New Delhi: The Centre on Friday informed the Supreme Court that protection of data being shared on WhatsApp and other social media networks is an integral part of right to life under Article 21 of the Constitution and the Centre was mulling coming out with a law to regulate sharing of the data.
Additional Solicitor General P.S. Narasimha told a five-judge Constitution bench of Justices Dipak Misra, A.K. Sikri, Amitav Roy, A.M. Khanwilkar and M.M. Shantanagouder, “My (individual) personal data is intimate to me. It is an integral part of my right to lead a life with dignity.
“If there is any contractual obligation between the individual and service provider which impinges on my right, State will have to intervene and regulate sharing of such data. The government will bring a regulatory framework to protect privacy of whatsApp, Facebook and other messages in the social media.”
This stand of the Centre is in contrast to the stand taken by the government before a nine-judge Constitution bench hearing the ‘right to privacy’ issue, that sharing of biometric data for the Aadhaar card can be shared for certain purposes as ‘right to privacy’ is not a fundamental right.
Senior counsel Harish Salve said the policy of information sharing that is formulated by WhatsApp is unconscionable and is unacceptable and also suffers from constitutional vulnerability since it affects the freedom, which is a cherished right of an individual under the Constitution.
SC says Data protection is a multi-dimensional issue
Senior counsel Harish Salve said many countries had introduced data protection policies and the Centre should come out with data control policy for service providers that they could not use the data for commercial purposes. Justice Misra agreed and said the issue had many dimensions touching various Articles and required an elaborate hearing.
