Introduction

The indigenous communities around the globe have historically faced the wrath of foreign colonizers who eventually settled in the former’s native lands permanently. This forceful settlement led to a series of institutionalized deprivation of resources for the indigenous communities and the means of such deprivation have kept evolving from era to era. The current era is the era of “Data supremacy” wherein those who control the data have the ability to control the communities to whom the said data belongs. Therefore, historically marginalized communities especially the indigenous communities are highly vulnerable to misuse of such data misappropriation and such situation must be prevented by adopting adequate safeguards in a proactive manner.
The indigenous communities have always attached high importance to protection of their data or traditional knowledge and have preserved it through art, songs, writings etc. The circulation of this confidential data to the outside world without prior informed consent is a blatant disregard of their traditional culture and beliefs.