Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) has filed a petition against WhatsApp’s new privacy rules in the Supreme Court.
The petition says that WhatsApp which is known to render public services by providing a platform to communicate has recently imposed a privacy policy that is unconstitutional, which not only goes against the fundamental rights of citizens but also jeopardizes the national security of our country.
CAIT has also pleaded to the Union of India that it lays down guidelines for big technology companies like WhatsApp and frames policies such that it does not violate the right to privacy of people.
It also points out the difference between how the EU and The Indian Countries approach the new privacy policy of WhatsApp.
The petitioner says that on the same proposed policy of WhatsApp in 2017, the European Union’s Antitrust Authority had imposed serious restrictions and a fine of 110 million Euros. If we take another example, in 2016 the United Kingdom and the European Union had prohibited similar actions of Facebook and also directed it to delete all data that concerned the WhatsApp users. Looking at this, we observe that the Indian Government has failed to take restrictive and necessary measures to prevent big technological companies like WhatsApp from intruding into the privacy of citizens.
The current petition raises issues that are of great concern of protecting the privacy of WhatsApp users. WhatsApp is an internet application that facilitates voice calling, messaging, and video calling which makes it all the more dangerous with the coming of the new privacy policy which alleged to share sensitive data of the users with other platforms and countries.
The CAIT says through its petition that it will not allow any company or conglomerate to make money through illegal means by making ‘obnoxious policies and sinister designs’ and by firing from the shoulder of Indian users.
Recently, WhatsApp had updated its privacy policy that intrudes into the privacy of individuals. It also threatened the users to comply with the guidelines failing which the services would be blocked after February 8th. However, WhatsApp has now postponed its implementation of the privacy policy after receiving a backlash from the users within a week since the news broke.
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