Techno-legal net a must to guard privacy
The world’s leading premium cell phone manufacturer, Apple, recently sent its users an alert saying they were being targeted by “state-sponsored attackers”, who were apparently trying to “remotely compromise the iPhone” associated with their Apple IDs. Most of those who received these alerts in India are leaders of opposition parties. People’s handsets carry the story of their lives. The owners of these devices should, therefore, have the choice to control access to them. The Apple alert has brought back into focus the debate over individual privacy versus state surveillance. The government has the power to monitor citizens in order to preserve national security and provide safety to citizens. This monitoring, however, needs to take place under a well-defined, legally sound and transparent framework.
The Supreme Court has laid down guidelines through numerous judgements against illegal and excessive surveillance. The right to privacy has also been recognised as a fundamental right. A nine-judge bench headed by Justice JS Khehar had in 2017 overturned the SC’s earlier judgements and ruled that the right to privacy is intrinsic to right to life and personal liberty, which is protected under Article 21 of the Constitution. The judgement empowered citizens to directly approach the courts for violation of this fundamental right. But the rapid technological advancement has given the state unprecedented ability to snoop without the knowledge of the targeted individuals. This requires a new techno-legal framework to guard individual privacy and ensure that personal information is lawfully obtained.
The debate over privacy has been raging for a long time in India. The government passed the Digital Personal Data Protection Bill, 2023 in August this year to guarantee individual privacy, among other things. But the law has several loopholes that compromise privacy. For example, it is silent on surveillance and imposes a penalty for “frivolous” complaints. The penalty clause may prevent complainants from approaching the courts with their grievances. The data protection law was passed in parliament without much discussion. A detailed discussion would have brought into focus these and other shortcomings and helped rectify them. The accusation by opposition leaders about the attempt to hack into their phones shows that the threat to privacy continues to remain a clear and present danger. The investigation launched by the government through its agency Computer Emergency Response Team may or may not reveal the source of the latest hacking attempt. But, it has underlined the need for renewed efforts to protect privacy.