If you think the Supreme Court’s judgment today — of terming privacy a fundamental right — will let you dictate what internet companies do with your private data, you’re in for some disappointment.
While privacy has been granted the status of a fundamental right in India, these rights are enforceable only against States (government and government agencies) and not private companies, according to experts.
This means there’s still a long way to go before you can protect your private data from becoming a money making tool for internet companies. These enterprisesmine large amounts of data, right from your browsing history to the list of apps you’ve installed in your phone, the places you’ve visited and even the time you wake up or go to bed.
Data is the new oil for internet companies, which use consumer behaviour information as a goldmine. It helps them plan their interactions better with you, sell you stuff that you may not necessarily need but are likely to buy, and even dictate your decisions.
“Right from Google to Facebook, there are so many companies that are tracking my every move that I don’t even know where to go or how to prevent them from doing so,” said Rahul Arora, a management student in Mumbai.
Both Google and Facebook declined to comment for this story.
While some companies such as Google allow you to check what data of yours are being tracked, and even let you opt out of it, several companies including most telcos give little to no information on what information they are collecting about you and selling to advertisers.
“I don’t think companies like Google or Facebook will stop storing your private data just because of this one verdict. Companies, however, will now rush to participate in the data protection law and try their best to save their business models,” said Mishi Choudhary, Legal Director at the Software Freedom Law Center.
Choudhary pointed out that while the ruling will not have an immediate impact on private companies, the government might soon start tightening its screws around them.
Laws in the making “Because now privacy has been recognised as a fundamental right, there is a positive obligation for the State to enact legislation to protect that right,” Choudhary said.
This basically means we have to wait for the government to come up with a law that will force private companies to take cognisance of privacy as well.
Last month, the Centre constituted a committee of experts, led by former Supreme Court judge BN Srikrishna, to identify “key data protection issues” and suggest a draft data protection Bill.
“The bigwigs need to fall in line with the privacy framework which will evolve gradually. It would be wise that they implement General Data Protection Regulation (as adopted by the European Union). They can expect a series of lawsuits if any single incident of privacy breach gets noticed now due to heightened awareness amongst citizens,” said Prashant Mali, a cyber security expert.
He added that Google and Facebook should immediately change their existing policies, which track users’ online activities by default instead of offering it as an opt-in. “Most users are not even aware of what activities of theirs are being tracked.
“The internet companies should therefore immediately stop tracking user activities unless the user explicitly gives them permission to do so,” Mali said.
While the privacy debate has just started in India, it has opened up Pandora’s box for the internet companies, which already face several lawsuits in Europe.
"The security and privacy of our users’ information has always been a top priority. As we outline in our privacy policy, we use information with the consent of our users. We also provide tools like ‘My Account’ to give users control over the information they share from a single hub. More than 1 billion people have visited My Account since 2015," says Google Spokesperson