KOCHI: Expressing concern over the confidentiality of information gathered from COVID-19 patients, the Kerala High Court on Friday directed the state government to anonymize all data collected from citizens before allowing access to US company Sprinklr.
While admitting a batch of petitions including those from Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala and BJP State President K Surendran, a Division Bench comprising Justice Devan Ramachandran and Justice TR Ravi restrained Sprinklr from committing any act which will be directly or indirectly in breach of confidentiality of data entrusted to them as per the contract.
During the hearing, the bench said if it issues an order, the court will be blamed for any failure of the government in fighting the pandemic.
Through its order, the court has also asked the state government to explore the central government's submission that its Ministry of Information and Technology is capable of providing a service similar to Sprinklr. The court also orally asked the government "Why is Kerala so dependent on Sprinklr? It is the bounden duty of the state government to protect the data collected."
The Bench held that the government should inform people that the data will be accessed by Sprinklr and that the individuals' specific consent for such data collections should be obtained.