Privacy Laws After WhatsApp Episode Can’t Come Any Sooner in India

The recent user’s data privacy matter with WhatsApp raises serious questions about privacy laws in India.

India’s need for privacy laws has become more than evident this month. (Photo: iStock)

If there’s one thing that we have learnt from the recent WhatsApp data privacy saga, it is India’s urgent need to get privacy laws in place covering such aspects. It’s still a big win for users in India, but there’s a long way to go before our standards match that of the West.

We highlighted what the Delhi high court order spoke earlier, which also included the part where legally they couldn’t hold WhatsApp in contempt of any law.

Also Read: Delhi HC Order on WhatsApp Sharing User Data Is a Big Win for You

That’s because there are no laws in place right now (in the form of sections) in the legislation that could be put against the social messaging company in India. And experts can’t be any louder than this, asking for privacy laws to be put in place.

Grim Picture

The order served by the Delhi High Court has been quick to point out the lack of clarity with regards to ‘right to privacy’ being a fundamental right in India. This is yet to be decided by the Supreme Court, who last heard a case on this matter in October last year.

Even this cannot be a valid ground to grant the reliefs as prayed for since the legal position regarding the existence of the fundamental right to privacy is yet to be authoritatively decided. 

Delhi High Court

The uncertainty over action can lead to troublesome consequences in the future, if at all the knowledge is put into use for devious purposes.

The first draft for privacy law was floated around five years back, according to experts like Nikhil Pahwa, who is also the co-founder of SavetheInternet.in.

Safeguarding privacy is important but in doing so, Aadhar shouldn’t be made a sacrificial lamb. (Photo: iStock)

The voices to give privacy a serious picture has become louder in recent times and, like most optimists, Pahwa is hoping for some solution to be vetted in the coming months, so are we.

Privacy Is no Biggie

For lay users, privacy will never be an issue worthy of making dramatic changes in their lives.

Ask anybody with access to multiple social accounts in their life, and if they would prefer privacy over sacrificing the choice to communicate with the world, you’ll be surprised to see the results from such a survey.

Nobody is really bothered about their data or its misuse. (Photo: iStock)

WhatsApp is one of the most popular messaging apps, with over 700 million users in India only. Would they think of quitting it just because their privacy is at stake? That feels like a stretch to me, which on the hindsight tells us what people really want.

We are used to sharing data and personal information with all kinds of companies, and with Aadhaar now the benchmark for ID-ing, we’re still trying to ascertain the case for strengthening something that’s hardly been a problematic issue for the user, till now at least.

Get it Sorted

The high court order and the manner in which WhatsApp’s reputation was put at stake with the PIL last week, shows the awareness of the informed youth in our country. They won’t let things slip the way it has been for all these years.

Which is why the government should take this as a priority to do the following:

• We need legislative measures for privacy
• Guidelines to put privacy under a framework
• Process that can help determine the extent of issue at hand