New Delhi, May 20 -- The first country to seriously address the issue of protecting digital personal data was the United States of America. In a report titled Records, Computers and the Rights of Citizens issued in 1973, it set out a list of data protection principles called the Fair Information Practice Principles (FIPPs).

FIPPs required organizations to provide notice before collecting personal data and seek consent before processing it. Only as much personal data as was necessary to achieve the specified purpose could be collected, and it could only be used for the purpose specified. Organizations had to keep personal data accurate, complete and up to date, and give individuals the ability to access and amend it as required.

If all t...