Right to Privacy Archives - Tech Law Forum @ NALSAR

Bare Text Comparison of the Personal Data Protection Bill 2018 with the General Data Protection Rules : Part II – Right to Confirmation and Access

INTRODUCTION TO SERIES

The Personal Data Protection Bill has garnered a fair degree of attention in the last few weeks. For the uninitiated, a brief description of the Bill and its significance can be found here.

The purpose of this series is to analyze the bare text of the Data Principal Rights espoused in the Bill (Chapter VI), namely the Right to Confirmation and Access, Right to Correction, Right to Data Portability and the Right to be Forgotten, in light of the text used in the European legislations to espouse the same values. Each post will deal with each of the above rights.

A Perfect Eden

[Ed Note : The following post has been authored by Anupriya Nair, a second year student of NALSAR University of Law. In an interesting and chilling read, Anupriya talks about the potential emergence of China-inspired social credit systems in India which essentially monitor our actions to tell us how trustworthy we are. What exactly does this entail? Read to find out more!]

Unlocking Novel Frontiers of Digital Control: The Potential Emergence of Social Credit Systems in India

Development of technology has begun to tread the fine line between liberation and oppression of society. In other words, the ever-evolving digital sphere has led us to face the paradox of having means to achieve new levels of inclusivity (liberation) while running an exponentially large risk of highly intrusive surveillance (oppression).

Comments on the Srikrishna Committee Report and the Draft Data Protection Bill 2018 – II

[Ed Note : The following post, the second post in the series of posts containing comments to the Report and Draft Bill, 2018 published on the MeitY website, has been authored and compiled by students of NALSAR University of Law. This post contains comments on the Report and Draft bill in relation to the AADHAR issue.

The first post in the series can be found here. Keep watching this space for more posts in the series!]

With the Supreme Court upholding the constitutional validity of the Aadhaar Act and scheme on the 27^th of September, 2018, a significant impact will be felt by the Data Protection Bill. If one looks at the larger aim of a Bill like the Data Protection Bill, it is to recognize that an individual’s data and their rights over it are of utmost importance. With the Apex Court upholding the validity of Aadhaar albeit certain caveats, a thorn is created in the larger realization of the Bill’s goal. Principally, the limitation of the role of Aadhaar by the judgment would secure rights in terms of who uses available data and the interference of private parties. However, the fact that biometric data collection is still a valid process creates doubts regarding the conflicting nature of the aims of data protection and Aadhaar.

Mr. Shailesh Gandhi on Privacy

[Ed Note : The following is a guest post by Mr. Shailesh Gandhi, Former Central Information Commissioner under the framework of the RTI Act 2005, who has graciously agreed to express his views through this platform]

First Define ‘Privacy’

The problem with the nine-judge ruling is that after proclaiming privacy as a fundamental right, it has not defined what is privacy. It is now left to all adjudicators to give multiple interpretations in order to understand the term, writes Shailesh Gandhi.

The Data Protection Act

If any proof was required that the RTI Act is seriously threatening the arbitrary and corrupt actions of those who are powerful, the proposed Data Protection Bill provides it. The Supreme Court of India in various decisions before the advent of the RTI Act acknowledged that the Right to Information and Right to publish are fundamental rights of citizens under Article 19 (1) (a) of the constitution which guarantees freedom of speech and expression. Any constriction of this right can be based only on what the constitution permits. Article 19 (2) permits reasonable restrictions on the exercise of this right only “in the interests of the sovereignty and integrity of India, the security of the State, friendly relations with foreign States, public order, decency or morality or in relation to contempt of court, defamation or incitement to an offence.”