PRIVACY POLICY VOLUNTARY: HC ON WHATSAPP ROW
If you feel it will compromise data, delete the app, says court
The Delhi High Court on Monday said that accepting Whatsapp’s new privacy policy was a voluntary exercise and if users felt the social messaging app would compromise their data, they could delete it. The court was hearing a petition challenging the updated privacy policy of the messaging app. “If you feel Whatsapp will compromise data, delete Whatsapp,” a single-judge Bench of Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva said.
The Delhi High Court on Monday said that accepting Whatsapp’s new privacy policy was a voluntary exercise and if users felt the social messaging app would compromise their data, they could delete it. The court was hearing a petition challenging the updated privacy policy of the Facebook-owned messaging app.
The court said it did not understand the grievance raised with respect to the messaging platform's new privacy policy.
"It is a private app. Don't join it. What is your grievance? ...I can't understand your concern. If you feel Whatsapp will compromise data, delete Whatsapp," a single-judge Bench of Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva said, according to law platform Bar & Bench.
The petition by advocate Chaitanya Rohilla said the new privacy policy of Whatsapp violates the right to privacy guaranteed under the Constitution of India. The petition sought a direction to the central government to exercise its powers under the Information Technology Act and ensure that Whatsapp does not share its users’ data with any third party or Facebook and its companies.
The primary contention of the petitioner was that the new policy “virtually gives a 360-degree profile into a person’s online activity”, without any “government oversight”, and “takes away the choice” of a user to not share their data with other Facebook-owned apps and third-party apps. The petition highlighted that there is no clarity on the extent to which data will be shared. It raised questions about what would be done with the sensitive data of users.
But the court said that several other platforms also did the same. It cited the example of Google Maps, which also shares data.
The court asked Manohar Lal, the counsel for the petitioner, that it doubted if he had read the terms and conditions of any of the apps that he uses.
During the brief hearing, the senior counsel appearing for Whatsapp and Facebook submitted that the private Whatsapp chats were completely encrypted. They said the petition itself is not maintainable.
Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, representing Facebook, told the court that all social chats between friends and relatives are completely encrypted. He said the change in the privacy policy is related to business Whatsapp.
Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, who was appearing for Whatsapp, said that users don't have to message businesses if they don't want to.
The court adjourned the matter till January 25. It also observed that the new policy itself had been deferred as of now.
Whatsapp recently announced that it was delaying the new privacy policy by three months. The messaging app has faced massive backlash with tens of thousands of its users moving from the platform to rivals like Signal and Telegram. The policy change was originally scheduled to come into effect on February 8.
“We’re now moving back the date on which people will be asked to review and accept the terms. No one will have their account suspended or deleted on February 8,” Whatsapp said recently. “We're also going to do a lot more to clear up the misinformation around how privacy and security work on Whatsapp.”
Last week, the Confederation of All India Traders, which represents 70 million traders, had filed a petition in the Supreme Court challenging Whatsapp’s updated privacy policy.