Regulating Personal Data Protection on the Internet and The Right to Privacy in Sri Lanka

Internet is an inter-connection of networks that works as the global village for the entire world. No doubt that it has helped us all in many ways. One of its very first services was the World Wide Web (WWW) and email enabled communications from one server to another. Many traditional ways of life such as communication, marketing, library information, health details have shifted from its traditional methods towards the use of facilities of the modern Internet. Now; not only you are directly advertised of the items you just had in mind via different platforms of Internet; but also your daily activities are done by the various IoT devices such as – your automated smart watch that wakes you up in the morning and the smart coffee machine which has already made you your favorite coffee and, when you get into your car, it has just self-adjusted the temperature to your comfort level for the perfect drive! IoT devices have enabled a lot of things you want to do as part of your life over the Internet. While appreciating that this is incredible, it has unfortunately opened doors to hackers to invade to the private space of an individual. What consumers do not know is how deeply identity theft can affect personal lives. This Researcher identifies the laws prevalent to combat the said issue on regulating personal data protection on the Internet and the Right to Privacy in Sri Lanka.
This dissertation shall define the Internet and Internet of Things, the various risks connected to personal data on the Internet and IoT, along with the need to privacy in the modern technological era. The focus is mainly on EU’s GDPR 2018 to analyze its rationale, objective and scope, and how well they are transposed to Sri Lanka’s PDPA 2022. Provision of the PDPA of Sri Lanka which is important to entities, when it later comes into effect, will be discussed. Finally, this research concludes whether