Rethinking Overseas Outsourcing

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Both China and India each have a new set of privacy laws expected to go into effect in the near future. In both cases, the new laws will turn outsourcing IT and phone centers to those countries into a compliancy nightmare for companies.

The proposed Chinese laws (which are still being revised and redrafted) would require specific government consent to export personal data, consent to share data with third parties, and new tighter restrictions on the gathering, management, use, and storage of personal data.

The proposed Indian laws are similar in that they would require written consent for collecting personal data, give people the right to withdraw that consent at anytime, review, and correct their personal data at anytime. India-based companies would also have to obtain written consent to share personal data with outside parties. Those third parties would have to comply with the same high standards of secuirty. 

One can only imagine what this would mean for call centers and IT contractors based in those countries. For businesses, the added layer of seeking permissions, documenting consent, and ensuring compliancy sounds like a quagmire. For the consumer, anticipate nothing but cheers. Score one for the individual's right to privacy.

How interesting that it is the East leading the charge on this one. Count on American companies to bellyache the most, where our privacy laws are so much more lax.

Renee Oricchio is a technology writer and former supervising news producer for CNN Financial News. She has been covering the computer industry since 1987. @oricchio