Data fiduciary

Data fiduciary is the company or body that decides why and how your personal data is used, and owes you care in handling it.

Data fiduciary: In India's data protection law, a data fiduciary is the person or company that decides why and how your personal data is processed. A bank, shop, app or hospital collecting your details is usually one. You, the individual, are called the data principal.

When you sign up for a shopping app, the app company chooses what to collect, such as name, address and phone number, and why. That makes it the fiduciary. It must use your data only for the purpose it explained, keep it reasonably safe and give you ways to ask about it and complain. The term is a legal label, not a quality mark.

For you, the practical point is simple: know who is holding your data and how to reach them. A good company names a contact for privacy questions. If it does not answer, you can use the complaint route that the law provides. Do not give extra details just because a form allows it. Companies that handle large amounts of data are expected to take extra care, but small ones count too.

Tips

• Look in the privacy section for who is responsible for your data and how to contact them.
• Give only the details a service really needs.
• Keep a screenshot of your complaint if a company ignores your data request.

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