merely by copy pasting and renaming. The domain name was changed from .ap.gov.in to .telangana.gov.in.
According to officials, there are still many websites where the names and details have changed without proper verification.
Data created prior to 2014 was not as privileged as data created after it. For instance, after the bifurcation, Telangana added a security layer to the transport department website. Therefore if one is searching for details of a vehicle owner, the website will ask for the chassis number. People of TS who only have the registration number, can go to the AP website and can get details of the owner.
A senior official from IT Department said, "Over the past four and a half years, departmental level co-ordination have taken place regarding clearing the data. Each department used "districts" as identifier to filter the data and created a database."
But officials confirmed that though there were instances of mismatches of data, so far it has not affected the functioning of any department. However, the official also said that there was no single agency to verify if the data has been tampered with, or made inaccessible to the other state. There is no mechanism to check if either of the departments from the states is in compliance and protecting citizens’ data.
Several TS sites, especially those from where application forms are made available for downloading still reflect AP. Officials are now concentrating on fixing the vulnerable points to avoid data leaks.
Another official stated that these discussions on data protection happened during the governor’s rule before the government was formed and there was no follow-up or formal agreement on ensuring that the data of citizens is confined to the respective state’s database.
Experts opine that considering the nature of debate happening regarding data, politicians of one state could use it to woo voters of another state. Mr. Srinivas Kodali, a security researcher said, “The deletion will not happen unless somebody monitors the process. There is a possibility to misuse the data, as the other government can get access to it easily.”
Another expert said that it only reflects the level of seriousness of the government towards protecting the data of citizens.
Mr. Kiran Chandra, General Secretary of Free Software Movement of India said, “Division of data happens at the district level and if the data is visible in databases of either state, it reflects on the lack of efficiency of the state.”
