Plea in HC against WhatsApp’s new privacy policy
- The plea states that the privacy policy violates the right to privacy of the citizens of the country
- It also seeks directions to the MeitY to ensure that Whatsapp does not share any data of its users with any third party or Facebook and its companies for any purpose whatsoever.
New Delhi: A plea has been moved in Delhi High court challenging the new WhatsApp privacy policy.
The plea states that the privacy policy violates the right to privacy of the citizens of the country.
The matter will be heard on Friday.
The petition says that “WhatsApp changed its Privacy Policy in “the most arbitrary manner and had made it compulsory for its users to accept its terms and conditions, failing which the accounts and services would be terminated after 8 February 2021 for the respective user.“
The petition by advocate Chaitanya Rohilla seeks issuance of guidelines or directions to ensure that any change in privacy policy by the messaging app is carried out strictly in accordance with the fundamental rights guaranteed in Part-III of the Constitution till such time as rules/guidelines are framed by the Centre.
It also seeks directions to the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology to ensure that Whatsapp does not share any data of its users with any third party or Facebook and its companies for any purpose whatsoever.
“It virtually gives a 360-degree profile into a person's online activity. This level of insight into a person's private and personal activities is done without any government oversight at present or regulatory supervision. Moreover, in the absence of a data protection authority, it leaves the users with a company’s own assurances and privacy policies.” The plea said.
“And if WhatsApp is stating that it is now going to use the users data and share it with the largest social network in the world, which is embedded on every second website and collect data from there as well, the integration of this data will essentially mean that the user is perpetually under the surveillance of the Facebook group of companies,” the plea added.
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First Published:14 Jan 2021, 07:30 PM IST
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