DESPITE BAN, FB ACCESSIBLE

Srinagar: Not-withstanding a ban imposed on them by the Jammu and Kashmir government, all the 22 social networking sites and applications including Facebook, WhatsApp and Twitter were accessible in several parts of the Valley on Thursday.

The Supreme Court on Thursday said it will formulate on May 15 the questions regarding law on ‘whats app’ privacy issues to be adjudicated and in the meanwhile asked the parties to submit their brief propositions.

A five-judge bench of Justices Dipak Misra, A.K. Sikri, Amitav Roy, A.M. Khanwilkar and M.M. Shantanagouder, told counsel for paties that after formulation of the questions, the court will fix the dates for hearing during the summer vacation. The bench was hearing petitions which said that privacy of citizens has been infringed by whats app and Facebook, which amounted to infringement of Articles 19 (Freedom of Speech and Expression) and 21 (Right to Life) of the Constitution.

They said the social networking sites compromised the privacy of interpersonal communication of over 150 million people in the country.

On behalf of the Centre the Attorney General said the government would soon bring a framework for protection of privacy of Whatsapp, Facebook and messages communicated in the social media.