HYDERABAD: As India celebrates a historic “privacy day” because of the Supreme Court nine judge constitution bench decision to elevate the status of the right to privacy to that of the fundamental right from a mere Human Right, I see no point in rejoicing as a woman internet user. I probably would have had a different mindset if I had not observed the recent flood of Sarahah in social media. The app provides complete anonymity to sender of the message. This would have been probably the best answer to the ever increasing government surveillance over the critics of government policies all over the world, but like all inventions, Sarahah is neither an ‘absolute joy’ to everyone, especially women.
What you should know before using an app:
Since several weeks, Facebook, Twitter etc are getting flooded with warning messages about Blue Whale and Sarahah App. People are also showing concern about unnecessary enthusiasm to win challenges thrown by concept developers. But what many do not understand is that cyberspace has a completely different understanding about privacy.
It is a conglomeration of ‘spaces’ created by web companies and software developers where privacy control mechanisms have been tactfully handed over to the users. The web companies offer pockets where one may keep his/her data open for categories of viewers. This may include public, friends, close friends etc. But in cases like Sarahah, controlling mechanism may not fully rest upon the user (receiver), but also the web companies. One can not send messages through Sarahah until and unless both are users of the same app. But unlike other messaging services, Sarahah does not reveal the name of the sender. It’s a one way privacy manager.
Why apps such as Sarahah are a threat to women:
So, why does this app bother me as a woman who has seen so many sorts of victimisation of women on the internet? It’s not anonymous bullying or threatening alone that concerns me. It’s the ‘impact’ of words on the receivers and the bystanders which bothers me more. Some women friends of mine who sarcastically thanked the senders of hate messages to them through Sarahah.
The web companies may not take any liability for privacy infringement which may occur through use of free speech anonymously because the policies which guide such issues are mostly based on the US laws which again has a broad understanding about free speech and right to be anonymous. The immunity from the liability of the web companies has also grown because of the concept of delegated privacy control mechanism that one user ‘enjoys’ in the internet era.
What SC’s judgement means to us:
The Supreme Court in its ‘privacy as fundamental right judgement’ has also recognised the need for regulating the web companies. But my question is: how long the courts will continue to play the role of ‘recogniser’ only? Breach of fundamental rights generates right to seek constitutional remedy, which in turn may be answered either through compensatory jurisprudence or ordering the wrong doer to take steps to restore justice using fine judicial activism. But for all these, we need to come back to the Point Zero: treatment of complaint for privacy violation by way of textual harassment by the police who may humiliate the woman complainant by way of victim blaming even though the complaint would be for fundamental right violation.
Better safe than sorry:
I strongly feel that time has come when women need to be self empowered to protect their privacy by way of awareness. Consider the wise decision taken by my friend who is active in social media. She entered the Sarahah ‘tangle’ to check out the new trending stuff and soon realised that it is better to say “RIP Sarahah” than to be a centre of attention for being victim of inconsiderate and immature users of a new app. It is better to know the danger and take precautions than to be a victim of the prolonged legal system. Nonetheless, the police and the lawyers and judges need to be sensitised in this regard and we are awfully still lacking in this regard.
However, it is also essential for the courts to ensure that the much expected ‘robust data protection law’ should not be trapped in the concept of financial or sensitive personal data only which is already categorised under Reasonable Security Practices and Procedures and Sensitive Personal Data or Information Rules 2011. The law must be broad enough to include concepts of privacy from women victim’s perspectives as well. It is but for sure, the existing legal provisions for cyber stalking or voyeurism may not serve all purposes when they are challenged by ever growing types of cyber victimisation.
(The writer is the Managing Director (honorary) of Centre for Cyber Victim Counselling (www.cybervictims.org). She is also the author of “Cyber crimes against women in India” published by Sage. She is an independent legal researcher. She is an alumnus of NLSIU Bangalore.)
Sarahah is uploading your contacts
A senior security analyst Zachary Julian who works for IT security consulting firm Bishop Fox says, “As soon as you log into the application, it transmits all of your email and phone contacts stored on the Android operating system,” a report in The Intercept on Sunday quoted Julian as saying. Though the app asks for user’s permission to access contacts, there is no such feature in the app where these contacts would be required or even a search feature where users can look up for a friend using a contact number. It often seems suspicious if users do not get anything out of granting access to apps to their contact lists. In 2017, the newsletter unsubscription service Unroll.me drew a lot of criticism following allegations that it sold user data