The Evolving Data Protection Regime In India

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Privacy’ is a term that originates from the word ‘Private’ which is the opposite to ‘Public’. In simple words, privacy is an attribute relating to an individual/person, which is not meant for public consumption or the state of being free from public attention. The idea of privacy being fundamental to our existence has also been accepted and acknowledged by the apex court of this country in a historic judgment declaring privacy as a fundamental right guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution of India.

The court declared that privacy constitutes an intrinsic part of the right to life and personal liberty. It also recognized that privacy is a multidimensional construct, encapsulating within it various rights such as informational privacy, bodily-integrity, and self-determination. The court also noted both the positive and negative obligations arising out of the fundamental right to privacy and the dangers faced from private actors. The court clarified that the right to privacy is not absolute and that the state can place reasonable restrictions on it in the interest of fulfilling objectives such as protecting national security, preventing and investigating crime, encouraging innovation, and preventing the dissipation of social welfare benefits.

Living in the 21st century where almost everything around us can be summarized into some form of data secured in the computers. We have already seen the impact in the recent fiasco caused by Facebook where the data of 87 million users that also includes 5 lakh Indian users, was shared with Cambridge Analytica. This reminded the world of the alarming consequences that may arise due to inefficient and inappropriate privacy laws and data protection measures in the global scheme of things where the world has literally become one because of the Internet.