Privacy Over Money: Petition wants SC to Ask WhatsApp Not To 'Lower Privacy Standards'

In a recent development, the petition of differential policies of WhatsApp between India and the EU went to the Supreme Court. The Delhi High Court is already considering two petitions against the WhatsApp Privacy Policy. Meanwhile, the SC court debate went something like this:

Advocate Divan (for petitioner) told the SC that the messenger company is discriminating between its Indian and EU users. He further asked the court to make sure that WA does not use "lower privacy standards" for Indian users when compared to Europeans. He also urged that till the Personal Data Protection law comes into force, SC should ask WhatsApp should to not share data with Facebook or any third party. Further, he urged SC to ask MeitY to put a stay on the implementation of the policy till it addresses all the concerns.

Advocate Sibal argued that the policy is not discriminatory as the EU has a separate set of laws the GDPR. But, the privacy policy is applicable to the entire world, including the US, Australia etc. It also alleged that the privacy policy follows the Central Ministry Guidelines and Article 32.

The CJI has directed a similar matter to HC. He also adjourned the matter for 4 weeks but not before telling Advocate Datar (for Facebook) that people have grave concerns about their privacy. “You may be 2-3 trillion company. But the privacy of people is more important than your money.”

A Background

WhatsApp updated its terms of service in January. It informed the users that it will share information from their interactions with business accounts, Facebook and third parties. The WhatsApp Privacy Policy also asked users to either agree or discontinue using the platform. The company has, as of now, delayed adoption of the new WhatsApp privacy policy to 15 May from 8 February.

Petitions from Indians

Earlier in February, Seema Singh and Meghan Singh had filed a petition in Delhi HC. They contended that the new privacy policy indicates the “fissures” in Indian data protection and privacy laws. This was a second petition that challenged the WhatsApp Privacy Policy. Before this, a plea, filed in the Supreme Court, sought guidelines to safeguard the personal data and privacy of over 400 million Indian users of WhatsApp.

Earlier, a law student Chaitanya Rohilla had challenged the new privacy policy on its terms and conditions. The court, while hearing Rohilla’s plea, had said WhatsApp is a private application. It said that people didn’t need to download it if they had problems with its new policy. The matter is likely to be heard on March 1.

Before Rohilla’s petition, Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) also filed a plea in the SC. It also challenged the new privacy policy. It further stated that this move shows that the Centre has failed to discharge its constitutional duty and responsibility by protecting the privacy rights of citizens forcing the petitioner to approach the top court. The organisation wanted the SC to direct the Centre to carry out ‘Technical Audits’ of Facebook data centres where it stored Indian user data.

What does WhatsApp have to say?

WhatsApp on numerous occasions issued blogs, ads and even story uploads stating that all messages are end to end encrypted. That, they can't listen to or read the messages and it does not share our contact list with Facebook. “We have only made a change concerning Business WhatsApp,” the company alleges. Here's a purview.

The company maintains that the latest Privacy Policy enables users with the following business-related options:

• Enabling customer service through the platform in terms of chatting with business or asking questions.
• Personalised ads for users based on the ads they click on Facebook on Instagram and helping users chatting with those business owners through a dedicated WhatsApp icon.
• Some businesses with a shop on Facebook or Instagram can also have shops on their WhatsApp business profile. This will allow users to see a business’s products on Facebook and Instagram and shop from it directly through WhatsApp.